Transcriber’s Note: Mrs. Piozzi’s own manner of writing has been retained,including spelling and grammar that is inconsistent and perhaps unfamiliar to the modern reader.
OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS
MADE IN THE COURSE OF A
JOURNEY
THROUGH
FRANCE, ITALY, AND GERMANY.
By HESTER LYNCH PIOZZI.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
Printed for A. Strahan; and T. Cadell in the Strand.
M DCC LXXXIX.
OBSERVATIONS and REFLECTIONS
made in a journey through
France, Italy, and Germany.
NAPLES.
On the tenth day of this month we arrivedearly at Naples, for I think it wasabout two o’clock in the morning; and surethe providence of God preserved us, for neverwas such weather seen by me since I came intothe world; thunder, lightning, storm at sea,rain and wind, contending for mastery, andcombining to extinguish the torches boughtto light us the last stage: Vesuvius, vomitingfire, and pouring torrents of red hot lava downits sides, was the only object visible; andthat we saw plainly in the afternoon thirtymiles off, where I asked a Franciscan friar,If it was the famous volcano? “Yes,” replied[2]he, “that’s our mountain, which throws upmoney for us, by calling foreigners to see theextraordinary effects of so surprising a phænomenon.”The weather was quiet then,and we had no notion of passing such a horriblenight; but an hour after dark, a stormcame on, which was really dreadful to endure;or even look upon: the blue lightning, whosecolour shewed the nature of the original mineralsfrom which she drew her existence,shone round us in a broad expanse from timeto time, and sudden darkness followed in aninstant: no object then but the fiery rivercould be seen, till another flash discovered thewaves tossing and breaking, at a height Inever saw before.
Nothing sure was ever more sublime orawful than our entrance into Naples at thedead hour we arrived, when not a whisper wasto be heard in the streets, and not a glimpseof light was left to guide us, except the smalllamp hung now and then at a high windowbefore a favourite image of the Virgin.
My poor maid had by this time nearlylost her wits with terror, and the Frenchvalet, crushed with fatigue, and covered[3]with rain and sea-spray, had just life enoughleft to exclaim—“Ah, Madame! il me sembleque nous sommes venus icy exprès pour voir lafin du monde[1].”
The Ville de Londres inn was full,and could not accommodate our family;but calling up the people of the Crocelle,we obtained a noble apartment, the windowsof which look full upon the celebratedbay which washes the wall at ourdoor. Caprea lies opposite the draw