nd historic associations. It will be
remembered that many of the population were engulfed at Ischia by an
earthquake within a few years past. On the eastern side of this
panoramic view rises Vesuvius, with its bold and isolated pinnacle,
while its dusky sides are dotted up to within half the distance of the
summit by villages, hamlets, villas, and vineyards, awaiting the
destruction which it would seem must come sooner or later. Along the
base of the volcano lie the towns of Portici, Annunziata, and Torre del
Greco, everything glittering in the light of the rising sun. The eyes
cannot rest upon a spot which has not its classic association, turn
which way we will. In the distance eastward is seen Castellamare and
Sorrento on the right curve of the crescent-shaped shore, while on the
left lie Solfatara and Pozzuoli. What a shore to look upon, where
Cicero, Horace, Virgil, Tasso, Pliny, and Macaenas lived! How thrillingly
beautiful it is, as we creep slowly up to our moorings in the soft, dewy
freshness of the morning!

In direct contrast to all this beauty of nature and picturesqueness of
scenery, as soon as we land there comes before our eyes so much of dirt,
poverty, and beggary, as to cause us to shudder. How humanity outrages
the loveliness of nature! Begging is reduced to a profession here;
thousands of both sexes and of all ages have no other employment or
seeming ambition than to beg at every opportunity, to fill their
stomachs with food, and then, like the inferior animals, to stretch
themselves in the sun until again aroused by hunger. There is no quarter
of the city exempt from this pest of beggary. The palace and the hovel
join each other in strange incongruity; starvation and abundance are
close together; elegance and rags are in juxtaposition; the city has
nearly half a million population, and this condition applies to all its
streets. There are many fine public buildings, and yet they can lay no
special claim to architectural excellence. The old streets are narrow,
crooked, and in some places ascended by steps, on an angle of forty-five
degrees; but the modern part of the city is well laid out. The Strada di
Roma is the Broadway of Naples, a fine, busy street, more than a mile in
length and lined with elegant business stores, cafes, hotels, and public
offices. The famous Riviera di Chiaja, or Quay, is also a noble street
running along the shore of the bay, lined on one side by an almost
endless array of pala