In our last, we took leave of you at the moment of our casting anchor in the Bay of Naples. The scene which was presented to us on deck, though not new, was of that character with which the mind can never become familiar; dim, varied, and solemn. Across the Bay we saw the flames of Vesuvius, flashing up in glaring brightness, or sinking down into their crater, like a mighty conflagration on the point of being extinguished, while the long black slope of the mountain was fringed half way down with fire; at hand were the many vessels heaving to and fro; the lamps seen among them here and there, shed an indistinct illumination on dark masses of collected hulks, on an endless labyrinth of ropes, or on the figure of a solitary sailor leaning over a ship's side in southern listlessness. A thousand lights twinkled through the casements of the city, and the hum of crowds just murmured in our ears, and mixed with the hasty dash of waters beating against the vessels, or with the dipping of distant oars. At brief intervals we heard the rattle of wheels passing over a bridge near which we were anchored, and we could distinguish the passing forms, and hear the loud voices of stragglers who were wandering near the Sanita.

On the following morning, about ten o'clock, a Cavaliere came off in a boat. The passengers and crew were summoned to the side of the vessel; the Cavaliere, addressing himself to the captain, made the usual inquiries. "From what port do you come?" "Leghorn." "What is your lading?" "Cheese and rice." "Nothing else?" "Nothing." "How many passengers have you on board?" "Five." "What is your crew?" "Nine." "You have changed no one of your company since you received the bills of health at Leghorn?" "No one." "You have had no communication with any vessel, nor touched any shore since leaving Leghorn?" "No, none." "You will

Naples 22d Dec. 1821. swear to all this?" "Yes." "Are all on board in health?” “Yes; but a boy on board has a bad foot." "He must be examined." The boy was brought nearer to the inquisitors, and showed his wound to a surgeon in the boat, who declared it to be of no consequence. "When shall we take pratique, Sir?" "In six or seven days." "Six or seven days, Madonna, how so?" Here our captain entered on a preconcerted chapter of lies, with great spirit. A squadron of small vessels, under the convoy of a Neapolitan brig of war, that had sailed from Leghorn the day before us, and had arrived one day previously, had not been condemned to any quarantine. Don Giuseppe very wisely wished to take advantage of this circumstance; he declared we were in the squadron, but had been separated from it just round the Capo Miseno, in consequence of having broken our yard, and of having been obliged to lie to several hours; he pointed to the yard which had been mended as evidence, and pledged his honour and his saint, and even offered to swear to the truth of what he said. All this, however, was of no use; the Cavaliere was obstinate, and the lies were thrown away. The great man turned to depart. "But Eccellenza," cried the captain, in a plaintive voice, "six or seven days!" "You must petition the board of health," said the Cavaliere, as he rowed off. It was clear that the great man in the boat saw through our great man's lies, but the exception was foolish enough, or rather the privilege enjoyed by the squadron was absurd, since being convoyed by a Neapolitan brig could not insure the health of a number of vessels united in haste at Leghorn from different parts of the Mediter

ranean.

Quarantine laws are very necessary in such a port as Naples, and they should be jealously observed; but the regulations here are ill a dapted to attain their end, and very little respected, except in times of

alarm.* A nominal quarantine is imposed on all merchant vessels in every season, and from whatever foreign port they may come; the time fixed by the law for vessels coming direct from England is fourteen days, which, however, are always diminished to ten or eleven. The vessels, except in very particular cases, are admitted into the midst of a crowded harbour, and are only to be distinguished by yellow flags. A considerable annual sum is thus drawn from traders, and a great number of impiegati (a part of the exuberant population) are supported, who live upon the abuse and violation of the law. The captain of almost every country ship carries on a little snug smuggling, and the guards appointed by the health office, and stationed in boats to prevent any communication between different vessels, and with the shore, are very generally employed by the captains, while they lie in quarantine, to convey commodities away in contraband. These fellows at deep midnight receive any thing into their boats, and carry it, or have it carried, into the city without difficulty; their prices are regular, and they are said to act honestly enough towards their employers. This sort of" honour among thieves" is said not to be infrequent here; but we are much inclined to doubt its extent and force, as we can see no reason why one rogue should not cheat another, whenever opportunity and interest invite.

About noon a boat came off to us,

containing the captain's family, consisting of his mother, his wife and children, and an old priest; we were astonished to see the coldness of this meeting; there were no welcomings home, no kind salutations or inquiries, no joys expressed on either part at seeing each other again after three months' absence; there was no tenderness, no love: almost the first questions from the boat were, What have you brought us from Genoa? -What did you buy at Leghorn ?— Have you got any rosolio? And presently a conversation ensued, in which the probable gains of the voyage were calculated and discussed at length.

The captain's eldest son, a boy about fourteen, had already assumed the greasy three-corner hat, the broad shoe-buckle, and the loose frock of a priest-he appeared the most impudent and vulgar of the party. It is from classes such as these that the poorer, and now the most numerous orders of priests and monks are drawn. The vulgar Neapolitans consider a connexion with the priesthood as conferring a sort of nobility on their families, for which reason they generally use all their endeavours to get one of their sons into the church. The individual selected receives a little education, and a cowl or a cocked hat; becomes idle and mendicant for the rest of his life; and furnished with some hypocrisy, a little Latin, and a good deal of snuff, has nothing more to do but to pray and beg, and get fat. The mother and

his arms and neck, and also, " not to speak it profanely," by making the by-standers open their mouths and their pockets, and gaze at him in a stupor of credulity and astonishment. A little farther on, just by the postoffice, under the shade of a tattered boat-sail, sits a man of letters, with a pen in his hand, an inkhorn, an iron snuff-box, containing the true erba santa, and some white (that is to say, rather white) sheets of paper before him. We have frequently walked up to him, for to us scribblers there is always something inviting curiosity in these paraphernalia of Apollo; they are our own tools; they are to us what the helmet and feather and bright sword are to the hero. Here, too, we have at times played the eavesdropper, and have had occasion to smile at the variety of subjects which pass under this good man's pen, for he is one of a multitude who assist with their literary abilities those who have not happened to cultivate the art of writing. The manufacturers of fine sentences, who write on mahogany tables covered with green baize, would find it hard work to get through the pêle-mêle variety of knotty subjects which are here indited with the utmost composure. This poor fellow sits here, ill sheltered from wind and weather, and scribbles and gossips away from morning till night, and covers a whole sheet of paper for five grains. The versatility of his talent is kept in continual exercise; he now listens to a tight donnetta, and having dispatched her letter of tender, or reproaching, or despairing love, turns round to a haggard old woman who is overflowing with ire, and who bursts out into complaints of debts not paid, and menaces of a prison; when that is done, perhaps his ear is filled and his hand arrested by a galantuomo who makes excuses for debts he cannot pay, and promises to pay very soon; his facile pen next returns thanks for a bundle of cacciocavallo, or runs through a letter of compliments which is to accompany a basket of real Maccaroni della Costa, and then prepares to follow the

story which a sturdy paesano is ready to pour into his listening ear, that he has sold his master's pigs, and bought the calesso, and will return, without fail, on the second day after the festa di San Gennaro. All this is delivered in pure unorthographical Neapolitan; nor does the business always pass off currently; frequent doubts and difficulties are proposed to the scribe by the persons who employ him, and who are not quite satisfied that he has expressed their meaning with precision and force; this elicits various explanations on his side, when the common reply, non dubitate," fails of its effect.

From these spectacled sages, we are called away by the sounds of cracked trumpets, and crazy long drums, interrupted at intervals by the shrill voice of Polcinello, inviting passers by, with jokes two hundred years old, just to step into his Teatrino (about as large and as clean as a blacksmith's shop) and to see all its wonders at the very reasonable price of three grains; near this is a strapping wench in trowsers and a short red jacket, sawing across a squeaking fiddle with a long bow (of the same odd shape as those which Luca Giordano and Solimeno put in the hands of their fiddling angels), and a little hump-backed gentleman blowing a clarionet; pictures divided into squares are suspended behind; in one compartment there is a fair lady lifting up a donkey by her hair, and in another, a troop of dapper horses and horsemen passing between her legs. A few doors off is a show of Marionettes, where the invitations are equally clamorous; and, next to that, is an iron bedstead maker, who, if possible, makes still more noise. Opposite is a famous lollypop maker, dabbing, beating, and screwing out the glutinous mass, to the no small temptation of a crowd of children, and Lazzarani and Lazzarone, who are children also in their affection for sweets, as in most other particulars. Here too there is generally an old woman singing, accompanied by an old man playing the fiddle; the subject of the songs, and of the grotesque paintings on a large board