entrance to the holy grove of the awful goddesses. | to left and left to right dance towards one another,* Edipus, blind, old, and in rags, appears, led by and with the accompaniment of the flute begin Antigone, whom we by her dress know to be a their hymn in honor of Athens and Colonos, in daughter of royal blood, but in distress. They Strophes and Antistrophes. They have scarcely ascend the staircase, and ŒŒdipus sits down to rest; concluded when Creon appears from Thebes, and but the place is sacred, it is the xaxxonovs odos xovos, strives first by flattery, then by violence to prevail the forbidden entrance to the grove of the Eume- on Edipus to follow him to Thebes. He cruelly nides.* deprives him of his daughter, who, before the eyes of the weak Chorus, which consisting of old men, is not able to resist, is torn away from her father, till Theseus appears, who avenges the offence of Creon against his guest in a battle. A second dance and song of the Chorus follows, whilst the battle is going on, the end of which leads to the catastrophe of the play. Theseus returns triumphantly, and brings the children back to their blind father. This meeting after their short separation is touching; though our compassion is somewhat checked at the stern manners of Edipus towards his son, Polynices, who now appears with the intention of winning him to his cause. However just the reproaches of the old father, we dwell with more partiality upon the character of Antigone, that beautiful conception of our poet, who displays now her noble soul, standing between father and son, loving both, pitying both, sacrificing herself

for both.

Upon the admonition of a passer by, and the command of the Chorus, he leaves the place, comes down, always supported by the young Antigone, and sits down on the Thymele, usually the place of the leader of the Chorus. The Chorus has come in, called by the man who had passed and observed a stranger sitting on the sacred and forbidden soil. They made their entrance hastily, consisting of fifteen aged inhabitants of Colonos. Having soon discovered Edipus, they range themselves around their leader on both sides of the Thymele. They compel him now, when he has been seated by his daughter on the stone they assigned for his rest, to tell his name and wants, The name of Edipus, the murderer of his father, the husband of his mother, an object of horror to the very sun, of whose light he has deprived himself-frightens them so much, that they hardly allow him to stay, only upon his assurance, that an oracle had now found its fulfilment, which he would discover to Theseus, the king of Athens, how his presence would become the blessing of the country. Meanwhile, on a neighing steed, a young girl, a Thessalian hat on her head, hastens in, springs from the horse into the arms of her unhappy father and sister. They form a lovely group, both embracing their blind father, who sits motionless on his stone. Ismene, that is the young girl's name, brings sad news from Thebes of the discord of her brothers, who are making preparation for war. Induced by an oracle, each party if led by the gods themselves. tries to get possession of the person of Edipus. During the whole piece, the stage, upon which But he curses both of them, who always loved in other pieces the action takes places, was—as I themselves better than their unfortunate father; whose selfish souls were not melted by his misery into brotherly friendship, and who left the care of him to their tender sisters. He determines not to leave the place, which the god had pointed out as his place of rest; and obtains from Theseus, who appears a dignified and noble king-the assurance of his protection.

This forms the first part of the drama-not act; for the ancient dramas were not divided into actsand now we see the Chorus move, and in decent and graceful gestures, the two divisions from right

*It is here supposed to be the Anytïov.. The stage itself remains, therefore, after Œdipus has again left it untouched in this play; what-together with the scenery, which brought before the eyes of the Athenians the holiest objects of awe and reverence-must have contributed immensely to the effect produced by this wonderful piece.

Polynices, having left his father in despair, old Edipus feels his last hour drawing near. He sends for Theseus and explains to him, that the voice of the gods called him into the grove of the Eumenides; that his tomb is to be there, and remain there, a bulwark of Athens against Thebes. Fate is reconciled, and the poor sufferer freed from his pains. He does not want the aid of his daughters; he walks without assistance, and shows them the way they dread to go, in spite of his blindness; for it becomes light within him; he moves on, as

have remarked above in a note-not touched after
Edipus had left it. Now the dying man directs
his steps there, and disappears soon with Theseus
and his daughter in the awful grove of the furies.
The Chorus sends its prayers after him for an easy
death, which is soon after reported by a messen-
ger. He had not died like other men; but Earth
opened her lap, and received the sufferer to an ever-
lasting resting-place. After the messenger, appear
the daughters, now Orphans. They confirm his
death and bewail it.
Chorus. Is he then dead?

Antig.

He is his death was strange
And wonderful. For not in war he fell,
Nor did the sea o'erwhelm him, but the earth
Hath hid him from us. Deadly night has closed
Our eyes in sadness. Whether o'er the seas

* The manner in which the Chorus performed his chants and dances is very uncertain, and the learned differ much about it.

DESCRIPTION OF NAPLES.

Naples, Oct. 5, 1842.

This is the land of my boyish dreams. The imagination of youth had not sketched a picture more vivid than the reality. It burst upon my view, as bright and as enchanting as the poets had pourtrayed it. I had believed, that something was to be allowed for the hyperboles of poets, and the enthusiasm of tourists. In this, I was in error. Nature, in this lovely region, assumes "a grace beyond the reach of art." Poetry and painting have not, in truth, done justice to it; enamored pilgrims have not described its charms in all the richness of their native loveliness. One cannot put scenery on paper. The pencil and the pen cannot rise to the height of nature's fairest works. The air and the exquisite tints, the extended and varied prospects, yield not to the easel. The best effort is but an imperfect copy.

by the contiguous city of Cuma, then a great and powerful metropolis: now vineyards occupy its site, and a poor peasant is its sole inhabitant. When it was rebuilt, it assumed the name of Neapolis, or new city, which it has ever since retained. Its origin is Greek, its name Greek, and the Greek language was that of its inhabitants, for a long period after its submission to the Roman sway. In Herculaneum and Pompeii, the manuscripts which have been found, are all in this tongue.

This city has been subject to all the vicissitudes of Italy;-subdued by the Romans, then by the Goths, then sacked by Belisarius, who, failing in all his other efforts to make an entrance, finally introduced his soldiers through the aqueducts, and delivered it to pillage, massacre and fire. Its territory at one time conquered by the Saracens—at another subject to the Normans-then to the Arragonese-to the house of Anjou-overrun and vanquished repeatedly by the French and Spaniardsmany traces of all these different tribes may be discovered in the edifices, the language and the manners of the inhabitants.

It is indeed a land worthy of being the mother of those immortal men, who have given it a moral lustre, rivalling the lovely features which Heaven has here impressed. Twice has it distributed to The bay of Naples is in the form of a deep cresEurope the benefits of civilization. First, when cent-the promontories of Minerva and Misenum it transmitted the sciences and the arts of the coun-being the extremities of the two horns. The trymen of Lycurgus and Solon, diffusing with their island of Capri is between them, rising high above conquering arms, the lights of knowledge and the sea, and presenting a barrier to check the temagain, when after the downfall of the Eastern pests, and exclude from this tranquil bay the storms Empire, the fugitives from Constantinople illumined which rage without. The city rests upon the sumanew those torches which the Goths and Vandals mit of the crescent, spreading itself round the had extinguished.-Twice the ruler of Europe: curved shore, and sloping off to two points as it once by the people-king, and then by another still withdraws from the centre. It lies upon the sunny more powerful, swaying the consciences of men, side of a lofty range of hills, whose highest crest and claiming the sacred right as given of Heaven. is crowned by the venerable castle of St. Elmo. In Rome, we see the cradle and the grave of Its appearance is that of an amphitheatre, the this people-king, the dilapidated monuments of his houses rising one above the other, upon the steep triumphs and his glories. Here are also the proud ascent, and at the same time circling round the gulf. memories of that powerful hierarchy, whose breath The voyager, as he passes Capri, sees before was the law of nations. Its temples and its pala-him a bay of about eighteen miles in length by ces crown the seven hills. When you descend sixteen in width, scarcely ruffled by the wind, and the peninsula and approach Naples, you find an air brilliant as the sky above it. He sees along its more soft, a heaven more brilliant. The soil is shores a bright band of cities and towns, extending more fertile, and exhibits the appearance of a gar- some 16 or 18 miles, with their many colored domes den: the country is more beautiful; the antiquities and lofty towers standing in bold relief, and varying more varied and better preserved. You see Vesu- and decorating the lovely scene. In their rear, a vius and Pompeii, the Phlegrean fields, and that bay long line of semicircular mountains is exposed to which is renowned throughout the earth. view, covered with perennial green. To the right The city of Naples is the fourth in Europe in of the city, the chain is broken, and a verdant size and population. It is believed to contain four plain expands itself many miles into the interior, hundred thousand inhabitants within its walls, and and gives a view of the distant Appenines. On one hundred thousand in its suburbs. Its origin the edge of this plain, and in the rear of Portici, reaches far beyond the period of authentic history. rise two mountains, with a small and shallow valIts foundation is by some attributed to one of the ley between, the one clothed with verdure, the other Argonauts, 1300 years before the Christian era; by exhibiting a lofty cone, black as carbon, utterly others, to Parthenope, one of the Syrens, who is void of all vegetation, and pouring from its sumcelebrated by Homer, and whose name it bore. mit volumes of dark smoke. This is Vesuvius, The claims of Hercules are also urged, but it is not the terror and the scourge of this delicious region! probable that he would have built two cities so At its base, lies Pompeii, disinterred, but quiet and near as this and Herculaneum. It was destroyed' desolate as the grave. Though the sun shines

VOL. IX-14

brightly on its streets, and the sky is cloudless and the Castell' del Ovo, and casting the eye in a conserene, and its old enemy is tranquil, you feel within trary direction, we see the Castell Nuovo, so called its walls that the spirit is gone,-that it is the city from its modern construction, being built so recently of the dead. The lava tomb is removed; the tern- as the thirteenth century, by Charles of Anjou. ples, and the palaces, and the humble habitations It communicates with the royal palace, and serves receive the cheering light of day; but your own for a retreat in cases of a popular movement. Its heart is clouded with the shadows of the past. magnitude, its lofty towers and antique construcHere another smiling valley runs off to the East, tion give a picturesque effect to the prospect. It and then begins again the chain of mountains which is a fortress of considerable strength on the sea reaches to the promontory of Minerva. shore, but at the same time so located as to comEnchanted with the beauties of the bay, I sought mand several of the large public squares of the apartments on its shore with only the street of city. It is a curious fact, and illustrative of the Santa Lucia between. The exquisite scene, in all history of this people, that all the public places its extent, and all its variety of attraction of land are within reach of the guns of some one of the and water, is before me. The murmur of the castles of the city. There can be no large popuwaves, as they are gently broken on the shore, lar meeting, which the cannon of the forts may not reaches my apartments. Admiration of this pros- disperse. These were reared in times long since pect has grown with acquaintance, and the minute passed, and are not to be charged to the policy of features are now beheld with a feeling of attach- modern rulers. The Castell' Nuovo was formerly ment. Taking this place as my point of depar- the residence of the sovereigns, and it exhibits an ture, the first remarkable object in view which air of grandeur which is not to be seen in ordinary arrests the attention, is the Castell' del Ovo. It fortresses of any age. Among other objects of is based upon an insulated rock, some two hundred interest here seen, is a lofty arck of triumph, erectyards from the shore. It was originally a promon-ed in the fifteenth century, to commemorate the tory; but, in some one of the numerous earthquakes entry of King Alphonso into this city. It is all which have shaken this country, it was rent from of marble, and covered with statues, and has rethe main land. It is now connected by a narrow liefs, representing the achievments of that monbridge. Its history would fill a volume. That | arch. magnificent voluptuary, Lucullus, who is reported to have fed his lampreys in one of his artificial face of the bay, Capri presents her white cliffs and lakes, with the bodies of his slaves, to increase their lofty summits, with the adjacent coasts slightly delicacy, had here a house of pleasure. In the early curved, and approximating, at the promontories, the ages, the castle was called from him the "Costrum rocky isle. It stands like a faithful sentinel watchLucullanum." It was to this place that the last ing the portals of the gulf. Distance smooths the Emperor of Rome, Romulus Augustus, contemp- rugged outline, and lends "enchantment to the tuously called by his contemporaries, "Augus-view." Here Tiberius Cæsar, weary of the cares tulus," was exiled by the conqueror, Odoacre, who of empire, retired from imperial Rome to enjoy in deprived him of his empire. In more modern repose the pleasures of sense. He spent here times, it became the refuge, and afterwards the the last seven years of his life, sunk in Circean prison of the unfortunate Queen" Joanna, of Na pleasures, and exercising at the same time the ples.” Her history resembles, in many of its most ferocious cruelties. One would suppose, were traits, that of the equally miserable Queen of Scots. there not so many instances to the contrary, that Like her, she was beautiful and accomplished, de- the smiling features of nature around him, would voted to pleasure, and fond of gallantry. Like have banished from his heart all savage propensiher, she is also believed to have been accessary ties. There is a statue of him here, in the Muzeo to the murder of her husband, and to have espoused one who participated in the conspiracy which terminated his life. She also reached the same end; was 'deprived of her kingdom by a kinsman, and her life sacrificed to his ambition. And to continue the analogy, her guilt has been always the subject of controversy among historians.

Directly in front, across the smooth azure sur

Borbonico, which represents him with a countenance filled with benevolence. Doubtless, such a face gave him much assistance in the game of dissimulation which he habitually played. But it is strange, certainly not usual, that nature should have concealed such deformity under a visage pleasing and humane. Some of the walls and the foundaThe venerable walls of that old castle, are re-tions of his palace still exist. Other works of plete with interesting historic associations. Could his are shown here. There is a subterranean pasthey speak, they would open the most attracting sage, excavated from the palace, a distance of perchapter in the history of this kingdom. It is still haps half a mile, to one of the most curious grotfortified, though but little adapted to the modern toes I have ever seen. The grotto is the work mode of warfare. Constructed for defence in feu- of nature. You enter it from the bay by a dal times, it would be but a feeble barrier to the small aperture, just large enough for a small canoe progress of the arms in use at this day. Leaving to penetrate, those occupying it prostrating them

selves, to avoid striking the jagged rocks above. | beauty. The sprightliness of her mind and vivaYou then find yourself in the midst of a spacious city of her disposition seem to have equalled her grotto with a lofty vaulted ceiling, and all that the personal charms. Her attractions were now of eye rests upon is blue as indigo. The effect is so too high an order to remain concealed. The artists sudden, so magical, that one feels for a moment as sought her out, that they might give to the marble if he were the subject of enchantment! His com- and the canvass the impressions of such wonderpanions, he can scarcely recognize—the ladies are ful loveliness. She became the model of the godall blues, and so are the gentlemen. It is called dess Igiea. The success of the copy extended by the Neapolitans, the azure grotto. The phe- the reputation of the original. The celebrated nomenon is a curious result of the reflection of the painter, Romney, reproduced her as Venus, Cleorays of light. As to the use made of it by Tibe- patra, and as Frine. Others made of her a Sibyl, rius, the story is, that it was his place of bathing. a Leda, a Talia; and some, a penitent Magdalene. But for the passage which he constructed the approach to it would have been distant, circuitous, and only by water.

In the next step of her career, she met and captivated Charles Grenville, of the noble family of Warwick. Deranged with passion, "drunk with

whelmed with debt, and without the means of support, it was necessary to seek the assistance and consent of his uncle, Sir Wm. Hamilton, then minister of Great Britain, at this court. She was despatched as the suppliant to obtain both the one and the other; the infatuated lover believing that

apology for seeking so extraordinary an union. The old uncle, astounded by this vision of beauty, was soon lost in such raptures as overwhelmed every other consideration. He paid the debts of his nephew, and married his betrothed.

Being now my lady, and the wife of a minister,

There is a spot upon the shore of the bay, beauty," he sought to espouse her; but overin full view of my window, which is associated with some of the most interesting, and at the same time most melancholy souvenirs of this city. It is the place where the body of Cerillo was cast ashore by the waves. He was one of the distinguished martyrs, who have expired in the cause of human liberty. During the Parthenopean republic, her appearance would be, on his part, a sufficient he was president of the legislative assembly. Renowned for his learning and high abilities, his reputation had previously extended throughout Europe. Beloved by his friends, and respected by his foes, he was unfortunately faithless to his king, and his life paid the forfeit. After the return of the royal family in 1800, he was arraigned for the crime of a brilliant career opened before her. To the astonlesa majestatis. Being brought before the court, ishment of all, she moved in the high region of he was asked the usual question, "what is your society to which she had been so abruptly elevated, profession?" He replied, "under the despotism, I and in which she was now entitled to take a conwas a physician; under the republic, a legislator." spicuous part, as if she had been accustomed to it "And what are you now?" demanded the president from early years. The grace of nature is supeof the court. 66 Now, I am a hero,” was the res-rior to that of art. Her history was, of course, ponse. He was forthwith condemned and execu- the subject of much remark, and it was not to be ted: and his body was cast into the sea. The sea expected that a court, one of the most exclusive of returned it to the shore, and the populace, moved Europe, should receive her with more attention with sympathy for his misfortunes, though his po- than her position imperiously demanded. Queen litical opponents, received it, gave it the funeral Caroline, the daughter of the celebrated Marie rites, and committed it to the earth. Therese of Austria, and the sister of the unfortunate Marie Antoinette of France, met this brilliant" parvenue" with coldness and hauteur. But these were destined to continue but a short time. The Queen soon found it necessary to yield to the fortunes of this extraordinary woman.

The fate of this unfortunate man, and thousands of others, who at that time contributed to give their country a republic, and who atoned for it by the last punishment of malefactors, is associated with the destinies of one of the most remarkable women of that extraordinary period. Her history is so Another scene of the drama was now enacted. singular, so unlike the ordinary march of human Lord Nelson appears, a conquering hero; his brow events, that I am induced here to sketch the out- bound with the fresh laurels he had just gathered lines of it. at Aboukir. He had blasted the prospects of NaFew heroines of fiction have been the subjects of poleon in the East. He came to Naples, saw such striking vicissitudes as Emma Lyon. Born Lady Hamilton, and was conquered. He had of the lowest parentage, her father unknown, her braved the battle and the breeze-filled Europe birth-place some obscure part of Wales, she was with his fame-to strike his flag ingloriously to this reared in abject poverty and corrupt habits. The modern Syren. In her presence, he was feeble as first sixteen years of her life were passed in an ir- an infant; spell-bound, he gazed, received the subregular and degraded existence, often in want of tle poison, and stood within the charmed circle, bread to sustain her. Yet in these unfavorable vanquished and a victim.

circumstances, she grew into maturity, a prodigy of The conqueror, to whom the veteran diplomatist