lo looked out in the guide
book the account which was given there of the several places and objects
of interest on Mr. George's list, and read the passages aloud to the
whole party. Rosie sat beside him on the sofa, and helped him find the
places, and also looked over him while he read. The account which was
given of the places was very interesting indeed.

The next morning, about ten o'clock, after Mr. George had gone to the
museum, Rollo and Josie went out to find a carriage. They inquired at
the hotel, before they went, how much they ought to pay. When they
reached the stand, they looked along the line, and finally chose one
with a nice and pretty blue lining, and two jet black horses. They made
their bargain with the coachman, and then drove to the door.

[Illustration: THE PUBLIC GARDENS.]

Mrs. Gray and Rosie were ready, and soon the party were driving rapidly
along on their way out of town, passing by the gates of the public
gardens, which lie in a beautiful situation along the shore, in the
western part of the city. You have a view of these gardens in the
engraving; and in the distance, over the tops of the houses, you see a
long ridge of high land running down towards the sea. It was through
this ridge of high land that the famous subterranean passage way, called
the _Grotto of Posilipo_, was cut, to open a way for the road into the
country without going over the hill.

After driving along the street which lies between the gardens and the
houses on the right, as seen in the engraving, the carriage turned into
another street, which runs behind the houses, and thence gradually
ascended towards the entrance to the grotto. Just before reaching the
entrance, the land seemed to rise to a very lofty height before and on
each side of the road; and it was so built up in terraces, and garden
walls, and platforms, and staircases of villas, that there seemed to be
no way out. Rosie could not imagine, she said, where they could possibly
be going, until at length, at a sudden turn between two lofty walls,
they saw the immense mouth of the grotto opening before them.

The grotto was wide enough for two carriages to pass, and very high. It
was lighted with lamps, and was full of people and of carriages going
and coming. Here and there along the walls of rock on each side, near
the entrance, there were a great many curious structures to be seen, and
openings cut in the rock. On one side was a chapel excavated in the
rock,