s, and
heroes' deeds" (cecini pascua, rura, duces)--lies "shadowed by the wild
ivy," in the road leading from Naples to Puteoli:

"Ivy and flowers have half o'ergrown
And veiled his low sepulchral stone:
Yet still the spot is holy still,
Celestial footsteps mount the hill."

We had unfortunately been unable to make any excursions in this
direction, owing to our limited time.

The railway journey to Messina is both tedious and expensive, we
therefore secured berths in one of the Florio line of steamers. The day
of our departure was enjoyably warm and sunny--though perhaps a little
too warm to be pleasant in the dirty and crowded harbour of Naples,
which is the chief lounging-place of all the idlers and beggars of the
city; yet under this burst of summer sunshine Naples was in smiles
again, and we saw something of her natural beauty.

By the time the crowds of boatmen had done quarrelling with one another
to secure our fare, we were glad to get away from their Babel, and get
on board the vessel--the boatman, of course, doing all in his power to
charge us treble fare! There were some half-dozen passengers in the
saloon, travellers like ourselves. Our departure was somewhat delayed
by the steamer having to carry a regiment of soldiers to Sicily, and we
got off at six o'clock in the evening--only about an hour after the time
of starting, which was very punctual for Italians.

Naples, illuminated, and gradually enfolded in the gathering shadows of
night, is in truth a beautiful sight, and the occasional bursts of
bright flame from Vesuvius added a touch of imposing grandeur to the
scene we viewed from the deck, as we steamed away for the Straits of
Messina.

Dinner passed pleasantly; we had a very agreeable captain, and the
smoothness of the water enabled the ladies to enjoy it in comfort, and
also to spend an hour or two on deck afterwards, in the full beauty of
the clear moon and cloudless star-lit skies--

"Then gentle winds arose
With many a mingled close
Of wild AEolian sound and mountain odours keen:
And where the Baian ocean
Welters with air-like motion,
Within, above, around its bowers of starry green."

Who could be surrounded by such influences without thinking kindly and
tender thoughts of the glorious land that owns such a sea and sky? I
mused over Italy--her past, her present, and the bright future which I
hope awaits her. The