nence with the glorious
traditions of the past that centre round them. What spot on earth can
surpass, or even be compared with, Amalfi in the perfect lustre of its
setting? What loftier or bolder cliffs than those of Capri can the wild
bleak headlands of the North Sea exhibit? The fertile lands of France
cannot vie with the richness of the Sorrentine Plain, nor can any mountain
on the face of the globe rival in human interest the peak of Vesuvius;
Pompeii is unique, the most precious storehouse of ancient knowledge the
world possesses; whilst the Bay of Baia recalls the days of Roman power
and luxury more vividly to our minds than any place save the Eternal City
itself. And again: what illustrious names in history and in
literature--classical, medieval, modern--are for ever associated with these
smiling shores! Robert Guiscard and Hildebrand in quiet Salerno, Tasso at
health-giving Sorrento, Vittoria Colonna in her palace-fortress on the
crags of Ischia, the great Apostle of the west at Puteoli:--these are but a
few of the more eminent and gracious figures that arise before us at the
casual bidding of memory. Then there are the infamous, as well as the
virtuous and the gallant, whose misdeeds are still freshly remembered upon
these coasts or in their fertile valleys. The sinister Tiberius, the
half-crazy and wholly vicious Caligula, many a king and queen of evil
repute that ruled Naples, the vile Pier-Luigi Farnese, the adventurer
Joachim Murat, all have left the marks of their personality upon the
coveted shores of the Neapolitan Riviera. From the days of the Sibyl and
of the Trojan hero to the stirring times of Garibaldi and of King Bomba,
which were but of yesterday, Naples and its environs have played a
prominent part in the annals and development of the civilised western
world; Roman emperors, Pagan statesmen and poets, Norman, French and
Spanish princes, popes, saints and theologians, merchants and scientists
of the Middle Ages, writers of the Renaissance and heroes of the
_Risorgimento_, all have combined to shed a halo of historical romance
upon Naples and its Riviera, where there is scarcely a sea-girt town or a
crumbling fortress that is not redolent of the memory of some personage
whose name is inscribed on the roll of European history. It seems but
right, therefore, that many works should have been written concerning this
favoured corner of Italy, so replete with natural charm and with
historical interest; an