fiery mouths, one might have thought they were replying to Lear's imprecation-" Rumble thy belly full!-Spit fire !"—Altogether, it was a most sublime and impressive scene, and may be classed amongst the very few things in the world that do

not disappoint expectation.

The look down, into the great crater at the summit, is frightfully grand; and when you turn away from the contemplation of this fearful abyss, you are presented with the most forcible contrast, in the rich and luxuriant prospect of Naples, and the surrounding country; where all is soft and smiling as far as the eye can see.

In our way home we explored Herculaneum ; which scarcely repays the labour. This town is filled up with lava, and with a cement caused by the large mixture of water, with the shower of earth and ashes that destroyed it; and it is choked up, as completely as if molten lead had been poured into it. Here therefore the work of excavation was so laborious, that all which could be done has been to cut a few passages. Besides, it is forty feet below the surface, and another town is now built over it; so that you grope about under ground by torchlight, and see nothing.

Pompeii, on the contrary, was destroyed by a

shower of cinders, in which there was a much less quantity of water. It lay, for centuries, only twelve feet below the surface; and these cinders being easily removed, the town has been again restored to the light of day.

In the evening the Theatre of S. Carlo re-opened with a new opera, and a splendid ballet.

23d. The finest-looking men in Naples are the Lazzaroni; the lowest class in the order of society; answering to the Lazzi in the old Saxon division of classes in our own island: "Divide-·· bantur antiqui Saxones in tres ordines; Edilingos, Filingos, et Lazzos; hoc est, nobiles, ingenuos, serviles. Restat antiquæ appellationis commemoratio, Ignavos enim lazie hodie dicimus.”—(Spelman.)

But, if Lazzaroni be at all connected with laziness, the term has little application to the bearers of burdens in Naples; unless it be explained in the same manner as lucus à non lucendo. If they are fond of sprawling in the sun, they are enjoying the holiday of repose which they have earned by their own industry; and which they have a right to dispose of according to their own taste. There is an amphibious class of these fellows, who seem to live in the water. I have stood watching a boat for hours, which I had at first imagined was

adrift, without an owner; to which one of these fishermen would occasionally mount out of the water with an oyster, and then, down he went again, in search of another.

They appear to be a merry joyous race, with a keen relish for drollery, and endued with a power of feature, that is shown in the richest exhibitions of comic grimace. Swinburne says well, that Hogarth ought to have visited Naples, to have beheld the "sublime of caricature."

I know few sights more ludicrous, than that which may be enjoyed by treating a Lazzarone to as many yards of macaroni as he can contrive to slide down his throat without breaking its continuity.

Their dexterity is almost equal to that of the Indian Jugglers, and much more entertaining.

24th. In ascending the scale of society, we do not find progressive improvement in information, as we mount to the top.

The ignorance of the higher classes has long been proverbial. Murat had instituted a female school of education, on a large scale, which was well attended by the principal families in Naples; and a taste for knowledge was beginning to spread very rapidly;-but Murat is dead! The most

thriving profession is the law;-and almost every tenth man is a lawyer.

25th. Went in the evening to the Teatro Nuovo, where Italian tragedies and comedies are performed; and which is attended, particularly by the younger classes of the Neapolitans, as a school of pronunciation, and a lesson in language. Nothing can be more barbarous than the Neapolitan dialect. There was but little vis comica in the performance; and indeed the piece was a suspirious, lacrymose, white-handkerchief business translated from a sentimental German comedy.

The rustic, who seems to be the same—at least in the stage representation of the character-all the world over, was well done, and reminded me of Emery.

26th. Intended excursion to Pæstum. Prevented by a fresh attack of pleurisy. Perhaps there is no great cause for regret; for, however fine the ruins may be, there is no story of the olden time to make them particularly interesting. If ruins are sought out as mere objects to please the eye, I doubt if there be any thing in Italy that could be put in comparison with Tintern Abbey. But it is the deeds that have been done, and the men that did them-the Scipios, and the Catos,

and the Brutuses-that invest the ruins of Rome with their great charm and interest. Independently of these recollections, there is perhaps nothing to be seen in Italy so beautiful as the light, elegant, and graceful ruins of a Gothic Abbey.

This associating principle seems to operate, and give an interest, even to places where the adventures which make them memorable are notoriously fictitious; for to no other cause can I attribute the pains I have taken to identify the scenery of the Italian; and I experienced serious disappointment at being unable to find the ruined archway in which Vivaldi was intercepted by the mysterious monk, in his visits to the villa of Signora Bianca ;—which had probably never any existence except in the imagination of Mrs. Radcliffe.

The vicissitudes of the weather here are beyond every thing I have ever felt. During Easter week, it was intensely hot. On the 28th of March, Vesuvius was covered with snow, and the four succeeding days have been as cold and comfortless as wind, sleet, and hail, could make them.

April 2d. Convalescence. Visited the opera for the first time. Of all the stupid things in the world, a serious opera is perhaps the most stupid,