nd
he calls it a _Campanula._ Seeing that so great a difference exists
between our friend and Linnaeus, we ask no further questions.

Tench and eels abound in _Avernus_, and coot and teal also blunder
here occasionally, as if to contradict Virgil and confute
etymology--for Avernus is [Greek: aornos] (birdless,) and Latinised as
every one knows. However, few birds are to be found here. The
_Lucrine_ is now a mere salt-water pond of small extent, affording the
little sea fish, in rough weather, a sort of playground. No Lucrine
oysters now, though these dainties are of excellent quality at Naples,
and might have satisfied _Montanus_ himself. As to the _Mare Mortuum_,
it is another rank, unwholesome, unpicturesque pond. We walked all
round it, and have a right to say so; and, if we had done so _twice_
after sunset, might perchance have had to say _more_.

PROCIDA.

"_Ego vel Prochytam praepono Suburrae_," says Juvenal, and so would we
if compelled to live in that nasty St Giles's beyond the Coliseum; but
as the "_vel_" seems strangely misapplied--for the _situation_ of
Procida must always have been delightful--the poet's preference must
be understood as of a dull unlively place, with few inhabitants or
resources, to a dense and dangerous population. Baiae itself is not
three miles from Procida; but the Roman Baiae was thronged with good
society, and this little island was doubtless then as unpeopled as it
is now populous. Procida is about three-fourths of an hour's fair
rowing from Miniseolae, on the Baian side; but you may run your boat
over on a fine day in half an hour. As you approach the houses, you
discern the not unpicturesque frontage of a little fishing town; but
all is as revolting within as fair without. Something of the Greek or
Albanese costume is still preserved here, and they offer to dress up
one of their families in full _parure_ for our further satisfaction,
if we will pay them. The view from the leads of the fort (under which
the galley-slaves are confined) is fine indeed! Ischia and Vesuvius,
and the whole stretch of the bay, and _Sorrento_, and the promontory
of Minerva. Procida builds good enough trading vessels. We saw two in
the harbour of Baiae, as we rowed back on a delicious evening towards
sunset; they were going on a first voyage, bound for our London
docks;--and _a propos_ of the London docks, all this country is, as it
always was, rich in productive vineyards and bad wine. Every hill once