The Democratic Whig. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1842-1843, 1843-08-24
LETTERs FROM EUROPE
Foreign Correspondence zoe N. Y. Tribune.
THE BEAUTY OF NAPLEs--VIs.
IT TO POMPEu--RUINs, EFT
CETERA.
NArLEs. MAY.ls49.

NAPLES, MAY, 1543.
The NeapoHtan maxim. aVerdi
Napoh POI mon"-'See Naples and then
do Is not 50 egotistical. The man who dies
without seeing i, that Is in one Of lie most "a
vorable aspects, loses no ordinary pleasure
/ There Is a combination Of scenery here to be
found no where ese--particular portions Of il
may be seen IN every country. But here is a
beautiful bay, Islands. cities, villages palaces,
vineyards. plains, mountains. and volcanoes
gathered into one "coup dell" There Is the
grandeur Of the past and the beauty Of The pre-
sent; ruined temples, and perfect ones; living
cities and buried; and over them all sky that
would make any country lovely, however rug
ged. Day before yesterday rode on to Pom
peii. At 8 O'Clock landed from the steam
bOat-a. 10 was on my way for the city Of
the dead. Il lies twelve miles distant, and in
the clear air and new objects that surrounded
me, / forgot he object that bad burned me a.
wav. Now an old looking vehicle would pass
Us whose shape could hardly be made out, from
the number Of ragged, dirty beings that cover.
ed it-standing, sitting, lying and indeed piled
up in every direction, SO as TO occupy the least
possible space. ] counted on several Of these
two wheeled one-horse vehicles ten persons
There would sit a row Of miserable looking
women outside Of their houses al engaged in
the same occupation. Often a little urchn
would be sitting on the ground with bis bead
between the knees Of a woman who vas busy
with bis head, while behind her stood a third
performing the same kind of service and all
forming a group both ludicrous and revolving.
In another direction would stand a man in the
Ia, he
other lifted over his head which was thrown
back to horizontal position hung IN empting
prohusion long strings of maccauOni which
disappeared around his neck like young snakes
in the throat Of their mother. A little girl
would pass along leading a pig by a string
which gamboed around her like a playful dog.
Thus we passed along the poetic Tore del
Greco and the ancient Oplonli,and then emery
ed into the open country where the piled up
lava and the barren hill sides reminded US that
we were approaching the scene of volcanic
fury. Yet here and there were green patches
from which the balmy bean sent forth its fra
GRANGE, contrasting strangely with the lava
walls that enclosed them.
We at length reached the gate Of The an
Gent city, where we left our carriages, and
commenced the strangest city promenade !
ever made. We first entered the house Of
Doomed, one ofthe aristocrats Of the city. We
descended into the damp dark wine cellar.
where the bones Of his family were found.
whittier they fed for safety from the storm Of
ashes and fire that overwhelmed them. There
against The side Of the wall, amid the earthen
wine-ars that still stood as they did on the last
day Of that dreadful tempest, was the out
stretched arms and the head Of her who had
fallen against ia her death agony. Nothing re-
NAMED but the bones and Jewels to tell the
sad story OF her torture and suffocation in that
dreadful hour. But | cannot 60 into details.
They have been written over hundred times.
There were baths, and dressing and dining
rooms, and workshops, and wheel-worn streets
where the living multitude had had moved,
and luxurated and toiled. We saw tombs
that were themselves entombed We saw the
room for washing the dead, where the living
we're suddenly buried unwashed and uncof-
fined; the .beer-shops, with the marks Of tie
tumblers still fresh in the smooth marble; The
mlllstones That sill turned 10 the hand IN the
self same was they turned nearly two thousand
years ago. There too was the brothel and
theatre and dancing hall. The secret orifice
through which the priest sent his voice to the
statute, to delude the people into the belief that
God bad spoken was now disclosed walked,
through the house Of a poet, into his garnished
sleeping apartments, forming in their silence,
part in a greater drama than he ever con-
ceived. / sood before the tavern with the
rings vet entire to which the horses we're ias-
tened, and where the bones Of a mother and
her three children were found locked in each
others arms. Temples were overthrown with
their affairs. The inches in which stood the
gods were ef empty, and the affairs before
them, on which smoked the sacrifice, were 81
lent and lonely. Columns fallen across each
other in the courts just as that wild hurricane
had left them, pieces ofthe architrave blocking
up the entrances they had surmounted, told
how fierce the shock and overthrow had been.
One house was evidently that Of a remarkably
rich man. Mosaic floors representing battle
scenes, precious stones still embedded in the
pavemenis Of his corridors, long colonnades,
and an the appurtena noes Of luxury, attested
the unbounded wealth Of the owner But no
bodies were found in Il. The rich man bad
fed with his portable wealth before the storm
came. We passed through the temple Of Ju-
piter, the court OF justice, the forum, The mar
kot-p place, and emerged into the country.
mounted an old wall, covered with earth,
and looked back on the disenlombed city, and
beyond the Vesuvius, There It stood, solemn
grand and lonely, sending up its steady column
Of smoke, perpetual and living tomb stone
over the dead Al his feet. / could see the
track ofthe lava on its wild and fiery march for
the sea, and could imagine just now the cloud
Of ashes and cinders rose from the summit and
came flying towards the deserted city. Foot
after foot i piled itself in the streets, over the
windows, and 50 on oh It re ached 20 OF 80 feet
above the tops Of the house. could behold
the sea where the younger Plny came, and
impelled by a fatal curiosity, would land, till
blinded and sufiocated, he too fell with the vic
tins that persisted.
From this we went to the amphitheatre
where the gladiaiofial shows were held. Il il
a magnificent area Of an oval form, and sufii
GENTLY capaeious to bold Is or twenty thou
sand spectators. There were the dens where
| the lions were kept, and there the very erea IN
which men fought and fell stood at one enc
and shouted, and the answering echo cam,
back clear and distinct as a second voice. /
enhanced the solitude. Some have imagine,
that spectators were assembled here al thl
time Of the overthrow ofthe city, and as the
felt the frst step Of the mighty earthquake tia
henlded its doom, they rushed in dismay fron
their seats. But this could not be, for Pom
pei did net fall BY an earthquake, and th
mountain, long before the eruption, gave omi
: NOUS sound OF the cOning blow. Die relate
that epectres lined the summit Of the noun
-. - ,..,,--thfr ehonas ALTERED sr.srsI l.