to his chagrin, of the
compact already concluded with the besiegers, a compact which, as Hudson
Lowe himself very properly pointed out, was binding upon the British
Government. On October 26th, three weeks from the date of the first
attack, the English troops embarked for Sicily, and the island was
formally handed over to the French and Neapolitan forces, who held it
undisturbed until the close of the Napoleonic Wars.

[Illustration: A GATEWAY. CAPRI]

CHAPTER XII

ISCHIA AND THE LADY OF THE ROCK

Embarking at Torregaveta, the little terminus of the _Ferrovia Cumana_,
which traverses the classic district of the Phlegraean Fields, we are
quickly transported in a small coasting steamer past the headland of
Misenum to the island and port of Procida, the "alta Prochyta" of Virgil.
Although the poet calls the island lofty, it is remarkably flat
considering its volcanic origin, for Procida and Ischia were undoubtedly
one in remote ages, as the learned Strabo rightly conjectured. Its only
eminence is the Rocciola, the castle-crowned hillock to the north-east of
the island, but as this hill must first have caught the expectant eye of
Aeneas' steersman, perhaps the epithet is after all not so misplaced as
would appear at first sight. Carefully tilled and densely populated, the
island produces a large proportion of the fruit, vegetables, and olive
oil, that are sold in the Naples market, and as it possesses no remains of
antiquity, no medieval churches, no works of art, and but few beauties of
nature to recommend it for inspection, Procida is rarely visited by
strangers. Its inhabitants, who are chiefly husbandmen, are hard working
and independent, and content also to retain the manners and customs of
their frugal forefathers, and even to a certain extent to continue the use
of their national dress, so that the festivals of Procida have more
interest and local colour than those observed in tourist-haunted Capri or
Sorrento. Unconcerned at the progress of the world without, unspoiled by
the gold of the _forestiere_, the Procidani pursue the even tenor of their
old-fashioned ways, unenvious of and unenvied by their neighbours on the
mainland.

"O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint,
Agricolas!"

We halt at the port of Procida, with its flat-roofed gaily coloured houses
lining the quay and ascending the gentle slope towards the Rocciola.
Thence, skirting