and with recruited spirits we mounted our animals and again
started.

The descent was infinitely more slow and difficult than the ascent,
and much more trying to the nerves. I had not Salvador at my side, nor
the mountain before me, to beguile me from my fears; at length I
prevailed on one of our attendants, a fine tall figure of a man, to
sing to me; and though he had been up the mountain _six_ times in the
course of the day, he sang delightfully and with great spirit and
expression, as he strided along with his hand upon my bridle,
accompanied by a magnificent rumbling bass from the mountain, which
every now and then drowned the melody of his voice, and made me start.
It was past three when we reached Resina, and nearly five when we got
home: yet I rose this morning at my usual hour, and do not feel much
fatigued. About twelve to-day I saw Mount Vesuvius, looking as quiet
and placid as the first time I viewed it. There was little smoke, and
neither the glowing lava nor the flames were visible in the glare of
the sunshine. The atmosphere was perfectly clear, and as I gazed,
almost misdoubting my senses, I could scarcely believe in the reality
of the tremendous scene I had witnessed but a few hours before.

26.--The eruption burst forth again to-day, and is exceedingly grand;
though not equal to what it was on Sunday night. The smoke rises from
the crater in dense black masses, and the wind having veered a few
points to the southward, it is now driven in the direction of Naples.
At the moment I write this, the skies are obscured by rolling vapours,
and the sun, which is now setting just opposite to Vesuvius, shines,
as I have seen him through a London mist, red, and shorn of his beams.
The sea is angry and discoloured; the day most oppressively sultry,
and the atmosphere thick, sulphureous, and loaded with an almost
impalpable dust, which falls on the paper as I write.

_March 4._--We have had delicious weather almost ever since we arrived
at Naples, but these last three days have been perfectly heavenly. I
never saw or felt any thing like the enchantment of the earth, air,
and skies. The mountain has been perfectly still, the atmosphere
without a single cloud, the fresh verdure bursting forth all around
us, and every breeze visits the senses, as if laden with a renovating
spirit of life, and wafted from Elysium. Whoever would truly enjoy
nature, should see her in this delicious land: "ou la plus douce nuit
succede