stirred within him when he saw this majestic temple, dedicated to a worship so dark and foul as that of the Jupiter Serapis.

Besides the temple, there are in Pozzuoli the remains of a Roman amphitheatre, but we cannot visit it, as it is now quite late, and we have yet to make arrangements for returning to the city. It would also please us to visit Baiæ, on the other side of the bay, which is still covered with the ruins of ancient temples, and of the villas of Nero, Marius, Cæsar, and Lucullus. It would still further enhance our pleasure to examine the scenes described in the sixth book of the Æneid, the cave of the Cumean Sybil, the Lucrine lake, and the road to Avernus, in which truth and fiction have been so beautifully blended. We are content, at present, to imagine them, which we probably do more to our satisfaction, than if we beheld the actual scenes, which, since Virgil's time, are much changed by the convulsions of Nature, and never, in all respects, corresponded to the sublime imaginings of the poet. In default of our own description, we give the following very beautiful one, by a poet from whom we have already quoted : "But Baiæ, soft retreat in days of yore,

That knew no winter, wooes us to its shore.
Heroes and emperors whilom trod this strand,
And art, song, pleasure reigned, a festive band.
Here Cæsar stooped his pride to garden bowers,

And stern-browed Marius wreathed his sword with flowers!
Here rich Lucullus gorgeous banquets spread,

Pollio the hours in chains of roses led;

Steeped in warm bliss seemed ocean, earth and sky,

Life one rich dream of love and luxury.

But Baia's shores are dark and lonely now,

Gray, nameless ruins crown Misenum's brow;

Fallen towers, crushed temples, villas 'neath the deep,
And scattered tombs where bards and heroes sleep,

Line all the coast; and he who lingers here

Will tread with awe, and drop a sorrowing tear.

Approach yon relic, scan its mouldering wall-
Age, crime, and mystery o'er it spread their pall;
There sleeps a Roman empress,* dark her doom-
The furies haunt, 'tis said, her blood-stained tomb;
And when the laboring moon her crescent fills,
Low trumpets wail along the neighboring hills."

We hire a caleche, a light painted wagon, hung upon springs, and drawn by a single horse, to convey us to the city, through the grotto of Posilipo, in which the public road from Naples to Pozzuoli, instead of winding around the mountain, as we did in the morning, goes directly through the heart of the mountain, and thus saves a distance of three or four miles. The grotto, or tunnel, as it might more fitly be termed, is about half a mile in length, from seventy to eighty feet high, and from twenty-five to thirty feet wide. It is arched at the roof, and well lighted with lamps, resembling, in some respects, the Thames Tunnel. To the eye it appears even more stupendous than that surpassing work of art, though inferior to it, of course, as a production of mechanical power and skill. It was cut by the ancients, doubtless, for the purpose of shortening the road to Pozzuoli. We rattle through it in our light caleche, at a good round pace, and soon find ourselves in the city, where we regale ourselves, after our fatiguing, but most delightful excursion, on café au lait, at the celebrated Café dell' Europa; a somewhat prosaic, but not "lame and impotent conclusion" to a bright and beautiful day.

* Agrippina, the mother of Nero, who was murdered by her own son, at her villa, near the Lucrine lake.

CHAPTER XIX.

The Churches of Naples-Religious and Moral Condition-Peculiarities of the People-Lazzaroni-Campo Santo, etc.

THERE are in Naples a hundred and twenty-two churches, a hundred and thirty chapels, and a hundred and fifty monasteries, some of which we have visited, but found very few of them worthy of admiration. Generally speaking, they are in wretched taste, ornamented to excess, with tinsel and gewgaws, and strikingly deficient in architectural beauty. The most interesting of these is the church of San Gennaro, or St. Januarius, built in 1299, from the designs of Nicola Pizaro. Originally, it was of pure Gothic, but the Neapolitans have somewhat impaired its beauty, by alterations and additions. It is chiefly remarkable for its hundred granite pillars which support the interior, and give it a peculiarly rich and sombre appearance. The body of the saínt lies in a subterranean chapel under the choir. The guide, an ecclesiastic connected with the establishment, shows us the splendid "chapel of the treasure," in which the blood of the patron saint is preserved, and informs us, with a grave face, that three times a year a great miracle is performed by its liquefaction, in presence of the people. The ceremony of melting the blood, which is contained in a dark-looking phial, takes place with much pomp and solemnity, in the midst of a prodigious concourse of citizens. It is held in the hands of the officiating bishop, and exhibited to the people as an object of adoration. The heat of his hand is

probably the cause of its liquefaction, composed, as it doubtless is, of ingredients easily susceptible of such a change. If it liquefies readily, the people and priests greatly rejoice, as this is a sign of prosperity and happiness; but if not, they regard it as a sign of calamity, abandon themselves to grief, and offer up earnest prayers for the safety of the city.

Next to San Gennaro, the most attractive church is that of Francesco de Paula, a comparatively recent structure in the principal square of the city, right opposite to the royal palace. The form is circular, with a lofty and magnificent dome, finished after the model of St. Peter's, in Rome. The interior is adorned with majestic, colossal statues of the four evangelists, and some of the Greek fathers, producing a very fine effect. Richly sculptured marbles, and paintings of exquisite beauty, are placed over the altars, while a soft light from the dome is diffused over the whole. We stept into the church one Sabbath evening, at vespers, and found in attendance a pretty large, but somewhat movable congregation. Some were going out, others coming in; some were standing, and a few kneeling on the pavement, but without reverence; while one or two priests, gaudily dressed in the robes of their office, were passing and repassing before the altar, gesticulating, bowing, and mumbling, in a rapid, indistinct, rumbling kind of voice, the Latin service, which none, or few of the people understood. It reminded us of John Bunyan's vanity-fair-so much glare, splendor and hubbub. Excuse the word, for that is the only one which can give the idea.

The Neapolitans are a gay, laughter-loving people, very licentious, as all travellers affirm, and they themselves admit; religious enough in their way, but caring little for what is serious, except in form, and that only on some particular occasions, such as the celebration of high mass, and the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius. Plenary indulgences, placarded on all the churches,

and promised for all times and occasions, affecting the past and the future, and reaching from time into eternity, can be had by those who choose to pay for them, and submit to the requisite ceremonies ;* and hence their religion sits easy enough upon their consciences, and allows them all the latitude which they can desire, either for this life or the life to come.

.*

Naples literally swarms with priests. It is said there are at least five thousand ecclesiastics of every kind; others put them at ten thousand, including the nuns and novitiates. Indeed, priests and soldiers seem to be the controlling powers of the place. The lawyers number four thousand, and are a wealthy and highly influential class, having peculiar privileges, and in consequence of the extreme length of lawsuits, holding in their hands a large portion of the real estate. The nobles are opulent, and fond of display; and the king is as complete a despot as ever sat upon the throne. But it is the priests and friars especially which attract the attention of a traveller, for you cannot take a walk of half an hour in any of the principal streets of the city, without meeting forty or fifty of them in their peculiar costume. Multitudes of friars, in their brown gowns, and black cowls, with girdled waists and sandalled feet, may be seen gliding along the streets, particularly in the morning, and collecting from the shops and stalls their daily revenue of charity, in the shape of eatables, money, and other things. Some of the priests are good-looking men. The higher ecclesiastics, especially, have quite a respectable appearance. A very few look ascetic. Some are evidently good-natured, easy, jolly souls, who belong rather to the race of King Cole, than of Saint Anthony; while the great mass of the lower clergy are

* The following are some of the notices placarded on the churches. "Indulgentia Plenaria." "Indulgentia Plenaria, Quotidiana, Toties Quoties." Indulgentia, Plenaria, Quotidiana Pro Vivis et Defunctis." dulgentia Plenaria, Perpetua, Toties et Quoties."

"In