e people, who are the slaves of prejudice, and attached
to it by force of inveterate habit, the acknowledgment would not
be believed, and they would only incur odium by it; there it is,
and (for some time at least) it must go on.

[3] I dined at Hill's; sat next to the Duchess de Dalberg,
talked of the miracle, which she told me she firmly
believed. I fancied none believed it but the lowest of
the people, and was (very foolishly) astonished; for
what ought ever to produce astonishment which has to do
with credulity in matters of religion?

[4] Illarum lacrymae meditataque murmura praestant,--
Juvenal, 6.

Went up to Craven's villa (this is the villa at which the amour
between the present Queen of Naples and Captain Hess was carried
on), and sat there doing nothing in the middle of flowers, and
sea breezes, and beautiful views. To comprehend all the luxury of
the _bel far niente_ one must come to Naples, where idleness
loses half its evil by losing all its enervating qualities; there
is something in the air so elastic that I have never been at any
place where I have felt as if I could make exertions so easily as
here, and yet it is a great pleasure to sit and look at the Bay,
the mountains, the islands, and the town, and watch its amusing
inhabitants. At least half an hour of every morning is spent at
my window, while I am dressing, watching the lazaroni, who fish,
work, swim, dress, cook, play, and quarrel under it. At this
moment the scene is as follows:--Half a dozen boats with awnings
and flags moored off the landing-place, a few fishing-boats with
men mending their nets, three fellows swimming about them, two
with red caps on perched upon the wall playing at cards, two or
three more looking on, one on the ground being shaved by a barber
with a basin (the exact counterpart of Mambrino's helmet), and
two or three more waiting their turn for the same operation--
always a certain number lounging about, others smoking or asleep.

[Page Head: ASTRONI]

May 8th, 1830 {p.355}

Rode with a large party to Astroni, where they dined, but I did
not. There were the Lushingtons, Prince and Princess Dentici (he
is at the head of the Douane), Madame and Mademoiselle Galiati
(she is remarkably pretty), Count (I believe) and Countess
Rivalvia, her uncle, Lord A. Chichester, Count Gregorio, and a
Mr. Stuart. The park, or whatever it is called--for it is