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Mosaic pillars, and other fragments of these enchanted palaces, proclaim aloud that Baiea, scarcely yielded in splendour, to imperial Rome itself. But, when the barbarians rushed from their northern fastnesses like an overwhelming torrent and swept before them almost every precious relic of antiquity, Baiea shared the universal fate. Neglected and forsaken, stript of its inhabitants, it soon became a prey to the encroachments of the deep. The mole and buttress yielded to its resistless fury, and beneath its briny waves tessellated pavements and stuccoed floors form now perhaps, shall I say," continued the Father with a smile. "the basements of the hall of Naiads. Nay, here too, they may even find antique ornaments to confine their braided hair, for many persons in the summer time employ themselves in dragging the bottom of the sea with small baskets, and they seldom fail of finding among the sand a cameo or medal, which repays them for their labour.

At the bottom of the bay and at the foot of the steep rocks which serve as a foundation to the ruins called Nero's house, are some dark caves of great depth, leading to the hottest of all the vapour baths: nobody can remain long in them, or indeed penetrate to the end without an extraordinary degree of strength and resolution. The springs at the bottom of the grot are so hot as to boil an egg hard almost instantaneously. These caverns seem to be the very spot where nature has opened the readiest access to the very focus of a volcano, which has been within the two last centuries most outrageous in its operations; for to these must be attributed the overturning of the adjacent country, and the total alteration of its surface, by the birth of Monte Nuovo, which now blocks up the valley of Averno, and part of the Lucrine lake. In the year 1538 after previous notice by repeated quakings, the convulsed earth burst asunder, and made way for a deluge of hot ashes and flames, which being shot up to an immense height into the darkened atmosphere, fell down again all around, and formed a circular mound four miles in circumference, and one thousand feet high, with a large cup in the middle. Immediately after the explosion the wind rose furiously and wafted the lighter particles over the country burning and blasting all vegetation in its progress, wherever these ashes, impregnated with poison, adhered to the grass, death became the immediate lot of all the beasts that browzed upon it. The terrors occasioned by this phenomenon threatened the abandonment of the whole district; scarcely a family dared to remain even within sight of this horrid heap, which had overwhelmed a large town, filled up a lake, and buried under it a very extensive tract of cultivated lands.

Part of Monte Nuovo is however now cultivated but the larger portion of its declivity is wildly overgrown with prickly broom and rank weeds that emit a very foetid sulphureous smell. The crater is shallow, and is in the inside clad with shrubs, but the

Little area at the bottom is planted with fig and mulberry trees: a long neck of land prevents the waves from washing into a sedgy pool, the poor remnant of the Lucrine lake, once so renowned for the abundance and flavour of its shell fish, of which large beds lined the shallows, while a deep channel in the middle afforded riding and anchorage for vessels, and a passage into the inner bason of the Avernus; a small canal now serves to discharge the superabundant water.

Our travellers were delighted with the beauty of this spot, and although Father Benedict assured them the road to the lake Avernus was equally interesting, they quitted it with regret. They now entered a shady walk between Monte Nuovo and a thicket of reeds, which led them to the banks of Avernus. Here the landscape is confined but it is extremely pleasing; the dark blue surface of these unruffled waters, said to be three hundred and sixty feet deep, strongly reflects the tapering groves that cover its sloping inclosure; wild fowl skim its dusky waves, and the king-fisher shoots under its shady banks. A large octagon temple in ruins advances majectically to the brink; it has long been stripped of its marble ornaments, but its shape and size. still render it a noble and commanding object. "This temple," observed Father Benedict, bably dedicated to the worship of the infernal gods, to whose adoration these solemn scenes were consecrated. In those days of darkness the monarchs of the forest stretched their thick foliage over the sombre waves, and produced a gloom not to be penetrated by the mid day sun."

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"While mephitic vapours rising from the volcanic heat to which the whole of this part of the country is subject, more or less floated along its surface in poisonous mists, produced horrors, appropriate to such gloomy deities. A colony of Cimmerians, cut dwellings in the bosom of the surrounding hills, and officiated as priests of Tartarus. Superstition always delighting in dark ideas, early and eagerly seized upon this spot, and hither she led her trembling votaries to celebrate her dismal orgies: here she invoked the manes of departed heroes; here she offered sacrifices to the gods of hell, and attempted to dive into the secrets of futurity.

“After a long reign of undisturbed gloom and celebrity, a sudden glare of light burst upon Avernus; the horrors which had formerly enveloped this now beautiful spot vanished, and with them its sanctity. Its lofty and impenetrable woods disappeared at the command of Agrippa; the sleepy waters, disturbed by numerous vessels, assumed a new appearance; the noxious vapours fled with the surrounding gloom, and Avernus became clear and serene."

"A strange metamorphose indeed," replied Dr. Walker, “ do the two lakes of Lucrine and Avernus present, the former once the scene of every luxury and extravagance is now a slimy bed

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of rushes, while the latter blooms with fresh beauty, possessing every requisite for a repetition of the gay scenes of festivity which used to grace the deep blue waves and luxuriant shores of the Lucrine lake."

On every hill, in every valley in the environs of Avernus, appear the ruins of extensive villas, once embellished with all the elegancies of art combined with those of nature: mouldering walls and marble fragments point out the site of many a stately edifice; and here again our travellers were flattered into the belief that they were treading the ground formerly consecrated by the presence of Cicero.

SECTION IX.

MESSINA-SCYLLA AND CHARYBDis.

AFTER wandering amidst these pleasing remains for some time they returned to Puzzoli by moonlight, and there they passed the night. Edward was early on foot the next morning, and having strolled to some little distance from the town, he seated himself on a mossy ruin and contemplated with delight the effect of a rising sun and an Italian sky on the lovely scenery which surrounds Puzzoli.

He was arouzed from his reverie by the tasteful touch of a violin, he listened, started from his seat; the tones ceased, when a suppliant voice from behind him entreated charity. Edward turned briskly round, and in an instant he found himself encircled in the arms of Antonio.

"Oh mio Caro Padrone," said the youth, bursting into joyful tears, while again and again he grasped the hand of the astonished Edward, "Oh mio Caro Padrone.”

"I will not ask you how you escaped," said the no less delighted youth, as he affectionately returned the pressure of the joyful Antonio. Let us immediately join Dr, Walker. Indeed, Antonio," continued Edward, "We lingered in Terracina longer than we should have done, indulging hopes that we should hear of you. Forgetting that he was shoeless, and in fact almost without clothes, Antonio kept close to his young master who equally regardless of the shabby appearance of the youth, continued to express the utmost delight at their fortunate meeting as they passed through the town of Puzzoli.

Dr. Walker was not up when they arrived at the inn, but Father Benedict was just returned from a neighbouring convent and was enjoying himself at an open window which looked towards the sea.

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