we of course walked over it; and it is well worth while to continue the walk thus begun up the side of the green hill round which the carriages have to climb, in order to enjoy the abundant growth of myrtle that is indigenous there, and in greater profusion than I have ever seen it any where else .. though near Genoa it grows wild and freely. The silk-looms of St. Lucia are certainly more nobly lodged than any other looms in the world; the buildings which contain them have perfectly the air of a palace, and the view from various parts of them is superb. The trees and shrubs are of the very highest beauty, and not even in Pennsylvania did I ever see magnolias so splendid. The bright scarlet seeds hung thick upon them, and set off the luxuriant foliage even more than their splendid blossoms could do. It was upon the fine terrace of St. Lucia that our dinner was spread, the experienced servants who attended us being aware that all things needful for the repast could be obtained from the establishment; and a beautiful fountain of delicious water, filling a graceful marble receiver, at no great distance, pointed out the exact place for our dinner table, with an authority that could not be disputed .... and when seated round it, did we any of us remember by what a dreary name the month was called whose sweet breath now fluttered round us? If we did, it certainly suggested no thoughts either of hanging or drowning . but we drank 250 PALACE OF CASERTA. the health of the Prince of Wales, of whose arrival we had just heard, in bumpers that had no mixture from our fountain in them. and then the idlers amused themselves among the flowery walks of this manufacturing Paradise, while a young lady of the party made an admirable sketch from the difficult bird's-eye view that spread itself before the terrace and then we set off to walk through a mile or two of garden to Caserta. The waters brought by the aqueduct for use are very skilfully converted into ornament as you approach the palace, forming a succession of pretty cascades that are profusely adorned with statues, which reminded us of the princely state and style of Versailles; and it is by the side of the magnificent reservoir into which these cascades fall that the broad gravel path is formed which leads to the garden front of the palace. The structure is both graceful and imposing, from its great extent and regularity; and the entrance to it, under the fine arcade that leads through the palace to the principal front, is very noble. . . . so is the staircase, so is the marble vestibule at the top of it. . . . and this is all we saw of the palace, for the light was rapidly sinking into darkness when we reached it. We had, however, enjoyed our day too much to feel any regrets about the distribution of it, and returned to Naples in very good humour with those who sent us. Yet notwithstanding the spring-tide mildness of REGRET AT LEAVING NAPLES. * 251 this Neapolitan November, there is enough of that agreeable sort of dissipation going on which smooths the roughness even of rough weather, and leaves one often in doubt whether the "summer sun" or the "social hours" eulogised in the old rhyme ought to have the preference. . . . A splendid dinner party at the mansion of our amiable minister . . . . several equally elegant at that of Lady S, with one or two others, all assembling very delightful little circles, have already shown us plainly enough that a winter might be very agreeably passed here. .... Almost the only drawback, I think, to the vivid pleasures of a twelvemonth's touring through a new and interesting country is the necessity it brings with it of breaking up many a pleasant acquaintance almost as soon as it is formed. It often happens in quitting a place that taking leave levies a penalty upon the feelings, which seems like a tax upon all the pleasure you have enjoyed while staying there. . . . and Naples just at present, "" with all the goodly people in it," as Miranda says, could not be left without our being conscious of this.... but the deed was to be done, and "Noi passammo oltre, ed io, e 'l Duca mio." * With us alike each season suits. The Spring hath fragrant flowers; The Summer, sun; the Autumn, fruits; LETTER XV. Comparison between Naples and Rome.-Domestic Arrangements.— Michael Angelo's Moses.-The Apollo.-The Tower of the Capitol. Necessity of walking instead of driving over the Via Sacra, and among the Ruins in its Neighbourhood.-St. Peter's.— Difficulty of keeping clear of it. Rome, December, 1841. I SCARCELY know how to class Naples and Rome relatively to each other, in respect to the interest they inspire. It is not, as in many other cases, a question of beauty; it is seldom difficult to decide between any two places as to which pleases the eye best; and were that the question now, I could not hesitate for a moment, as I think Naples not only more beautiful to look at than Rome, but very decidedly more beautiful than any other place I have ever seen. The doubt I feel is respecting Both the moral and historic interest of the two. stand alone in the world, and both bear records of the same important race, which has, more or less, left its influence upon the whole of the civilised portion of the earth. But yet, though in many cases the very individuals whose traces we are so strangely able to follow are the same, they come upon the mind very differently. At Rome, the local changes that have taken place since Cæsar died and Antony mourned for him, are neither COMPARISON BETWEEN NAPLES AND ROME. 253 ... greater nor less than reason and old-world experience might lead us to expect. We have but to look at the massive sturdiness of Adrian's tomb, to understand why it stands there still; while the fact that a papal fortress has taken the liberty of rearing itself above it, is not at all more surprising than that Pope Gregory XVI. walks and talks to-day where a high-priest of Giove Tonante walked and talked in days of yore; . . . . nor is there any natural shrinking of the mind from the idea that it is possible that first great step may, even now, be leading the way to another: all this may be thought and felt at Rome, but not so at Naples. There the mind is carried back two thousand years, or near it, at one great leap. It has no stepping-stones to rest upon, no gradual fall and rising again, that history enables us to follow, through all the sequence and dependency of thing on thing, which, while it teaches us to comprehend what we see, prevents us from being astonished at. But at Baiæ, Pompeii, Herculaneum, and their great receiver-general the museum at Naples, all is wonder, and every thing we look at creates astonishment. There is something singularly sublime in the idea, that a stupendous convulsion of Nature, which seemed only calculated to destroy, should so mysteriously have been the means of preservation. . . . It has, in fact, preserved what, in its minute familiar details, takes us back over this enormous chasm of time to |