CHAP. XXI.MOUNT VESUVIUS.

Notwithstanding the representations made to me on all sides of the difficulties which must attend it, my desire to visit Mount Vesuvius was of so ardent a nature, that I certainly should have made the attempt alone, had not a friend, Mr. M., kindly volunteered to accompany me, but from whom, I have the vanity to say, I rather looked for amusement and information, than guidance and protection.

My friends endeavoured to dissuade me from this arduous undertaking, and when, after fully deciding upon the measure, I inquired in what way it was customary for others to make the ascent, replied, “Oh! they couldseetheir way up.” “Well, then,” I retorted, “I have little doubt of being able tofeelmine.” I must acknowledge myself annoyed by having suggestions of difficulties persisted in, which, I feel sensible in my own bosom, do not insuperably exist; nor can I admit any person, not in the same situation with myself, capable of estimating the powers, which, under the curtailment of one sense, another, in consequence, acquires.

We set off from Naples about five o’clock in theafternoon, with a view of seeing the mountain by moonlight; after passing through Portici, we reached Resina about seven o’clock, where we left the carriage to await our return, and reconvey us to Naples. Taking a conductor from the house of Salvatori, whose family are esteemed the most respectable guides of the mountain, we immediately commenced our ascent. A number of asses are constantly in attendance at this point, for the purpose of assisting such as are incapable of walking, or apprehensive of fatigue, and which are able to convey their riders two-thirds of the way towards the summit; but, in order that I might acquire a more correct idea of the nature of the road, we gave the preference to walking.

We proceeded along a fair road, until we arrived at a house about half way to the hermitage, where we rested a short time, and refreshed ourselves with wine and water; after this the road gradually became worse, and at length so bad that if I had not, on former occasions, witnessed the astonishing powers of asses and mules, I should have conceived it impossible for them to have ascended it. We reached the hermitage about half after eight o’clock, and at the suggestion of our guide, recruited ourselves with some of the hermit’s bread and wine; and then began the more arduous part of our journey.The road soon became very soft, being constituted of the light dust which had been thrown out from the crater; interspersed, however, with large and sharp stones, ejected from the same source; some of which were of such immense size, that did we not bear in mind the astonishing powers of elementary fire, we could scarcely credit the possibility of such masses being hurled to this distance, from out of the bowels of the mountain.

One of the greatest inconveniences I found in this ascent, was from the particles of ashes insinuating themselves within my shoes, and which annoyed my feet so much, that I was repeatedly compelled to take them off, in order to get rid of the irritating matter. Hence I would recommend future travellers to ascend in white leathern boots.

At length we reached the only part of the mountain, which was at this time in a burning state, and which was throwing out flames and sulphurous vapour; when the guide taking me by the arm, conducted me over a place where the fire and smoke issued from apertures between the stones we walked upon, and which we could hear crackling under our feet every instant, as if they were going to be separated, and to precipitate us into the bowels of the mountain. The sublime description of Virgil did not fail to occur to my recollection.

“By turns a pitchy cloud she rolls on high,By turns hot embers from her entrails fly,And flakes of mounting flames lick the sky;Oft from her bowels massy rocks are thrown,And shiver’d from their force come piecemeal down.Oft liquid fires of burning sulphur glow,Nurs’d by the fiery spring that burns below.”—Dryden.

“By turns a pitchy cloud she rolls on high,

By turns hot embers from her entrails fly,

And flakes of mounting flames lick the sky;

Oft from her bowels massy rocks are thrown,

And shiver’d from their force come piecemeal down.

Oft liquid fires of burning sulphur glow,

Nurs’d by the fiery spring that burns below.”—Dryden.

My imagination, I admit, was actively alive to the possible accidents which might have occurred; I followed, however, with all the confidence which my conviction of being under the care of a cautious leader, did not fail to inspire. My guide appeared highly gratified with the incident, asserting that it was the first time one deprived of sight had ever ventured there; and adding, that he was sure it would much surprise the king, when the circumstance became known to him, in the report which is daily made of the persons who visit the mountain. The ground was too hot under our feet, and the sulphurous vapour too strong to allow of our remaining long in this situation; and when he thought he had given us a sufficient idea of the nature of this part of the mountain, we retired to a more solid and a cooler footing; previous to which, however, he directed my walking-cane towards the flames, which shrivelled the ferrule, and charred the lower part;—this I still retain as a memorial.

From hence we were conducted to the edge of a small crater, now extinguished, from whenceabout two months before, the Frenchman, rivalling the immortality of Empedocles—

“Deus immortalis haberi,Dum cupit Empedocles ardentem frigidus ÆtuamInsiluit.—”—Hor.

“Deus immortalis haberi,

Dum cupit Empedocles ardentem frigidus Ætuam

Insiluit.—”—Hor.

and desirous of the glory of dying a death worthy of the great nation, plunged into the fiery abyss. The guide placed my hand on the very spot where he was stated to have last stood, before he thus rashly entered upon eternity.

I was anxious to have proceeded up the cone to the border of the superior and large crater, but our guide objected, indeed refused to conduct us to it, unless we awaited the dawn of morning; the moon, he said, was fast descending, so that we should be involved in darkness before we could attain it; and that consequently it would be attended with risk in the extreme to make the attempt.

This was a check to the completion of my anxious wishes, but our arrangements at Naples neither made it convenient to my friend, or myself, to remain until morning; nor would it have been pleasant to have spent some hours here without refreshment, more particularly as I had left my coat behind near the hermitage, and at this elevation we found it extremely cold.

After spending a short time in examining some of the immense masses of calcined rock, some of them forming solid cubes of twenty feet diameter,and which had been at different times thrown out by the volcanic power; we began to retrace our steps towards the hermitage, distant, as our guide informed us, four miles, but which must have been an over-rated estimate. As we approached this latter place, we met a party ascending the mountain, with an intention of waiting the break of day, so as to enable them to reach the very summit.

We now partook freely of the good hermit’s provisions, and enjoyed his Lachrymæ Christi, both white and red; which of course he had no objection to, as he expected to be well paid for it; he is probably influenced by motives of this nature in residing here, although he is said to enjoy a small pension from the king. The present hermit has not been long resident; the former, a very old man, having retired a few years since to spend the remnant of his days in the bosom of his family. Of course the tenant of this seclusion is a monk, but in the present day we have few instances of voluntary and solitary retirement from the busy haunts of men, on the mere score of religious feeling, and we can scarcely, in the present instance, attribute a lonely residence, in the midst of such dangerous circumstances, to this principle alone.

But the danger of the situation is probably not so great as might be imagined: to the common eruptions our recluse must be accustomed, and ofcourse has had experience of their comparative innocence; and with respect to the more important ones, it is certain, that a variety of indicating circumstances have generally preceded them, well understood by those who are exposed to their agency, and which give timely and sufficient warning; besides, our hermit is not so solitary a being as many who move on the busy stage of life; for the number of parties that visit his cell, must afford him considerable intercourse with society, and was it otherwise, we know how much we are the creatures of habit, which can even reconcile us to incompatibles. Some think a ship a prison, nay, Dr. Johnson says, it is “the worst of prisons, for you have no means of escaping,” and yet there are many, who, from custom, are never more happy than in one.

The hermit placed his book before us, containing the names of those who had visited his cell, and we found them accumulated from all nations, and largely interspersed with observations in verse and prose; but as for their beauty and point I shall leave this to be determined by those who may think well to inspect them. My friend was anxious that I should contribute my mite to this book of scraps, when, as my mind was not a little elate, with the idea of having so easily surmounted the difficulties which my friends had urged againstmy present excursion, I put down a couplet to the following effect:

Some, difficulties, meet full many;I find them not, nor seek for any.

Some, difficulties, meet full many;

I find them not, nor seek for any.

It was in this book the Frenchman wrote his intention of destroying himself, and fortunate was it for the guide, that he made it known in this manner, and exonerated him from the suspicion, which would otherwise have attached to him, of having been implicated in his death. I understood that the agitation, into which the poor fellow was thrown from the circumstance itself, and his apprehensions of the consequences, threw him into a fever, from which he was not sufficiently recovered to be able, at this time, to leave his bed. The hermit unfortunately was unacquainted with the French language, or the dreadful catastrophe might have been prevented. The book was sent to the police, and the leaf in question taken out, and retained, and every enquiry made to prove and account for the circumstance.

Shortly after this period, I met with an English gentleman at Florence, Mr. H⸺, who had travelled from France to Naples with this unfortunate man, and lodged for a length of time in the same house with him, and who informed me that he was a merchant of Nants, which place, in consequence of his affairs becoming embarrassed, hehad quitted with such money as he was enabled to collect; and which being expended, his necessities impelled him to this deliberate act of suicide, forgetting that in thus terminating his sublunary cares, he was sacrificing his hopes and interest in a future world.

“Shall worldly glory impotent and vain,That fluctuates like the billows of the main?Shall this with more respect thy bosom move,Than zeal for crowns that never fade above?Avert it Heaven! be here thy will resign’dReligion claims this conquest o’er the mind.”

“Shall worldly glory impotent and vain,

That fluctuates like the billows of the main?

Shall this with more respect thy bosom move,

Than zeal for crowns that never fade above?

Avert it Heaven! be here thy will resign’d

Religion claims this conquest o’er the mind.”

While we were upon the mountain, a party of Austrians had arrived with the intention of reposing on the couches, which the hermit is provided with for that purpose, and setting out for the crater at day-break. This is perhaps a preferable plan to the one which we had adopted.

After remaining an hour at the hermitage we re-commenced our journey to Resina by torch-light, the moon having sunk below the horizon. About three o’clock we re-entered our carriage, and at four in the morning arrived at Naples.

Before quitting the subject of Mount Vesuvius, it may be interesting to give the following extract of a description of this now quiescent volcano, when under a state of turbulence, with someobservations on the causes of this interesting natural phenomenon.

“Exclusive of those periods when there are actual eruptions, the appearance and quantity of what issues from the mountain are various; sometimes, for a long space of time together, it seems in a state of almost perfect tranquillity; nothing but a small quantity of smoke ascending from the volcano, as if that vast magazine of fuel, which has kept alive for so many ages, was at last exhausted, and nothing remained but the dying embers; then, perhaps, when least expected, the cloud of smoke thickens, and is intermixed with flame; at other times, quantities of pumice-stones and ashes, are thrown up with a kind of hissing noise. For near a week the mountain has been more turbulent than it has been since the small eruption, or rather boiling over of lava, which took place about two months ago; and while we remained at the top, the explosions were of sufficient importance to satisfy our curiosity to the utmost. They appeared much more considerable there, than we had imagined while at a greater distance; each of them was preceded by a noise like thunder within the mountain, a column of thick black smoke then issued out with great rapidity, followed by a blaze of flame; and immediately after, a shower of cinders, and ashes, or red hot stones, were throwninto the sky. This was succeeded by a calm of a few minutes, during which, nothing issued but a moderate quantity of smoke and flame, which gradually increased, and terminated in thunder and explosion as before. These accesses and intervals continued with varied force while we remained.

“When we first arrived, our guides placed us at a reasonable distance from the mouth of the volcano, and on the side from which the wind came, so that we were no way incommoded by the smoke. In this situation the wind also bore to the opposite side, the cinders, ashes, and other fiery substances, which were thrown up; and we ran no danger of being hurt, except when the explosion was very violent, and when red hot stones, and such heavy substances, were thrown like sky-rockets, with a great, and prodigious force, into the air; and even these make such a flaming appearance, and take so much time in descending that they are easily avoided.”—Moore’s View, &c.

“There is no volcanic mountain in Europe, whose desolating paroxysms have been so fatally experienced, and so accurately transmitted to us, as those of Vesuvius. This mountain is well known to constitute one of the natural wonders of the kingdom of Naples. Like Parnassus, it has been said to consist of two summits, one of which,situated in a westward direction, is called by the natives Somma; and the other, running in a southern line, Proper Vesuvius, or Vesuvio; and it is this last alone, which emits fire and smoke. The two hills, or summits, are separated by a valley about a mile in length, and peculiarly fertile in its production.

“The eruptions of this mountain have been numerous in almost every age of the Christian era, and on many occasions prodigiously destructive. The eruptions of volcanoes are usually attended by some shocks like those of earthquakes, although commonly less violent. Open volcanoes continually throw out, in more or less abundance, smoke, ashes, and pumice-stones, or light cinders, but their most formidable effects are produced by a torrent of ignited lava, which, like a vast deluge of liquid, or semi-liquid fire, lays waste the country over which it runs, and buries all the work of human art. In March, 1767, Vesuvius began to throw out a considerable quantity of ashes and stones, which raised its summit in the course of the year no less than two hundred feet, forming first a little mountain of pumice-stones within the crater, which, by degrees, became visible above the margin. The smoke, which was continually emitted, was rendered luminous at night, by the light derived from the fire burning below it. InAugust, some lava had broken through this mountain, and in September, it had filled the space left between it and the former crater. On the 13th and 14th of October, there were heavy rains, which, perhaps, supplied the water concerned in the eruption that shortly followed.

“On the morning of the 19th, clouds of smoke were forced, in continual succession, out of the mouth of the volcano, forming a mass like a large pine-tree, which was lengthened into an arch, and extended to the island of Caprea, twenty-eight miles off; it was accompanied by much lightning, and by an appearance of meteors like shooting stars. A mouth then opened below the crater, and discharged a stream of lava, which Sir William Hamilton ventured to approach within a short distance, imagining that the violence of the confined materials, must have been exhausted; but on a sudden, the mountain opened with a great noise at a much lower point, about a quarter of a mile from the place where he stood, and threw out a torrent of lava, which advanced straight towards him, while he was involved in a shower of small pumice-stones and ashes, and in a cloud of smoke. The force of the explosions were so great, that doors and windows were thrown open by them at the distance of several miles. The stream of lava was in some places two miles broad, and sixty or seventy feet deep; it extended about six miles fromthe summit of the mountain, and remained hot for several weeks.

“In 1794, a still more violent eruption occurred; it was expected by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, the crater being nearly filled, and the water in the wells having subsided; showers of immense stones were projected to a great height, and ashes were thrown out so copiously, that they were very thick at Taranto, two hundred and fifty miles off; some of them were also wet with salt water. A heavy noxious vapour, supposed to be carbonic acid, issued in many places from the earth, and destroyed the vineyards in which it was suffered to remain stagnant. A part of the town of Torre de Greco was overwhelmed by a stream of lava, which ran through it into the sea.

“The shocks of earthquakes and the eruptions of volcanoes, are, in all probability, modifications of the effects of one common cause: the same countries are subject to both of them; and where the agitation produced by an earthquake extends farther than there is any reason to suspect a subterraneous commotion, it is probably propagated through the earth nearly in the same manner as a noise conveyed through the air.

“Volcanoes are found in almost all parts of the world, but most commonly in the neighbourhood of the sea; and especially in small islands: for instance, Italy, Sicily, Japan, the Caribbees, theCape Verd islands, the Canaries, and the Azores: there are also numerous volcanoes in Mexico, and Peru, especially Pichincha, and Cotopaxi. The subterraneous fires, which are constantly kept up in an open volcano, depend, perhaps in general, on sulphurous combinations, and decompositions, like the heating of a heap of wet pyrites, or an union of sulphur and iron filings: but in other cases, they may, perhaps, approach more nearly to the nature of common fires. A mountain of coal has been burning in Siberia for nearly a century, and most probably has undermined, in some degree, the neighbouring country.

“The immediate cause of an eruption appears to be very frequently an admission of water from the sea, or from subterraneous reservoirs; it has often happened that boiling water has frequently been discharged in great quantities from a volcano; and the force of steam, is, perhaps, more adequate to the production of violent explosions, than any other power in nature. The consequence of such an admission of water, into an immense collection of ignited materials, may, in some measure, be understood, from the accidents which occasionally happen in foundries; thus, a whole furnace of melted iron was a few years ago dissipated into the air in Colebrook Dale, by the effects of a flood which suddenly overflowed it. The phenomena of earthquakes and volcanoes areamply illustrated by the particular accounts, transmitted to the Royal Society by Sir William Hamilton, of those which have happened at different times in Italy.”—Polehampton.

Notwithstanding the extraordinary exertions of the preceding night, I arose at nine o’clock on the following morning, without being sensible of any inconvenience, and commenced my preparations for leaving Naples. My friend C⸺ had engaged to accompany me, which promised to be, indeed, an important accession to my comforts and gratifications, as I was sure of not only a warmly attached friend, but a most amusing and intelligent fellow-traveller, from whom I was certain to derive essential advantages, as he was well acquainted with almost every European language. Perhaps few had experienced more vicissitudes of fortune than this gentleman, or been exposed to a greater variety of dangers and adventures, many of which bordered not a little on the romantic.

The following incidents, which are of recent occurrence, appear so interesting, that I cannot deny myself the pleasure of relating them. On returning from South America, in the beginning of the year 1815, he visited Paris; and soon afterwards Bonaparte regained possession of it. One day as he was passing through an encampment near the city, his passport was demanded by the soldiers, when he presented them with an Americanone; he was immediately accused of being a spy, and taken before the commandant, who debated whether he should be instantly put to death, or sent a prisoner to Paris: the latter plan was, however, adopted. On their way, his escort of infantry were overtaken by a party of intoxicated dragoons, who wanted to take their prisoner from them, and who on being refused, made attempts to effect their purpose by force. They were however disappointed, the infantry placing my friend against a wall, and protecting him from their efforts to cut him down with their sabres; they succeeded at length in conducting him safe to the General Commandant at Paris. This officer was soon satisfied with his innocence, and liberated him, directing at the same time one of his aid-de-camps to accompany him into the street, and there shake hands with him, in order to convince the mob that he was a friend.

The other adventure was during the late Neapolitan and Sicilian revolution; Mr. C⸺ happened to lodge in the same house with our countryman, General Church, who commanded the Sicilian troops, forming the garrison of Palermo. One evening the general had fallen into a personal affray with some of his insubordinate soldiers, and with difficulty disengaged himself from them uninjured; supposing that he had retired to his hotel, they made an attack upon it, and in theirrage and disappointment destroyed the whole of its furniture. My friend, and two other English gentlemen, were at the time in the house. The former was lying in bed, seriously ill; they obliged him, however, to rise, and while one of the ruffians stood with a dagger at his breast, the others emptied his trunks, and took away everything except his pantaloons and a great coat, and threatened to murder him if he did not produce more money, stating that they were sure an Englishman must be better provided. One of the other gentlemen was also ill, but being warned by the noise, that something unpropitious was going forward, he contrived to conceal his writing-desk, with his money and papers, under the pillow; when, getting into bed, he made them believe by well groaning, and the assistance of a naturally pale and ghastly-looking face, that he was dying; they were actually afraid to touch him, and walked off, contenting themselves with what they could find about the room.

The third gentleman was treated with tolerable civility; one of the robbers disrobed himself, and putting on the clothes which were lying on a chair, made a simple exchange of property, which some consider no robbery. They cleared the table of his money, and various other articles which he had laid upon it the night before; amongst the rest, however, was a small bit of printed paper, which considering of no value, they threw on the floor;this was one of Hammersley’s bills for fifty pounds.

My friend had the misfortune of being deaf, as well as suffering otherwise from ill health; it may be regarded as a curious incident in our travelling connexion,—that I should want sight, and he hearing; the circumstance is somewhat droll, and afforded considerable amusement to those whom we travelled with, so that we were not unfrequently exposed to a jest on the subject, which we generally participated in, and sometimes contributed to improve.

We agreed with a vittureno to leave Naples on Monday, June 11, and took leave of our friends, and made our other arrangements accordingly; but on returning home on the Sunday evening, I found the vittureno had been to state the danger of setting off alone, on account of the number of robbers on the road; and that they should wait to accompany another voiture, which was to set off on the Tuesday; we accordingly reconciled ourselves to the delay, notwithstanding some of our friends, acquainted with the ways of these fellows, expressed their opinion that we should be teased in this manner for at least two or three days, notwithstanding we had a written agreement for our departure, signed by the proprietor; we now, however, to make more certain for the following day, had another drawn up, with a legal stamp to it,and in which it was stipulated, that if he failed to set off on the next morning, he should forfeit half his fare.

On Tuesday morning we were in readiness at four o’clock, expecting the coach every moment; at five, however, the vittureno came to state that one of his passengers was taken very ill, and could not proceed, and that he must defer going until the next day, when he hoped the gentleman would be able to set off. This was provoking, and we could not help doubting the truth of the story, but on sending our servant to the gentleman’s lodgings, he returned with a confirmation, and we thought best to acquiesce. We made him sign, however, a yet stronger obligation, by which we were empowered, if he did not set off on the Wednesday, to take post-horses at his expense. We kept very close to-day, not wishing to be laughed at by our friends; in the evening, however, we walked down to the mole, amongst the shipping, where we saw an embarkation of horses for the Austrian army in Sicily; and a Neapolitan seventy-four-gun-ship, the Capri, secured to the wharf, and near to the remains of another seventy-four-gun-ship, the St. Ferdinand, which, a short time before had taken fire, and been burned down to the water’s edge.

We felt a strong inclination to avail ourselvesof this last evening to visit the magnificent theatre of San Carlos, which had only very lately been opened; but the advantage of retiring early to bed, in order to prepare for our journey on the morrow, induced us to forego the gratification. I had, however, lately been to the Il Fondo, which some prefer to the larger theatre, as its size is better adapted to give effect to the performances. As, however, I could not understand the language, the music alone interested me; but this was indeed exquisite, and fully sufficient to afford the most heart-touching gratification. It was of that kind which

“Thrills through imagination’s tender frameFrom nerve to nerve: all naked and aliveThey catch the spreading rays: till now the soulAt length discloses every tuneful spring,To that harmonious movement from withoutResponsive. Then the inexpressive strainDiffuses its enchantment: Fancy dreamsOf sacred fountains and Elysian groves,And vales of bliss: the intellectual powerBends from his awful throne a wondering ear,And smiles: the passions, gently sooth’d away,Sink to divine repose, and love and joyAlone are waking; love and joy sereneAs airs that fan the summer.”—Akenside.

“Thrills through imagination’s tender frame

From nerve to nerve: all naked and alive

They catch the spreading rays: till now the soul

At length discloses every tuneful spring,

To that harmonious movement from without

Responsive. Then the inexpressive strain

Diffuses its enchantment: Fancy dreams

Of sacred fountains and Elysian groves,

And vales of bliss: the intellectual power

Bends from his awful throne a wondering ear,

And smiles: the passions, gently sooth’d away,

Sink to divine repose, and love and joy

Alone are waking; love and joy serene

As airs that fan the summer.”—Akenside.

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