tivity; the nearest part of the bay is covered with boats, busy
multitudes crowd the strand, and at the same time may be seen a number of
the arts belonging to civilised society in operation--house-building,
ship-building, rope-making, the manipulations of the smith and of the
agriculturist, and not only the useful arts, but even the amusements and
luxuries of a great metropolis may be witnessed from the spot in which we
stand; that motley crowd is collected round a policinello, and those
smaller groups that surround the stalls are employed in enjoying the
favourite food and drink of the lazzaroni.

_Ambrosio_.--We see not only the power and activity of man, as existing
at present, and of which the highest example may be represented by the
steam-boat which is now departing for Palermo, but we may likewise view
scenes which carry us into the very bosom of antiquity, and, as it were,
make us live with the generations of past ages. Those small square
buildings, scarcely visible in the distance, are the tombs of
distinguished men amongst the early Greek colonists of the country; and
those rows of houses, without roofs, which appear as if newly erecting,
constitute a Roman town restored from its ashes, that remained for
centuries as if it had been swept from the face of the earth. When you
study it in detail you will hardly avoid the illusion that it is a rising
city; you will almost be tempted to ask where are the workmen, so perfect
art the walls of the houses, so bright and uninjured the painting upon
them. Hardly anything is wanting to make this scene a magnificent
epitome of all that is most worthy of admiration in Nature and art; had
there been in addition to the other objects a fine river and a waterfall
the epitome would, I think, have been absolutely perfect.

_Phil_.--You are most unreasonable in imagining additions to a scene
which it is impossible to embrace in one view, and which presents so many
objects to the senses, the memory, and to the imagination; yet there is a
river in the valley between Naples and Castel del Mare; you may see its
silver thread and the white foam of its torrents in the distance, and if
you were geologists you would find a number of sources of interest, which
have not been mentioned, in the scenery surrounding us. Somma which is
before us, for instance, affords a wonderful example of a mountain formed
of marine deposits, and which has been raised by subterraneous fire, and
those larg