The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1867-07-09

Thine air is the puny breath oil passionate
thought;
Thy trees take root in love: the SHOWS above
The very glaciers have his colors caught"
If you like to read the rest of his dcscrip-
ton turn to the 81 Canto of Childc liar
old and you will find it. Believe every
thing he says about it, for no imagination,
however vivid, can overdraw the beauti-
fdl picture Ierc it is spread out before
me. rise in the morning and look out
upon nature, aud it seems like Il lovely
dream. | lock upon it till the night
shades hide it, and still the vision floats
before me like II dream. You wake a.
gain in the morning hardly daring to hope
that the beautiful landscape will be there
in all its loveliness, bat it proves its realI-
ty by greeting ever your waking eyes.
This is lovely place to rest, after tear
ing at lightning speed, for three months,
through England, France and Italy, in II
constant whirl Of excitement at sight sec
ng,and ending by three days'iide in pri-
vate carriage. over the famous ,Smploa
from Bayen on Laggio Maggiore to ills
place. This pure and cool and delicious air,
of this free mountain republic Is refreshing
to beings that have been for month OPP.
pressed with the SCOT, thick stiilcd, stink
ing atmosphere Of Italy. Here we are,
and here we stay, till these weary bones
have rcgaiued their elasticity, and these
ovcr-fed eyes have digestcd their feast of
sights, and cali for more.
But to refresh my memory with Italian
scenes, and my nostrils with Italian fra
GRANGE, (bah! what ojors y | wish to tell
you of an excursion or two around Ma
pies Naples is third in size, and first in
filth Of all the cities of Europe. 1t SWEEP s
around the head Of its beautiful bay for
five or six miles, and rises gracefully back
upon the slopes of grim old Vesuvius,
decorating his sides with groves of orange
and olive, and pretty white vil'as. In re-
turn for this when he is in one of his
moods, he belches forth and pours down
upon them red hot stream of lava, that
cuts its way through groves and villas
down into the valley leaving its blackened
track to tell Of the devastation 10 future
ages. In ascending this mountain, one is
struc; with the marked contrast At n
certain point in the road, vegetation sud.
denly terminates, and the way lies over
masses of black scora, piled up in heaps,
cracked, gorgcd only desolaion is
round him. Nothing can exceed the
graceGulness Of the situation of Naples
Its beautiful bay, its ramparis of tower
ing mountains, all consprc to add to the
beauty of the scene.
An interesting excursion my be made
around the north side Of the bay to Baiae
Every step Of the way is crowded with
historic interest. Greek and Roman 30
cts have made these scenes immortal. As
you swing around point of land just be-
yond the city and cross level beach, you
reach the ancient tow. OF Puteoli, now
Pozzuali. Here Paul landed, Acts 2S: l3.
Out there, stretching away into the water,
Is the very pier upon which he first set
foot.
Ruins of ancient heather temples and
Roman villas, line the shore beyond, sub
merged beneath the waves, nothing re-
naming visible but broken columns that
show themselves washed up along the
shore, or beneath the clear water. In
rowing along in boat, you can see down
to a great distance and discover these RI
ins. The temple of Jupiter Scraps
stands in from the shore, but at present
its floor is three or four leot under water
Nothing remains but portions of the outer
wall, two pillars Of the corridor, and the
pillars that surround the altar Of sacrifice
The whole ruin has been submerged six
teen feet under water, and lifted back
again TO It's present position. So REGULAR
was the volcanic action that caused this,
that these heavy columns have not moued
hairs breadth from their perpendicular
position.
Just back Of the town stands the old
crater of Solfatarra (sulpLer earth). The
crater is a kind Of basin, about n mile in
circumference, shut in by cliffs from fifty
to one hundred feet in height. From a
cavern in lis farther side come Kissing
forth volumes Of steam, emitting a strong
sulphurous odor, too hot for the naked
hand. The stones at the mouth of this
cavern are literally red with heat. The
rocks within and around the water edge
wherever the steam touches them-are
thickly crested over with deposit of sui
phur. This is certainly "a hot place and
near a hotter one. \ stone thrown upon
the ground in the center Of this basin,
causes it TO reverberate with the sound of
a hollow subterranean cavern The crust
here is said to be only forty feet thick.
\ little farther on is the mountain, it.
self once n huge volcano, upon which
grew the grapes from which the famous
ialernian wine was made. Cicero used to
come down from Rome to his villa here,
and eat oysters from Lake Lucrinus, near,
and drink this wine.
Just here ls Lake Avernus which Vir-
gil's muse has made immortal. Here
Aeneas came from his fleet in the bay of
Gaeta just over the hill, with the sybil
from CumGe, to consult his fate at this
shrine. Here Orpheus went down after
Eurydice. Here is the cave OF the SYPHILIS,
in which they were suffered to disclose to
men their fates. So many volcanoes were
| here, that il is not surprising that the su.