d in truth multitudes of books, large and small,
witty and dull, erudite and empty, light and heavy, prosaic and
rhapsodical, have poured forth from the prolific pens of generations of
authors. We feel sincerely the need of an apology for making a fresh
addition to the ever-increasing pile of Neapolitan literature, and we can
only urge in extenuation of our crime of authorship that the same scene
appeals in varied ways to different persons, and that every fresh
description is apt to shed additional light upon old familiar subjects. In
the following pages we make no profession to act the part of a guide to
the neighbourhood of Naples, for are there not the carefully prepared
pages of Murray and Baedeker, to say nothing of the works of such writers
as Augustus Hare, to lead the wanderer into every church and castle, to
show him every nook in valley and mountain, and to supply him thoroughly
with accurate dates and facts? No, our treatment of this theme may be
deemed a poor one, but it has at least the merit and the courage of
following its own peculiar lines. For we pursue our own course, and we
touch lightly here and omit there; we run to dissertation in this place,
we glide by silently in another. We take our own views of people and
places, and give them for what they are worth to our readers to approve or
to condemn, as they think fit. We offer a medley of history and of
imagination, of biography and of private comment; and we crave indulgence
for our short-comings by observing that any deficiencies in these pages
can easily be remedied by application to the abundant literature upon
Naples and its surrounding districts which every good library is presumed
to contain.

CHAPTER II

THE VESUVIAN SHORE AND MONTE SANT' ANGELO

That little stream the Sebeto, which is indeed, as the courtly Metastasio
observes, "scanty in depth of water though overflowing with honour," may
be considered as the boundary line that divides the city of Naples from
its eastern environs, although it is evident that the whole stretch of
coast from Posilipo to Torre del Greco is covered with an unbroken line of
houses. Past the highly cultivated _Paduli_, the chief market-gardens on
this side of the city, with the town of La Barra on the fertile slopes to
our left, we pass by way of San Giovanni a Teduccio to Portici, once a
favourite resort of royalty. Here the dilettante Charles III., fir