ecord with sorrow and with shame_."

But the sea spray is dashing splendidly on our bows--we are clearing
Capri, and have, as we pass it, a fine view of that high and precipitous
rock, thinking of Tiberius and the soothsayer Thrasyllus, and of all the
monstrous scenes which those unapproachable cliffs concealed from the
indignation even of a Roman world. But twilight was already coming on,
and the city and the coast were gradually withdrawn from the
panorama--dark night came rushing over the deep, an Italian summer's
night, and yet with no stars or moon; meanwhile steadily rides our
vessel along the Calabrian waters, confident alike of her strength and
her bearings, which we soon left her to pursue, and went down to see
what the cabin and the company promised below. And thus the hours passed
away; and when the suspended lamp began to burn dimly under the
skylight, and grey morning found stealthy admittance through the cabin
windows, although we had been unable to sleep, the anticipation of all
the marvels we were to see in Sicily had answered the purpose of a
night's rest, and sent us active and alert on deck to fresh air and the
rising sun. Nor were we a moment too soon. A large flotilla of little
boats manoeuvring between two of larger size, placed to defend the space
destined for their operations, were now in the full activity of the
thunny and spada fishery; and a most picturesque rock, right over our
bow, proved to be no other than _Monte Pelegrino_, at the foot of which
lay Palermo and our breakfast--in short, after a voyage of little more
than a summer's night, we are again on _terra firma_, if that name can
be given to volcanic soils, and long before noon are actively engaged in
perambulating the streets of the Sicilian capital of the _faecunda
Panormos_.

Among the most striking peculiarities of the interior or street views,
presented to the stranger's eye at Palermo, are its very unusually
situated convents, buildings which, even in cities, are commonly and
naturally in _retirement_; but here, in whichever of the most public
ways you walk, a number of extraordinary trellised balconies are
observed on the upper stories of almost every large house, while
business and bustle of all kinds are transacted as usual in the street
below. You may well be surprised to see the nunnery over the _Marchande
de Modes_! The unhappy inmates thus tormented by the sight and sound of
worldly activity, have not in Palermo even the