Summer cruise in the Mediterranean, on board an American frigate

Preface

. Of one of the most delicious episodes in a long period of foreign travel, this volume is the imperfect and hastily written transcript. Even at the time it was written, the author felt its experience to be a dream — so exempt was it from the interrupting and qualifying drawbacks of happiness in common and working life — but, now, after an interval of many years, it seems indeed like a dream, and one so full of unmingled pleasure, that its telling almost wants the contrast of a sadness. Of the noble ship, whose summer cruise is described, and her kind and hospitable officers, the recollection is as fresh and grateful, now, as when, (twenty years ago,) the author bade them farewell in the port of Smyrna. Of the scenes he passed through, while their guest, he has a less perfect remembrance — rely ing indeed on these chance memoranda, for much that would else be foro-otten.

It is with a mingled sense of the real and the unreal, therefore, that the book is offered, in a new shape, to the Public, whose approbation has encouraged its long existence, and the

PREFACE.

. VI author trusts that his thanks to the surviving officers of that ship, may again reach them, and that the kind favor of the reading Public may be again extended to this, his record of what he saw in the company of these officers, and by their generous hospitality. Highland Terrace, October, 1852. CONTENTS

Letter I. Pass

Cruise in the Frigate United States— Elba— Piombino— Porto Ferrajo— Appearance of the Bay— Naval Discipline— Visit to the Town P.esidence of Napoleon— His employment during his Confinement on the Island— His sisters Eliza and Pauline—His Country-House— Simplicity of the Inhabitants of Elba, 16

Letter III

Account of Vesuvius — The Hermitage — The famous Lagrima Christi— Difficulties of the Path — Curious Appearance of the Old Crater— Old Assemblage of Travellers — The New Crater— Splendid Prospect — Mr. Mathias, Author ofthe Pursuits of Literature — The Archbishop of Tarento, 35

Letter IV

The Fashionable "World of Naples at the Eaces — Brilliant Show of Equipages — The King and his Brother — Bank and Character of the Jockeys — Description ofthe Eaccs — The Public Burial Ground at Naples — Horrid and Inhuman Spectacles — The Lazzaroni — The Museum at Naples — Ancient Belies from Pompeii — Forks not used by the Ancients — The Lamp lit at tbe time of our Saviour — Tho Antique Chair of Sallust— The Villa of Cicero— The Balbi Family— Bacchus on the Shoulders of a Faun— Gallery of Dians, Cupids, Jovcs, Mercuries, and A polios— Sta tuo of Artistides, etc., CONTENTS. viii PAGE

Letter V

Pæstum— Temple ofNeptune— Departure from Elba— Ischia— Bay of Naples— The Toledo— The Toung Queen— Conspiracy against the King— Neapolitans Visiting the Frigates— Leave the B ay — Castellamare, 56

Letter VI

Bai_&— Grotto of Pausilyppo— Tomb of Virgil — Pozzuoli — Ruins of the Temple of Jupiter Sernpis — The Lucrine Lake— Lake of Avernus, the Tartarus of Virgil — Temple of Proserpine — Grotto of the Cumæan Sybil — Nero's villa — Cape of Misenum — Eoman villas — Ruins of the Temple of Venus — Cento Camerelle — The Stygian Lake— The Elysian Fields— Grotto del Cane — Villa of Lucullus, 65

Letter X

The Adriatio— Albania— Gay Costumes and Beanty of the Albanese— Capo dlstria- Triesto resembles an American Town— Visit to the Austrian Authorities of the Province-Curiosity of the Inhabitants-Gentlemanly Reception by the Military Commandant-Visit to Vienna-Singular Notions of the Austrians respecting tho Americans-Similarity of the Scenery to that of Kew England-Meeting with German Students-Frequent Sight of Soldiers and Military PreparaUons-Picturesque Scenery of Styria,... ..100 CONTENTS. IX PAOE

Letter XII

Vienna. — Magnificence of the Emperor's Manage — The Young Queen of Hungary — The Palace — Hall of Curiosities, Jewelry, etc. — The Polytechnic School — Geometrical Figures described by the Yibrations of Musical Notes — Liberal Provision for the Public Institutions — Popularity of the Emperor, 11T

Letter XIII

Vienna — Palaces and Gardens— Mosaic Copy of Da Vinci's "Last Supper' — Collection of Warlike Antiquities ; Scanderburg's Sword, Montezuma's Tomahawk, Eelica ofthe Crusaders, Warriors in Armor, the Farmer of Augsburgh — Boom of Portraits of Celebrated Individuals — Gold Busts of Jupiter and Juno — The Glacis, full of Gardens, the General Eesort ofthe People— Universal Spirit of Enjoyment — Simplicity and Confidence in the Manners of the Viennese — Baden, 125

Letter XV

The palace of Schoenbrunn — Hietzing, the Summer Retreat of the "Wealthy Viennese — Country-House of the American Consul— Specimen of Pure Domestic Happiness in a German Family — Splendid Village Ball— Substantial Fare for the Ladies —Curious Fashion of Cushioning the Windows— German Grief— The Upper Belvidere Palace — Endless Quantity of Pictures. 189

Letter XVI

Departure from Vienna— The Eil-Wagon — Motley quality of the passengers — Thunder-storm in the Mountains of Styria — Trieste— Short beds of the Germans — Grotto of Adelsburgh— Curious Ball-Boom in the Cavern — Nautical preparations for a Dance on board the " United States " swept away by the Bora— Its successsol termination*, 148 l* CONTENTS. X FAGS

Letter XVII

Trieste, its Extensive Commerce-Hospitality of Mr. Moore-Enins of Pola-Immenso Amphitheatre— VUlage of Pola-Coast of Dalmatia, of Apulia and Calabria-Otrau- 1 **.*"* to— Sails for tho Isles of Greece, *"**

Letter XVIII

The Ionion Isles— Lord and Lady Nugent— Corfu— Greek and English Soldiers— Cockneytem— The Gardens of Alcinous— English Officers— Albanians— Dionisio Salomos, the Greek Poet— Greek Ladies— Dinner with the Artillery Mess Wi LETTEE XIX. Corfu— Unpopularity of British Eule— Superstition of the Greeks— Accuracy of tho Descriptions in the Odyssey — Advantage of the Greek Costume— The Paxiau Isles — Cape Leucas, or Sappho's Leap— Bay of Navarino, Ancient Pylos— Modon — Coran's Bay— Cape St Angelo— Isle of Cythera, 1T1

Letter XX

The Harbor of Napoli— Tricoupi and Mavrocordato, Otho's Cabinet Counsellors— Colonel Gordon — King Otho— The Misses Armanspcrgs — Prince of Saxe — Miaulis, the Greek Admiral — Excursion to Argos, the Ancient Terynthus, 180

Letter XXI

Visit from King Otho and Miaulis — Visits an English and Russian Frigate — Beauty of the Grecian men— Lake Lema— The Hermionicas Sinus— Hydra— Efina, 189 LETTEE XXII. The Maid of Athens — Bomance and Eeality — American Benefactions to Greece — A Greek Wife and Scottish Husband — School of Capo d'lstrias— Grecian Disinterestedness— Euins of the most Ancient Temple— Beauty of the Grecian Landscape — Hope for the Land of Epaminondas and Aristides CONTENTS. XI PAQB

Letter XXIII

Athens— P.uins of the Parthenon— Tho Acropolis — Tempio of Theseus— The Oldest of Athenian Antiquities — Burial-Flace of tho Son of Miaulis — Reflections on Standing where Plato Taught, and Demosthenes Harangued — Bavarian Sentinel — Turkish Mosque, erected within the Sanctuary of the Parthcon— Wretched Habitations of tho Modern Athenians, 203

Letter XXIV

The " Lantern of Demosthenes '' — Byron's Residence in Athens — Temple of Jupiter Olympus, Seven Hundred Years in Building — Superstitious Fancy of the Athenians respecting its Ruins — Hermitage of a Greek Monk — Petarches, the Antiquary and Poet, and his Wife, Sister to the "Maid of Athens "—Mutilation of a Basso Relievo by an English Officer — The Elgin Marbles — The Caryatides — Lord Byron's Autograph — Attachment of the Greeks to Dr. Howe— The Sliding Stone — A Scene in tho Eostrum of Demosthenes, 210

Letter XXIX

The Dardanelles- Visit from the Pacha-His Delight at hearing the Piano— Turkish Fountains-Caravan of Mules laden with Grapes— Turkish Modo of Living- Douses, Cafes, and Women— Tho Mosque and tho Muezzin— American Consul of the Dardanelles, another Caleb Quotem, 246

Letter XXX

Turkish Military Life— A Visit to the Camp— Turkish Music— Sunsets— The Sea of Marmora, ™* LETTER 3SXXI. Galliroli— Aristocracy of Beards— Turkish Shopkeepers— The Hospitable Jew and hl3 lovely Daughter— Unexpected Rencontre— Constantinople— The Bosphorus, the Seraglio, and the Golden Horn, 264

Letter XXXII

Constantinople — An Adventure with the Dogs of Stamboul— The Sultan's Kiosk — The Bazaars— Georgians— Sweetmeats— Hindoostanee Fakeers— Turkish Women and their Eyes — The Jews — A. Token of Home— The Drug Bazaar — Opium Eaters, 272

Letter XXXIII

The Sultan's Perfumer — Etiquette of Smoking— Temptations for Purchasers — Exquisite Flavor of the Turkish Perfumes — The Slave Market of Constantinople — Slaves from various Countries, Greek, Circassian, Egyptian, Persian— African Female Slaves— An Improvisatrlce— Exposure for Sale— Circassian Beauties prohibited to Europeans— First sight of one, eating a Pie— Shock to Romantic Feelings— Beautiful Arab Girl chained to the Floor— Tho Silk Merchant— A cheap Purchase,... . 2S0

Letter XXXIV

Tho Bosphorus— Turkish Palaces — The Black Sea— Buynkdere, CONTENTS. XIII PAGE

Letter XXXV

The Golden Horn and its Scenery — Tho Sultan's Wives and Arabians — The Valley of Sweet Waters— Beauty of tho Turkish Minarets — The Mosque of Sulymanye — Mussulmans at their Devotions — The Muezzin — The Bazar of the Opium-eaters— The Mad House of Constantinople, and Description of its inmates — Their Wretched Treatment— Tho Hippodrome and the Mosque of Sultan Achmet— The Janizaries —Reflections on the Past, the Present, and the Future, 294

Letter XXXVI

Sultan Mahmoud at his Devotions— Comparative Splendor of Papal, Austrian, and Turkish Equipages — The Sultan's Barge or Caique — Description of the Sultan — Visit to a Turkish Lancasterian School — The Dancing Dervishes — Visit from tho Sultan's Cabinet — Tho Seraskier and the Capitan Pacha — Humble Origiu of Turkish Dignitaries, 805

Letter XXXVII

Tho Grand Bazar of Constantinople, and its infinite Variety of Wonders — Silent Shopkeepers — Female Curiosity — Adventure with a Black-Eyed Stranger— Tho Bezestein — The Strong-hold of Orientalism — Picture of a Dragoman — The Kibaub- Shop— A Dinner without Knives, Forks, or Chairs — Cistern of the Thousand and One Columns, 815

Letter Xxxviii

Belgrade— The Cottage of Lady Montague— Turkish Cemeteries— Natural Taste of the Moslems for the Picturesque— A Turkish Carriage— Washerwomen Surprised— Gigantic Forest Trees— The Reservoir— Return to Constantinople, 823

LETTER XXXLX.

Scutari— Tomb of the Sultana Valide— Mosque of the Howling Dervishes— A Clerical Shoemaker— Visit to a Turkish Cemetery— Bird'e-Eye View of Stamboul and Its Environs— Seraglio-Point— The Seven Towers, CONTENTS. XIV PAGB

Letter XL

Beauties of the Bosphorus— Summer-Palace of the Sultan— Adventure with an old Turkish Woman -The Feast of Bairam-Tho Sultan his own Butcher— His Evil Propensities— Visit to the Mosques— A Formidable Dervish— Santa Sophia- Mosque of Sultan Achmet— Traces of Christianity, 333

LETTER XLL

Unerring Detection of Foreigners— A Cargo of Odalisques— The Fanar, or Quarter of tho Greeks— Street ofthe Booksellers— Aspect of Antiquity— Purchases— Charity for Dogs and Pigeons— Punishment of Canicide— A Bridal Procession— Turkish Female Physiognomy S*****

Letter XLII

The Perfection of Bathing— Pipes— Downy Cushions — Coffee— Rubbing Down — " Circular Justice," as displayed in the Retribution of Boiled Lobsters — A Deluge of Snds — The Shampoo — Luxurious Helps to the Imagination— A Pedestrian Excursion — Story of an American Tar, burdened with Small Change — Beauty of the Turkish Children— A Civilized Monster— Glimpse of Sultan Mahmoud in an Ill- Humor, 852 LETTER XIJII. Punishment of Conjugal Infidelity — Drowning in the Bosphorus— Frequency of its occurrence accounted for— A Band of Wild Eoumeliotes— Their Picturesque Appearance — Ali Pacha, of Tanina— A Turkish Funeral — Fat Widow of Sultan Selim— A Visit to tho Sultan's Summer Palace— A Travelling Moslem— Unexpected Token of Home, , 860 LETTER XLTV. Farewell to Constantinople — Europe and tho East compared— The Departure Smyrna, the Great Mart for Figs — An Excursion into Asia Minor— Travelling Equipments— Character of the Hajjis— Encampment of Gipsies— A Youthful Hebe- Note— Horror of the Turks for the " Unclean Animal"— An Anecdote, CONTENTS. XV PAGE

LETTER XLV.

Natural Statue of Niobe — The Thorn of Syria and itsTradition — Approach to Magnesia — Hereditary Eesidence of the Family of Bey-Oglou — Character of its Present Occupant — The Truth about Oriental Caravanserais — Comforts and Appliances they yield to Travellers — Figaro of the Turks— The Pilaw — Morning Scene at the Departure — Playful Familiarity of a Solemn old Turk — Magnificent Prospect from Mount Cypilus, 875

LETTER XLVI

, The Eye of the Camel— Eocky Sepulchres — Virtue of an old Passport backed by Impudence—Temple of Cybelet — Palace of Crœsus — Ancient Church of Sardis — Return to Smyrna, 883

LETTER XLVII.

Smyrna — Charms of its Society — Hospitality of Foreign Besldents — Tho Marina — Tho Casino— A Narrow Escape from the Plague — Departure of the Frigate— High Character ofthe American Navy— A Tribute of Eespect and Gratitude— Tbe Farewell,

Letter I

Cruise in the Frigate United States — Elba — Piombino — Porto Ferrajo — Appearance of the Bay — Naval Discipline — Visit to the Town Residence of Napoleon— His Employment during his Confinement on the Island — His sisters Eliza and Pauline — His Country- House — Simplicity of the Inhabitants of Elba, I had come from Florence to join the " United States," at the polite invitation of the officers of the ward-room, on a cruise up the Mediterranean. My cot was swung immediately on my arrival, but we lay three days longer than was expected in the harbor, riding out a gale of wind, which broke the chain cables of both ships, and drove several merchant vessels on the rocks. We got under way on the third of June, and the next morning were off Elba, with Corsica on our quarter, and the little island of Capreja just ahead.

The firing of guns took me just now to the deck. Three Sardinian gun-boats had saluted the commodore's flag in passing, and it was returned with twelve guns. They were coming home from the affair at Tunis. It is a fresh, charming morning, and we are beating up against a light head-wind, all the officers on deck, looking at the island with their glasses, and discussing the character of the great man to whom this little barren spot was a temporary empire. A bold fortification just appears on the point, with the Tuscan flag flying from the staff. The sides of the hills are dotted with desolate looking buildings, among which are one or two monasteries, and in rounding the side of the island, we have passed two or three small villages, perched below and above on the rocks. Off to the east, we can just distinguish Piombino, the nearest town of the Italian shore, and very beautiful it looks, rising from the edge of the water like Venice, with a range of cloudy hills relieving it in the rear.

Our anchor is dropped in the bay of Porto Ferrajo. As we ran lightly in upon the last tack, the walls of the fort appeared crowded with people, the whole town apparently assembled to see the unusual spectacle of two ships-of-war entering their now quiet waters. A small curving bay opened to us, and as we rounded directly under the walls of the fort, the tops of the houses in the town behind appeared crowded with women, whose features we could easily distinguish with a glass. By the constant exclamations of the midshipmen, who were gazing intently from the quarter deck, there was among them a fair proportion of beauty, or what looked like it in the distance. Just below the summit of the fort, upon a terrace commanding a view of the sea, stood a handsome house, with low windows shut with Venetian blinds and shaded with acacias, which the pilot pointed out to U3 as the town residence of Napoleon.

As the ship lost her way, we came in sight of a gentle amphitheatre of hills rising away from the cove, in a woody ravine of which stood a handsome building, with eight windows, built by the exile as a country-house. * Twenty or thirty, as good or better, spot the hills around, ornamented with avenues and orchards of low olive-trees. It is altogether a rural scene, and disappoints us agreeably after the barren promise of the outer sides of the isle. The Constellation came slowly in after us, with every sail set, and her tops crowded with men ; and as she fell under the stern of the commodore's ship, the word was given, and her vast quantity of sail was furled with that wonderful alacrity which so astonishes a landsman. I have been continually surprised in the few days that I have been on board, with the wonders of sea discipline ; but for a spectacle, I have seen nothing more imposing than the entrance of these two beautiful frigates into the little port of Elba, aud their magical management.

The anchors were dropped, the yards came down by the run, the sails disappeared, the living swarm upon the rigging slid below, all in a moment, and then struck up the delightful band on our quarter deck, and the sailors leaned on the guns, the officers on the quarter railing, and' boats from the shore, filled with ladies, lay off at different distances, the whole scene as full of repose and enjoyment, as if we had lain idle for a month in these glassy waters. How beautiful are the results of order ! We had made every preparation for a pic nic party to the country-house of Napoleon yesterday — but it rained. At sunset, however, the clouds crowded into vast masses, and the evening gave a glorious promise, which was fulfilled this morning in freshness and sunshine. The commodore's barge took off the ladies for an excursion on horseback to the iron mines, on the other side of the island — the midshipmen were set ashore in various directions for a ramble, and I, tempted with the beauty of the ravine which enclosed the villa of Napoleon, declined all invitations with an eye to a stroll thither.

We were first set ashore at the mole to see the town. A medley crowd of soldiers, citizens, boys, girls, and galley-slaves, received us at the landing, and followed us up to the town-square, gazing at the officers with undisguised curiosity. We met several gentlemen from the other ship at the cafe, and taking a cicerone together, started for the town-residence of the emperor. It is now occupied by the governor, and stands on the summit of the little fortified city. We mounted by clean, excellent pavements, getting a good-natured " buon giorno .'" from every female head thrust from beneath the blinds of the houses. The governor's aid received us at the door, with his cap in his hand, and we commenced the tour of the rooms with all the household, male and female, following to gaze at us. Napoleon lived on the first floor.

The rooms were as small as those of a private house, and painted in the pretty fresco common in Italy. The furniture was all changed, and the fireplaces and two busts of the emperor's sisters (Eliza and Pauline) were all that remained as it was. The library is a pretty room, though very small, and opens on a terrace level with his favorite garden. The plants and lemon trees were planted by himself, we were told, and the officers plucked souvenirs on all sides. The officer who accompanied us was an old soldier of Napoleon's, and a native of Elba, and after a little of the reluctance common to the teller of an oft-told tale he gave us some interesting particulars of the emperor's residence at the island. It appears that he employed himself, from the first day of his arrival, in the improvement of his little territory making roads, &c, and behaved quite like a man who had made up his mind to relinquish ambition, and content himself with what was about him.

Three assassins were discovered and captured in the course of the eleven months, the first two of whom he pardoned. The third made an attempt upon his life, in the disguise of a beggar, at a bridge leading to his country house, and was condemned and executed. He was a native of the emperor's own birthplace in Corsica. The second floor was occupied by his mother and Pauline. The furniture of the chamber of the renowned beauty is very much as she left it. The bed is small, and the mirror opposite its foot very large, and in a mahogany frame. Small mirrors were set also into the bureau, and in the back of a pretty cabinet of dark wood standing at the head of the bed. It is delightful to breathe the atmosphere of a room that has been the home of the lovely creature whose marble image by Canova thrills every beholder with love, and is fraught with such pleasing associations.

Her sitting-room, though less interesting, made us linger and muse again. It looks out over the sea to the west, and the prospect is beautiful. One forgets that her history could not be written without many a blot. How much we forgive to beauty ! Of all the female branches of the Bonaparte family, Pauline bore the greatest resemblance to her brother Napoleon. But the grand and regular profile which was in him marked with the stern air of sovereignty and despotic rule, was in her tempered with an enchanting softness and fascinating smile. Her statue, after the Venus de Medicis, is the chef d'œuvre of modern sculpture. We went from the governor's house to the walls of the town, loitering along and gazing at the sea ; and then rambled through the narrow streets of the town, attracting, by the gay uniforms of the officers, the attention and courtesies of every smooched petticoat far and near.

What the faces of the damsels of Elba might be, if washed, we could hardly form a conjecture. The country-house of Napoleon is three miles from the town, a little distance from the shore, farther round into the bay. Captain Nicholson proposed to walk to it, and send his boat across — a warmer task for the mid-day of an Italian June than a man of less enterprise would choose for pleasure. We reached the stone steps of .the imperial casino, after a melting and toilsome walk, hungry and thirsty, and were happy to fling ourselves upon broken chairs in the denuded drawing-room, and wait for an extempore dinner of twelve eggs and a bottle of wine as bitter as criticism. A farmer and his family live in the house, and a couple of bad busts and the fireplaces, are all that remain of its old appearance.

The situation and the view, however, are superb. A little lap of a valley opens right away from the door to the bosom of the bay, and in the midst of the glassy basin lies the bold peninsular promontory and fortification of Porto Ferrajo, like a castle in a loch, connected with the body of the island by a mere rib of sand. Off beyond sleeps the main-land of Italy, mountain and vale, like a smoothly-shaped bed of clouds ; and for the foreground of the landscape, the valleys of Elba are just now green with fig-trees and vines, speckled here and there with fields of golden grain, and farm-houses shaded with all the trees of this genial climate. We examined the place, after our frugal dinner, and found a natural path under the edge of the hill behind, stretching away back into the valley, and leading, after a short walk, to a small stream and a waterfall.

Across it, just above the fall, lay the trunk of an old and vigorous fig-tree, full of green limbs, and laden with fruit half ripe. It made a natural bridge over the stream, and as its branches shaded the rocks below, we could easily imagine Napoleon, walking to and fro in the smooth path, and seating himself on the broadest stone in the heat of the summer evenings he passed on the spot. It was the only walk about the place, and a secluded and pleasant one. The groves of firs and brush above, and the locust and cherry-trees on the edges of the walk, are old enough to have shaded him. We sat and talked under the influence of the " genius of the spot," till near sunset, and then, cutting each a walking-stick from the shoots of the old fig-tree, returned to the boats and reached the ship as the band struck up their exhilarating music for the evening on the quarter-deck.

We have passed two or three days at Elba most agreeably. The weather has been fine, and the ships have been thronged with company. The common people of the town come on board in boat-loads, men, women, and children, and are never satisfied with gazing and wondering. The inhabitants speak very pure Tuscan, and are mild and simple in their manners. They all take the ships to be bound upon a mere voyage of pleasure ; and, with the officers in their gay dresses, and the sailors in their clean white and blue, the music morning and evening, and the general gayety on board, the impression is not much to be wondered at. Yesterday, after dinner, Captain Nicholson took us ashore in his gig, to pass an hour or two in the shade. His steward followed, with a bottle or two of old wine, and landing near the fountain to which the boats are sent for water, we soon found a spreading fig-tree, and, with a family of the country people from a neighboring cottage around us, we idled away the hours till the cool of the evening*.

The simplicity of the old man and his wife, and the wonder of himself and several laborers in his vineyard, to whom the captain gave a glass or two of his excellent wines, would have made a study for Wilkie. Sailors are merry companions for a party like this. We returned over the unruffled expanse of the bay, charmed with the beauty of the scene by sunset, and as happy as a life, literally sans souci, could make us. What is it, in this rambling absence from all to which we look forward to in love and hope, that so fascinates the imagination ? I went, in the commodore's suite, to call upon the governor this morning. He is a military, commanding-looking man, and received us in Napoleon's saloon, surrounded by his officers. He regretted that his commission did not permit him to leave the shore, even to visit a ship, but offered a visit on the part of his sister and a company of the first ladies of the town.

They came off this morning. She was a lady-like woman, not very pretty, of thirty years perhaps. As she spoke only Italian, she was handed over to me, and I waited on her through the ship, explaining a great many things of which I knew as much as herself. This visit over, we get under way to-morrow morning for Naples.

Letter II

Visit to Naples, Herculaneum, and Pompeii I have passed my first day in Naples in wandering about, without any definite object. I have walked around its famous bay, looked at the lazzaroni, watched the smoke of Vesuvius, traversed the square where the young Conradine was beheaded and Masaniello commenced his revolt, mounted to the castle of St. Elmo, and dined on macaroni in a trattoria, where the Italian I had learned in Tuscany was of little more use to me than Greek. The bay surprised me most. It is a collection of beauties, which seems more a miracle than an accident of nature. It is a deep crescent of sixteen miles across, and a little more in length, between the points of which lies a chain of low mountains, called the island of Capri, looking, from the shore, like a vast heap of clouds brooding at sea.

In the bosom of the crescent lies Naples. Its palaces and principal buildings cluster around the base of an abrupt hill crowned by the castle of St. Elmo, and its half million of inhabitants have stretched their dwellings over the plain toward Vesuvius, and back upon Posilipo, bordering the curve of the shore on the right and left, with a broad white band of city and village for twelve or fourteen miles. Back from this, on the southern side, a very gradual ascent brings your eye to the base of Vesuvius, which rises from the plain in a sharp cone, broken in at the top, its black and lava-streaked sides descending with the evennesss of a sand-hill, on one side to the disinterred city of Pompeii, and on the other to the royal palace of Portici, built over the yet unexplored Herculaneum. In the centre of the crescent of the shore, projecting into the sea by a bridge of two or three hundred feet in length, stands a small castle built upon a rock, on one side of which lies the mole with its shipping.

The other side is bordered, close to the beach, with the gardens of the royal villa, a magnificent promenade of a mile, ornamented with fancy temples and statuary, on the smooth alleys of which may be met, at certain hours, all that is brilliant and gay in Naples. Farther on, toward the northern horn of the "bay, lies the mount of Posilipo, the ancient coast of Baiæ, Cape Mysene, and the mountain isles of Procida and Ischia, the last of which still preserves the costumes of Greece, from which it was colonized centuries ago. The bay itself is as blue as the sky, scarcely ruffled all day with the wind, and covered by countless boats fishing or creeping on with their picturesque lateen sails just filled ; while the atmosphere over sea, city, and mountain, is of a clearness and brilliancy which is inconceivable in other countries.

The superiority of the sky and climate of Italy is no fable in any part of this delicious land — but in Naples, if the day 1 have spent here is a fair specimen, it is matchless even for Italy. There is something like a fine blue veil of a most dazzling transparency over the mountains around, but above and between there seems nothing but viewless space — nothing like air that a bird could rise upon. The eye gets intoxicated almost with gazing on it. We have just returned from our first excursion to Pompeii. It lies on the southern side of the bay, just below the volcano which overwhelmed it, about twelve miles from Naples. The road lay along the shore, and is lined with villages, which are only separated by name. The first is Portici, where the king has a summer palace, through the court of which the road passes.