Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1833-05-23

Inc walls OF Niterbo are hanked
with towers, and have a noble appear.
ance from the hillside on which the
town stands. We arrived too late to
see any thing of the place. cas- we
were taking coffee at the cafe the next
morning, a half hour before daylight.
we heard music in the street, and look.
ing out at the door, we saw a long pro.
cession of young girls, dressed with
flowers in their hair, and each PLAYING
kind of cymbal, and half dancing as
she went along Three or four at the
head of the procession sung kind of
verse, and the rest joined in a short
merry chorus at intervals. 1t was more
like train of Corybantes than any
thing ! had seen. We inquired the OBJ.
ject of it, and were told it was a pro-
cession to the vintage. They were
going out to pluck the last grapes, and
It was custom to make it fiesta. 1t
was striking scene in the otherwise
perfect darkness of the streets, the
torch bearers at the sides waving their
flambeaux regularly over their heads,
and shouting with the rest in chorus.
The measure was quick, and the step
very fast. They were gone in an in.
stant.-The whole thing was poetical,
and in keeping for Italy. never saw
it elsewhere.
We left Viterbo on clear, mild au.
tumnal morning; and | think never
felt the excitement of a delightful clim-
ate more thrillingly. The road was
wild, and with the long ascent of the
Monte -Cimino before us, left the car.
riage to its slow pace, and went ahead
several miles on foot. The first rain
of the season had fallen, and the road
was moist, and all the spicy herbs of
Italy perceptible in the air. Half way
up the mountain ] overlook a fat, bald,
middle-aged priest, slowly toiling upon
his mule. | was passing him with
"6uon giormo," when he begged me for
my own sake, as well as his, to keep
him company. sit was the worst road
for thieves" he said, Gin all Italy,"
and he pointed at every short distance
to little crosses erected at the road side,
to commemorate the finding of murder
ed men on the spot. After he had told
me several stories Of the kind, he ele-
waited his tone, and began to talk of
other matters. | think | never heard
SO loud and long laugh as his.
ventured to express a wonder al his
finding himself so happy in a life of
ceiibacy. He looks at me silly a mo.
ment or two as if he were hesitating
whether to trust me with his opinions
on the subject; but he suddenly seemed
to remember his caution, and pointing
off to the right, showed me a lake
brought into view by the last turn of
the road. 1t was "Lake Woo" From
the midst of it rose a round mountain,
covered to the top with luxuriant ches.
nuts-the lake forming a sort of trench
about it, with the hill on which we
stood rising directly from the other
edge. 1t was one faultless mirror of
green leaves. The two hill sides sha.
dowed it completely. All the views
from Monte Cimino were among the
richest in mere nature that I ever saw,
and reminding me strongly of the coun-
try about the Seneca lake Of America.
| was on the layuga at about the same
season three summers ago, and I could
have believed myself back again, it
was so like my recollection.
We stopped on the fourth night of our
journey, seventeen miles from Rome,
at place called Bacano. A ridge of
hills rose just before us, from the top
of which, we were told, we could see
st. Peters The sun was just dipping
under the horizon, and the ascent was
three miles. We threw off our cloaks,
determining to see Rome before we
slept, ran unbreathed to the top of the
Hill, an effort which so nearly exhaust
ed us, that we could scarce stand long
enough upon our feet to search over
the broad campagna for the dome.
The sunset had fingered a great
while--as it does in Italy. Four or five
light feathery streaks of cloud glowed
with intense crimson in the west, and
in the brow of Mount Socrate, (which
| recognized instantly from the graphic
simile* of Childe Harold and along
on all the ridges of mountain in the
past, still played kind of vanishing
reflection, half purple, halfgray. With
a moments glance around to catch the
outline of the landscape, felt instinct
lively where Rome SHOULD stand, and
my eye fell at once upon ethe mighty
dome." Jupiter had by this time ap-
.peared, and hung right over it, trem-
bling in the sky with its peculiar glo-
| ry, like a lump of molten spar, and as
tho colour faded from. tho cIo,,ds ord