and shops are not mingled indiscriminately together. Unfortunately, of all the "guide "books, rhymes, tours, sketches, illustrations" I had read, none had given me this useful information; so that, whenever a carriage is not at hand, I am exposed-for the whole length of the Riviera di Chiaja, as it is called— to the sun or to the rain; both which more inconvenient here than in England, where you are always prepared for the one, and where you never feel the heat of the other.

are

Let not the manner in which I speak of England offend your patriotism: if I feel attached to the countries in which I have mostly lived, and if I have even adopted false ideas of my native land, my education has forced such feelings upon me: but I doubt not that, so soon as I shall become acquainted with my real country, its superior merit will instantly put to flight all preconceived and momentary prejudices. Adieu.

LETTER XVI.

Naples, May 31, 1824.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

I have now been nearly a month at Naples; no more: yet what a change has this short time made in my state of mind! At Rome,

I

was, in some sort, in a fever of angry discontent and disappointment: a fine climate, a fine country, and a fine view of it, have gradually brought me back to more quiet and natural feelings. I remember that the first morning after entering our apartment, when I sat down to breakfast with the windows open, and, looking through the railings of the balcony, saw the waves rippling against the even shore on the opposite side of the street, I could not believe in the duration of such a scene, so different from

those of Rome; and feared lest, awaking from what seemed to me a dream, I should again find myself in a place which I could not think on without a disagreeable sensation. But my dream, if it is one, still continues; and I shall proceed to give you a simple account of the objects I have seen and daily see, and shall occasionally enter into more minute descriptions of them than I did when speaking of the fallen wonders of Rome.

The entrance of the Grotta di Posilipo is visible from our apartment; and I will endeavour to give you a true idea of it;—an engagement not easy to be fulfilled, so great is the charm attached to the word grotta, or, as you English please to call it, grotto. I know that, on hearing this magic word pronounced, your poetic mind fancies, with admirable facility, a ridge of towering rocks, or, at least, of verdant. hills, in which it discovers, with the eye of an amateur, the cave, half concealed by the ivy and vine branches that fall, in festoons, from its lowbrowed, flowery vault; while, in the remoter part of the cavern, you also recognise, without effort, the silvery fount that refreshes it with its pure and limpid waters. Thus do Fenelon

and all poets paint grottos, and thus do you suppose them to be: but here "vanity has created a grotto where necessity enforced an excavation.” -The Monte S. Elmo, otherwise called the Vomero, stretches from Pizzofalcone to the end of the Chiaja, then turns to the South, takes the name of Monte Posilipo, and terminates in the sea. It thus blocks up the Riviera di Chiaja, and separates it from the plain of Pozzuoli on the West. As this mountain is but two or three thousand feet wide, the Cumæans found that a road might be more advantageously made through it than over it: they therefore pierced it, and made a hole passable to beasts of burden; this hole was subsequently enlarged, till wide enough to admit two carriages abreast; this same hole was paved with lava of Vesuvius, was lighted with lamps-the coup de grace to the picturesque -and was named the "Grotto of Posilipo." This passage is lofty, perfectly straight, and is traversed more conveniently during the night, from the number of lamps which are then lighted ; though, even in the day time, a few are always kept burning in the middle, where, of course, it is darkest.

The aspect of the country on the other side

is more pleasing than can be easily imagined. Highly-cultivated hills or barren rocks surround a rich plain, at this season particularly beautiful from the bright freshness of the spring leaves that cover the high-spreading vines which, stretching from elm to elm, overshadow the varied crops of flax, Indian corn, and small fruit trees in full blossom, and defend them from the rays of the sun.

Though in the month of May, I found the weather too hot for promenades à pied: I therefore turned back, and entered the small village on the Pozzuoli side of the Grotto. This village —of Fuori Grotta,—although similar to all those in the environs of Naples, is not however less curious on that account, and will serve to give an idea of the others. Narrow, dirty, irregular, ill-paved streets are bordered by houses one story high, raised about twelve feet from the ground, and the grey walls of which are daubed in every direction with white crosses; surrounded by children-the younger of whom are drest in a small shirt, or often without any clothing at all

-are women who, covered with rags, either spin before their houses, or, seated on the threshold of their doors, at the imminent risk of being over