The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-05-11

the sea and the BOScO, or Wooded Region
of Vesuvius, stand the silent walls Of Pom
tomb, palace and habitation nearly as per-
feet and equally as we'll directoried, as be-
fore its seventeen centuries of silence be-
meath it's ashy pail. Herculaneum is found
but few miles northward towards Naples.
Around on the other side of the gulf, Ischia,
citation. was the marine of the ancients.
beneath its volcanic Mount Epomeo lay,
like Enceladus under Etna, the giant Ty-
phoeus, ever moaning, and occasionally bel
lowing, in his awful throes of pain. After
Rome's fall Ischia suffered untold vicissi-
Pescara, was born in its castle. His sister,
the brave and noble Constance, heroically
defended it against the French forces Of
Louis II. And it was to Ischia that the tai
ented Vittoria Colonna, wife of Pescara.
the platonic and poetical adorer of Michael
Angelo; retired to mourn her kingly hus-
bands loss. Procida, islet of houses in glist-
ening white, of the vine and wine and fish
ermen, where, during the festival of St.
Michael in September, the women don the
olden Greek costume of red and gold and
dance the tarentella in weird and fantastic
orgies, lies between Ischia and the Neapoli-
tan mainland of Cape Miseno. Then, Posili-
pc, lend of care" where the notorious glut-
ton, Vedius Polio, built his wondrous cpl
curean villa, afterwards possessed by Au-
gustus. But the real shrine here is above
Posilipo among the leafy vineyards of the
heights. Here in little vaulted chamber
hardly sixteen feet square another immortal
dreamed and wrote. There the Georges
and Eneid were composed, and here in this
old Roman columbarium is the tomb of the
gentle Virgil. Thus at the two extremities
of the mainland headlands of the shining
Ncapolitan gulf lived two of the divinest
poets the world has ever known-Virgil
among the vines upon the heights at the
north; Tasto, of later and sadder hour,
among the chestnut groves and olives of the
south; intellectual beacons of god-like pow
er to shine with undiminished flame from
the twin headland horns of this wondrous
crescent shore through all the cycles of re-
corded time.
So I believe it is more the Hydrologic,
which all the beautiful environs of Naples
are rife, flavor of which cannot but at
some time and in some way be conjured in
the fancy of every traveller of sympathetic
and receptive mind, that have lent such an
indefnable charm to Naples itself. Surely
now over half million Souls. Forming
with its second oircling ridge double
crescent, it presents from any point of
view, either in the bay or upon either sweep
of shore q most superb scene to the behold
er. Its hundreds of churches are sufficient
~ kIuuS Ulbludl, Uuu Gu0 I6pOBlUOr10S OF
ample enough ecclesiastic art, to satisfy
the hungriest veneration for all that sort of
thing. Its national museum, containing as
it now does. the Oldest royal collection of
antiquities and paintings, as we'll as
the Farnese collection, the collections
once stored in the palaces of Ca
podimonte ond Porticf, and the impressive
excavated treasures of Stabi@, Cume, Pom
peii and Herculaneum, is inc0ntestibly one
of the most valuable and interesting the
world now possesses. It's cathedral (II Du-
omo) a basilica with aisles of Gothic vault
ing. with frescoes by Giordano and Solimena,
and its tombs of Charles l., of Aniou, Mar
tel and Andreas. Kings of Hungary. of In
moo mt ~. and of Pope Innocent XII.. is
grand and imposing. Its Royal Palace, Pal
ace Angri. Garibaldi's residence when die
tator, Palace Madaloni, now housing the
Bank of Naples, Palace Miranda, containing
Ruben's Triumph of Beauty" and other
great paintings by Spagnoletto, Guido and
Rsni, Palace Santangelo, and the Royal
Palaces at the port side and upon Capodi-
Monte, are each and all tremendous piles.
specimens of every variety of architectural
magniicence in establishment during the
past thousand years. The Castle Nuovo.
begun by Charles l., Of Anjou, in 1888. Gas.
tie dell Ovo, built by William l.. aud Fred
erick H., in the 18th century, the
CASTLES of Capuano, once the
residence 81 Hoenstaufen KinQs.
Of Carmine, with its huge round towers, and
Of Saint Elmo, now dismantled and used A.
. military prison, are massive medieval
piles, all glorious in pictures, bat each
valnslsss for modern defense. it, royal