A P L E S Past Present - Forgotten Books

A P L E SPA S T P R E S E N T

By A R T H U R H . N O R WAYAu

'

r uon or“ H I GHWAYS AN D BYWAY S I N DE V O N

A N D CO R NWA L L , “ P A R S O N P E T E R , B '

r c .

WITH 24 PHOTOGRAVURE IL LUSTRATIONSAND 3 2 E N G RAV I N G S I N HA L F - TO N E

IN TWO VOL UME S VOL UME ONE

N E W I'

ORK F R E DE R I CK A. STO KE S

C OMP A N Y P U B L I S H E R S

To my fr iendsBARON AND BARON E SSMAR IO NOL L IofNaples, andofAr i in the Abr uzzi

I dedicate thisbook in token that those whoa r e divided by bothsea and la nd

may yet be un ited in their

lovefor I ta ly.

V I I I .

THE APPROACH To NAP L E S BY THE SE A

THE ANCIE NTMARVE LS OF THE PHLEGEM F IE LDS

THE BE AUTIE S AND TRADITIONS OF THE

POS I L I PO WITH SOME OBSE RVATIONSUPON V IRGIL THE E NCHANTE R

THE R IV IE RA DI CHIAIA AND SOMESTRANGE THINGS WHICH OCCURRE D

THE E NCHANTE D CASTLE OF‘ THE E GG

AND THE SUCCE SSION OR THE K INGSWHO HE LD IT

THE BARBARITIE S OF F E RDINAND OE ARA

GON WITH CE RTAIN OTHE R SUBJE CTSWHICH PRE SE NT THEMSE LV E S INSTROLLING ROUND THE CITY

CHIE FLY ABOUT CHURCHE S WITH SOMESAINTS , BUTMORE SINNE RS

A GRE AT CHURCH AND TWO V E RY NOBLETRAGE DIE SAPPE NDIXINDE X

L I ST OF IL L USTRATIONS

VOL UME I

PHOTOGRAVURE S

Panor ama ofNaplesfr om V illa.TolentinoChur ch ofSan taMar ia delCa rmineCloister ofMonastery ofSanMa r tinoFestival ofPiedigrottaPalace ofDonna Anna Car afa . XVI I . Centur y

Villa ofL ucullusat PosilipoVilla del Popolo andCaste! Sant’ E lmoFountain in the Str ada San ta L ucia

Ar ch of Tr iumph in Honour of Alfonso of

Ar r agon , CastelNuovoThe Piazza andMonument ofDanteI n ter ior ofthe Chur ch ofJesusI nter ior ofChur ch ofSan F r ancesco di PaoloDoorway of the Capella di San Giovanni da

Pappacoda . XI I I . Cen tury

HAL F—TONE E NGRAVINGS

V ia Par tenope, fr om the Sea F acing page 6

The Castle of Ischia 8

The NationalGa rden , withthe Tomb ofVirgil 14

F acing page 20

24

40

104

146

154

160

LI ST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The Castel dell’ Ovo Facing page 18

The Piazza delMun icipio 28

Cloister of the Car thusianMonaster y of San

Mar tinoThe Island ofNisidaThePiazza San Fer dinando andCastelSant’ E lmoVirgil

’

5 Tomb

Rivier a di Ghiaia and the VillaMun icipaleStreet In Chiaia

The VillaMunicipaleCasteldell’ Ovo, Pizzofalcone andSanMar tino,fr om the Sea

V ia For ia and the NationalMuseumThe Str ada Santa L ucia andthe Casteldell’ OvoAllegor ical Statue in the Capella Sansever oThe Por ta Capuana

Inter ior ofChur chofSantaMar ia del Carmine

NAPL E S

PAST AND PR E SE NT.

VOL UME I.CHAPTE R I.

THE APPROACH To NAP L E S BY THE SE A.

ON a fine spr ing mor ning when the sun ,whichset last n ight in gold andpur ple behindthe jagged moun tain chain of Corsica, hadb ut just climbed high enough to send outshaftsand flashesofsoft light acr osstheopalescen tsea, I came up on the deck of thegr eat steam er which car r ied me fr om Genoato watch for the first Open ing of the Bay of

Naples. It w asso ear ly that the deckswer ever y quiet. Ther e wasno sound b ut theper petualsoft r ustle of the wave shed Off

fr om the how ofthe steam er,which slipped

on silently without sense of motion. ThePonza Islandswer e in sight

,desolate and

pr ecipitous,showing on their dar k clifisno

2 NAPLES,PAST AND PRESENT.

house nor any sign of life,save her e and

ther e a. sea- bir d w inging itssolitary way

r ound the cr agsand caver nsof the coast.Far ahead

,in the dir ection ofour course, lay

one or two dim ,cloudy m asses

,too faint and

shadowy to be detached asyet fr om the gr eyskyline which bounded the crystalline sparklee ofthesea. Andso

,havingstr ained my

eyesin vain effor t to discover the high peakofIschia

,I fell to wonder ing why any m an

who isat liberty to choose hisr outeshoulddr eam of appr oaching thisCampan ian coastotherwise than by thesea.For Naplesisthe city of thesir en Par

thenope,”sacr ed to one ofthosesea nymphs

whose mar velloussweet singing floated out

acr ossthe wavesand lur ed the ancien tseafmen r owing by in their str ange old galleys,shaped after a fashion now long since forgotten

,andcar r ying m er chandise fr om cities

which thir ty centur iesago and mor e wer e“ br oken by the sea in the depthsof thewatersso that all the company in themidst ofthem didfail. How many gener ationshad the line ofsailorsstr etched amongwhom Par thenope wr ought havoc befor e

THE APPROACH TO NAPLES. 3

Ulyssessailed byher r ock,andsaw the heaps

ofwhitening bon es,andlast ofall m en hea r d

the wondr ousm elodieswhich must have lur edhim too

,b ut for the tight thongswhich

b oun d him to the m ast ! So Par thenope andher two sisterscast themselvesinto the seaandper ished

,asthe old pr ediction said they

must when first a m ar iner wen t by their r ockunscathed. But her dr owned body floatedover the blue sea till it r eached the shor eat Naples

,andsom ewher e near the har bour

the wonder ing people built her a shr in ewhich wasdoubtlessr ar ely lovely

,and is

m entioned by Str abo,the Old Gr eek geogr a

pher,asbeing shown still in hisday, not

long after the bir th ofChr ist.Ther e isnow b ut little navigation on theseseascompar ed with the r elative impor tanceoftheshipping that cam e hither in old days.Naplesisin our day outstr ipped by Genoa ,andhar d r un

,even for the goodsofsouther n

Italy,by Br indisi and Tar an to. The tr ade

ofRom e goeslar gely to Leghor n. If Ostiawer e ever pur ged of fever and r ebuilt, or iftheschem esfor deepen ing the Tiber so astoallow lar ge vesselsto discharge at Rom e wer e

NAPLES, PAST AND PRESENT.

car r ied out,we m ight see the por t ofNaples

decline asthat of Pozzuoli did for the selfsam e r eason

,the br oad factswhich gover n the

course of tr ade being thesam e today astheywer e thr ee thousand yearsago. E ven now

it isr ather the conven ience of passengersandmailsthan the n ecessitiesofm er chantswhichtake the gr eat ocean steamersinto Naples.It isnot easy for men who r ealise these factsto r em ember that the watersof the Campanian coast have mor e than once been ploughedby the chief shipping of the wor ld. F ar

back in the dawn Of histo ry,wher e nothing

cer tain can be distinguished of the deedsofmen or nations

,the pr esence of tr aders

,

Phoenician andGr eek,can be infer r ed upon

these shor es. The antiquity Ofshipping isimm ense andm easur eless. Year by year thespade

,tr enching on the sitesof an cient

civilisation , dr ivesback by centur iesthe dateat which m an

’sin tellect began to gatherscience ; andno one yet can put hisfinger onany poin t of tim e andsay, Within thisSpm an did not understandthe use of sail or

car .

” The ear liest seam en of whom weknow anything at allwer e doubtlessthesuc


m or e ofmany a gener ation like themselves.I t cannot be much lessthan a. thousand yearsbefor e Chr ist wasbor n when Gr eek shipswer e cr ossing the sea whichwashed theirwester n coastsboun d for Sicily and theCampan ian shor es. Yet how many agesmust have passed between the dayswhen theGr eeksfirst went afloat and those in whichthey dar ed push off towar d the n ightside ofthe wor ld

,wher e the m ar inersof the dead

wen t to and fr o upon the sea,wher e the

expanse ofocean lay unbr oken by theshelterofany fr iendly island, and both windsandcur r entsbeat against them in their course

,or

even by coasting up and down the Adr iaticset that dr eadedsea between them andtheirhom es! Superstition

,hand in hand with

per il,bar r ed their way, yet they br oke

thr ough ! But after what centur iesof fearful longing cur iosity andlove Ofsalt adven

the unknown , till cour age gained the m astery and the galleysbraved the sur f andsmoke ofthe p lanctw,

the r ocksthatstr ucktogether

,wher e not even do bir dspassby

,

no,not the timor ousdoveswhich car r y Am

6 NAPLES, PAST AND PRE SENT.

br osisfor Zeus, b ut even of them the sheerr ock ever stealsone away

,and the father

sendsin another to make up the number .

”

Then the r owerssaw the r ock of Scyllaandher r avening headsthr ust for th to pr eyon them , while beneath the fig tr ee on theopposite cr ag Char ybdissucked down theblack seawater awfully

,and cast it for th

again in showersof foam andspr ay. Thesefabled dangerspassed

,ther e r emain ed the

Island of the Sir ens,which legend placed

near Capr i,wher e Ulyssespassed it when he

sailed south again ; and so the wonder fultr adition of the Sir ensdom inatesthe ancien ttr affic ofm ankind upon these waters

,andthe

har bour wher e theshr in e ofPar thenope wasr eflected in the bluesea claimsa lofty placein the r ealmswhether of imagin ation or ofthat scholarship which car esr ather for thedeedsof men than for the ver bal em endationsofa text.

The shr ine hasgone. The m emor y r e

mainsonly asa fable, whose dim m ean ingr estson the vast dur ation ofthe agesthr oughwhich men have gone to and fr o upon theseWaters. But her e, still unchanged

,isthe

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THE APPROACH TO NAPLE S .

pathway to the shr ine— the Tyr r hene Sea,bear ingstill theselfsam e aspect asin the dayswhen the galleysof E neasbeat up the

coast from Tr oy, and Palinur uswatched thewind r ise out ofthe blackening west. Sincethose oldtim esthe sur face of the land haschanged asoften almost asthesumm er cloudshave swept acr ossit. Volcan ic outburstsand the capr ice of many m astershavewr ought together in destr uction so that hewho now desir estosee what Vir gilsaw mustcheat hiseyesat ever y mom en t and keep hisimagination ever on the str etch. E ven thecity of medimval days

,the capital ofAnjon

andAr agon,isso far lost andhidden that a.

man mustseek diligently befor e he cutsthenetwork ofoldstr eets

,uIIsavour y andcr owded,

in which he can discover the lanesandcour tyardswher e Boccacciosought Fiamm etta, orthe wallson which Giotto painted.But her e

,upon thesilen tsea

,at ever y mo

men t fr esh objectsar e com ing into sightwhich have lain unchanged under dawn and

dusk in ever y gen er ation . Alr eady the volcanic con e ofMon te E pom eo towersout of

Ischia,a m enace of destr uction which not

8 NAPLE S, PAST AND PRE SE NT.

twenty yearsago fulfilled itself andshookthe town ofCasamiciola in a fewsecondsintoa mer e r ubble heap. It isasadSIghtstill to

pr oject on every side. The cathedr al liesshatter ed anduntouched; ther e isnot enoughmoney in the island to r ebuild it. Thevisitors

,to whom most of the old pr osper ity

wasdue,have not yet r ecover ed fr om the at

tack ofner vesbr ought on by the ear thquake.But ther e r emainswonder ful b eauty at Casamiciola andelsewher e on Ischia ; the PiccolaSentin ella isan excellen t hotel ; some day,sur ely

,the lost gr ound will be r ecover ed,

andpr osper ity r etur n.

The new town liesgleaming on the flat atthe foot of the gr eat moun tain. F ar awaytowar dsmy r ight Capr i

,loveliest of islands,

floatsupon the sea touched with blue haze ;andther e

,str etching landwar ds, isthe m oun

tain pr omontory of Sor r en to,Monte St. An

gelo tower ing over Monte Paito,and the

whole massdr opping byswift,steep slopes

to the Pun ta di Campanella, the headland ofthe bell, whence in the olddaysof Corsairsthe war ning tollswung out acr ossthesea as


often asthe galleysof Dr agut or of Bar

bar ossa hove in sight, echoin g fr om Tor r e delGr eco, Tor r e Annunziata, and many an otherwatch- tower of that fair andwealthy coast

,

while the ar tiller y ofthe oldcastle ofIschia,

the com ing per il. E ven now I can see thatancien t castle

,standing nobly on a r ock that

with the land by a low causeway ; and itcom estook r efuge fr om her sor r owsther e

,spending

her widowhood b ehind the battlem entsonwhichshehadplayed w ith her husband asa.child. Doubtlessthe two childr en listenedawestr uck on many a day to the cannon -shotswhich war ned the fishers. Per hapsVittor iamay even have been pacing ther e when , asBr an tom e w r ites, a par ty of F r ench kn ightsofMalta cam esailing bywith much tr easur eon their ship

,and hear ing the thr ee shots

took them ar r ogan tly for a.salute in honouroftheir flag, andso , thinkin g of nothing b uttheir dignity, made a cour teoussalute in eu

swer,and kept on their way. Wher eupon

thespider B r egut,who at that m omen t was

10 NAPLES , PAST AND PRESENT.

sacking Castellammar e,just wher e the pen in

sula joinsthe mainland, dr iving off ascaptive all those men or women who hadnot fledup in to the wooded hillsin tim e, swoopedout with half a dozen galleys

,andadded the

poor kn ightsand their tr easur e to hispilesofplunder .

Many talesar e told about that castle,so

n ear andsafe a r efuge fr om the tur bulence ofNaples. But alr eady it isdr opping aster n,and the lower land of Pr ocida usur psitsplace

,an islandwhich in the daysof Juvenal

wasa bywor d ofdesolation,though populous

andfer tile in our own . The widen ingstr aitof water between the low shor e and thecr aggy one played itspar t in a tale aspassionate

,though not so famous

,asthat of

Her o andLeander . For Boccaccio tellsusthat Gianni di Pr ocida

,nephew and nam e

sake of a m an whose loyalty popular tr adition will extol until the end of tim e

,loved

one Restituta. B01gar o, daughter of a gen tlem an OfIschia ; andOften when hislove forher bur nt so hotly that he could not sleep

,

used to r ise andgo down to the water , andifhe foun d no boat would plunge into the black

12 NAPLE S, PAST AND PRESENT.

gier o di L or ischan ced to passthat way astheystood together at thestake and knownGianni asthe n ephew of that gr eat plotterwho conceived the massacr e of the SicilianVespers, wher eby the cr own of Sicily wasset upon the head of Ar agon . Str aightwayhe hastened to the King

, who for thwith r eleased Giann i and gave him Restituta

,and

sen t both hom e laden with r ich giftsto Ischia

,wher e they lived happy for m any a

year,till they wer e over com e at last by no

worse fate than that which isr eser ved for allhumanity whether glad or sor r y.

No man can pr ove thisstor y tr ue ; b ut itisat leastso happily conceived asto be wor thcr edence

,like otherstold usby thesame im

mor tal wr iter , who, though a Flor entine,

knew Napleswell, anddoubtlesswove in tothe Deca

'me r on m any an anecdote picked upin the taver nswhich sur vivesnow in no

other form . For ther e wasno Br an tome tocollect for usthe gossip of the dayswhenAnjou dr ove out Hohenstaufen fr om thiskingdom ; andifwe would kn ow what happened on the coast in those tr agic andfar

distant tim eswe must tak e the talesset

THE AP PROACH TO NAPLE S. 13

down by Boccaccio for what they may bewor th.

I am not sur e that Giann i,the hot- pas

sioned lad who used to swim thisstr ait byn ight

,doesnot em er ge out of the darkn essof

the centur iesmor e clear ly than hisgr eaterun cle— that mighty plotter who, using cr aftandguile wher e he hadnostr ength

,isfabled

to have built up a conspir acy andengineer eda m assacr e which hasno par allel save in theSt. Bar tholom ew. Yet it isnot to be judgedwithout excuse like that foul act of coldblooded tr eacher y

,b ut wasin som e m easur e

expiation of in toler able wrongs,asm ay

be discover ed even now by anyone who willstudy the plen tiful tr aditionsof that Mar chn ight when eight thousand Fr ench of ever yage and either sex per ished in two hours

,

slain at thesignal of the vesper bell r ingingin Palermo. That bloodshedsplit the kingdom of the two Siciliesin twain . It did

so deep that even now ther e isno child inSicily who could not tell how the massacr ebegan. To men then living it appear ed a

cataclysm so tr em endousthat they must

14 NAPLES, PAST AND PRESE NT.

needsdate time from it,asfr om the bir th of

Chr ist or the foundation of the wor ld. I n

the passage of the yearsisr eckoned thus;andin Palermo to thisday the nunsof thePieta sing a litany on the Monday afterE aster in m emor y ofthesoulsof the F r enchwho per ished on that n ight of woe. So

memor ablewasthe deed ascr ibed by tr aditionto the plotter

,Giovanni di Pr ocida

,lor d of

that little island which isalr eadyslippingpast me out ofsight.The steamer slips selessly

Pr ocida fallsaway into the backgr ound,with

itsoldbr own town clinging to the seawar dface of a pr ecipitouscliff; and I can lookdown the Bay ofBaim

,wher e in Old Roman

daysevery woman who wen t in a Penelopecam e out a Helen , andalmost catch a glanceat Cum ae

,wher e Dmdalusput ofl’ hiswear y

wingsafter that gr eat flight fr om Cr etewhich no man since hascon tr ived to im itate.

Ther e liesthe Gate of Hell down whichE neasplunged in company with the Sibyl ;and r ound it all the land of the Phlegr eanfields

,heaving andsteaming with volcanic


fires. Ther e too isthe headland of Posilipo ,Wher e Vir gil dwelt and wher e he wr oughtthose enchan tm en tsconcer n ing which Ishallhave much tosay her eafter ; for though V irgil isa poet to the wor ld at lar ge

,he isa

magician in the m emor y of the Neapolitans.And who shall say their tr adition isnottr ue iNext

,sweeping r oun d towar dsmy r ight

hand in a per fect cur ve,com esthe shor e of

the Rivier a di Chiaia,on ce a pleasant sandy

beach,br oken m idway by the jutting r ock

and island on which stood the chur ch and

monaster y of San Lionar do. It islon gsincechur ch and island disappear ed

,and few of

those gay Neapolitanswho thr ong the V iaCar acciolo

,that finepar ade which n ow usur ps

the whole seafr ont fr om hem to hor n oftheb ay, could even point out wher e itstood. I n

these daysthe wholeshor e isembower ed intr eesand gar densskir ting the fine r oadway ;and ther e standsthe wonderful aquar ium

,

which hasno equal in the wor ld,and wher e

the Wise willspend m any after noonsandyetleave itsmar velsun exhausted.My eyeshave tr avelled on to the other


hor n of thisfine b ay, and ar e ar r ested bywhat issur ely the most pictur esque Ob ject inall Naples. For at thispoin t the spine or

backbone of land which br eaksthe pr esen tcity in to two

,leaving on the r ight the ancien t

town andon the left the moder n , built alongthe pr ettyshor e ofwhich I have just Spoken ,— at thispoint the r idge sweepsdown pr ecipitously fr om the Castle ofSt. E lmo on theheight

,br eaksOffabr uptly in the sheer clifl’

ofthe Pizzo- Falcone,“ The Falcon ’sBeak,”

and then sendsjutting out into the sea a

small cr aggy island which bearsan oldhoar ycastle low down by the water ’sedge. On

thisgr ey m or n ing the sea br eaksheavilyabout the black r eef on which the castlestands

,and the walls

,darkened ahn ost to

the colour of the r ock itself,assum e a cur ious

aspect of vast age, such asdisposesone toseek within their gir th for som e at leastamong the secr etsof oldNaples. Nor willthesear ch be vain ; for thishoary for tr essisCastel dell’Uovo, “ The Castle of the E gg,”so called

,ifwe may lend an ear to Neapolitan

tr adition,because Vir gil the E nchan ter built

it on an egg,on which it standsunto this


thick andfast assoon asonehascr ossed thedr awbr idge, and ther e isscar ce one otherspot in Napleswher e a m an who car esforthe past of the Oldtr agic city can lose himself m or e easily in dr eams.But again the steam er tur nsher course a

little,and sudden ly the Castel dell’Uovo

slipsout ofsight,the old br own city passes

acr ossmy line ofvision like a pictur e on thescr een of a cam er a oscur a when the lensism oved

,and I am gazing out beyond the

housesacr ossthe wide r ich plain out of whichthe vast bulk of Vesuviusr earsitself darkand tr em endous

,tower ing n ear the sea.

Ther e ar e other m oun tainsfar away,encir

cling the plain like the wallsOf some gr eatamphitheatr e

,b ut they ar e beyond the r ange

Of volcan ic catastr ophe,andstood unm oved

while the peaksof Vesuviuswer e piled upand blown away into a. thousand shapes,som etim esgr een and fer tile

,the haun t of

wild boarsandgr azing cattle,at othersr en t

by fir e andsubter r anean convulsion so astogive r eality to the most awful visionswhichthe im agination of m ank ind hasconceivedconcer n ing the destr uction which befell thesin ful citiesof the plain .


The plain isthe Campagna Felice, a happycountr y

,notwithstanding the perpetual

m enace ofthesmoking m oun tain , which timeafter tim e hasconvulsed the fields, alter edthe outline of the coast

,and overwhelmed

cities,villages

,and chur ches. Thr oughout

the last eighteen hundr ed yearsa destr uctionlike to that which befell the citiesof Her cu

laneum and Pompeii hasbeen over tak inghamletsand buildingsof lessnote. Thecoun tr y isa palimpsest. What isnow wr itten on itssu r face isnot a tithe of what wasonce inscr ibed ther e. I n 1861 an ear thquakeat Tor r e del Gr eco made a fissur e in them ain str eet. Those who dar ed descend itfound themselvesin a chur ch

,long since

bur ied andfor gotten . SO it isin every dir ection thr oughout the Cam pagna Felice.The wor ksof man ar e overwhelmed in countlessnumbersby the ejectionsfr om Vesuvius

,

and the gr een fieldsof beansand lupinswhich str etch so pleasantly acr ossthe w idespacesbetween the Sar no and the Seb etocover the r uinsof innum erable hom es.It seemsstr ange that a land exposed tosuch gr eat and constan t per ilsshould b e

NAPLES, PAST AND PRESENT.

densely populated. The coast islin ed withtowns

,allshin ing in the sun

,and the first

gr acefulslopesofVesuviusitselfar estuddedwith white buildings

,plan ted her e and ther e

in appar ent oblivion of the floodsOf r ed- hotlava which have so often for ced their waydown the inclinestowardsthe sea . Ther emust be m any dwellersin those townswhosaw the lava br eak out fr om new ven tsin1861 among the cultivated fields. Yet thefieldsar e cultivated still

,and in tim e of

er uption the peasan tswill con tinue workingin the vin eyar dswithin a few hundr ed yar dsofthe cr awling str eam

,knowing well how

often itspr ogr essisar r ested by the coolingof the fier y mass. Ther e is, mor eover , thepower ofthesain tsto be consider ed. Howoften hasnot San Genn ar o ar r ested the outbr eaks

,andbr ought peace to the fr ighten ed

city ! On the Ponte della Maddalena hestandsunto thisday, hisoutstr etched arm

,

pointing to the m ountain with a gestur edr awn fr om the m imic language of the peo

ple, bidsit Halt l Andthen the fer tilityof the volcan ic soil ! Vesuvius

,if a r ough

fr iend,isa kindly one. He may dr ive the


an iello met hisend,after a tr ick of for tune

hadm ade him r uler ofNaplesfor eight days.Ther e isno chur ch in all the cityso full of

tr agediesasthis,which wasfounded by her

m itsfleeing fr om Moun t Carmel twelve hundr ed yearsago, andwhich ever sin cehasbeenclose to the hear t ofthe passionate andfier cetemper ed people dwelling r ound itswalls.I do not doubt ther e wasa tim e when

tr avellers,ar r iving at Naplesby sea

,found

themselvesgr eeted by personsofaspect mor epleasing than thosewho accost the aston ishedtr aveller ofto-day. Ther e wassur ely an age

when the lazzar on i wer e r eally pictur esque,

when they lay on the warm sand in thesunshin e

,while the b ay r esounded with the

chan t of fishermen,the light-hear ted people

beguiling their unbounded leisur e with thetunefulstr ainsof Dr unghe, dr unghete,

”of

Tir itom b a ,”or even the too fam iliar Santa

Lucia. It cannot be that tr avellersliedwhen they wr ote ofthe am azing pictur esquen essof the Neapolitans, that they pain tedbr own pur ple

,and put on their spectaclesof

r ose asthey appr oached the land! I wish Ihad thosespectacles; for indeed the aspect of

THE APPROACH TO NAPLE S. 23

the quaysand whar vesofNaplesisnot attr active

,while the people who thr ong the

boatsnow pushing off towar dsthe steam erar e just such a cr owd of expectan t barter ersasone may see wher ever a gr eat steamertouches. I n thester n of the first standsanaked b oy, br own andlithe. Hisaccomplishm en t isto dive for pence

,which he doeswith

singular dexter ity,cr amm ing all the coinsas

he catchesthem into hism outh,which yet is

notso full asto impede hisbellowing like abull in the effor t to attr act mor e custom.

Did I complain of the lack ofmusic ? I washasty ; for ther e comesasecond boat

,car ry

ing two nymphswhose devotion to the ar t

hascaused them to for get the use of water,

unlessit be in ter nally. One hasa hoarsevoice

,the other ashr ill one andwithsm iles

andan ticsthey pipe out the cheapest of moder n m elodies

,chanting the eter nal Funicoli

,

Funico till one wishesthe w r iter of thatmost paltr y song could be keelhauled

,or

taught bysome other pr ocessofsim ilar asper ity how gr ave isthe ofl’ence ofhim who

castsone m or e jingle in to the hoarse thr oatsofthestr eet musiciansoftoday. If I flee to

24 NAPLES, PAST AND PRESENT.

the fur ther side of the steam er andstop myearsfr om the cacophony

,my face istickled

by the foliage ofhuge nosegaysthr ust up on

the endsof polesfr om a boat so low in the

water that I cann ot see it. The salt air

gr owsheavy with the scen t of violetsandr oses. None ofmysensesisat peace.But in another hour the landing washappily accomplished. The r ecollection of themob thr ough which one str uggled to thequay

,the noise

,the exto r tion

,andthesmells

hadfaded away into the limbo ofb addr eams,

andI wasfr ee to go whither I would in thesmall por tion ofthe day r em ain ing andtastewhichever sight of Naplespleased m e first.Ther e isnothing m or e bewilder ing to a

str anger than to be tur ned loose in a gr eatcity with which he isim per fectly acquain ted.I looked east towar dsthe Carmine ; b ut thehandsom e Campan ile lay far fr om the centr eof the city. I gazed befor e me

,up a long

str aightstr eet which cleft the older citywitha course asstr aight asany bow shot, thehouse fr on tsintr icate with countlessbalcon iesand climbing plants. It isthe Str ada delDuomo ; b ut I knew it to be new thr ough

NAPLES, PAST AND PRE SENT.

low white building. The Neapolitansb elievedin daysnot long distant that vast caver nsofalmost imm easur able extent br anchedout later ally fr om the dungeonsofSt. E lmoand r an down beneath the city even to CastelNuovo

,m aking a secr et commun ication b e

tween the gar r isonsof the two for tr essesonwhich thesecur ity ofNaplesmost depended.

The stor y isnot tr ue. The vaultsof St.E lm o do not r eachso far

,and ar e not mor e

extensive than the cir cuit ofthe castle. But

indeed these hillsideson which Naplesliesar e pier cedso fr equently by caver ns,so manytalesar e told ofgr ottoesknown andunknownin ever y spine of r ock

,that the wildest

stor iesof myster iouspassageshave foundr eady cr edence ; and ther e ar e doubtlessm any childr en

,oldandyoung

,in Napleswho

believe that one m ay walk beneath the ear thfr om St. E lmo to CastelNuovo no lessfirmlythan they cr edit the existence of vast caver nsfilled with gold and jewelslying under neathCastel dell’Uovo, guar ded for ever fr om thesight of m an by the chafing ofthe waves.Naplespr esen tsuswith astr ange blend of

r om an ce and comm on sense — the m oder n


spir it, pr actical anduseful,setting itself with

something like the ener gy of the old Italiangeniustowardsthe gigantic task Ofacqu ir ingthe ar tsof gover nm en t

,and tur n ing a people

enslaved for centur iesinto one which can

wield the hammer ofitsown gr eat destin ies.L’I talia é fatta

,said Massim o d’Azeglio ,

ma chi far a or a gli Italian i It wasthe question of a patr iot

,and it m ay be that

it isnot wholly answer ed yet. The m ostcar elessof obser verscan see thatsom e thingsstill go wr ong in Italy

,that the Italiansar e

not yet wholly m ade,and it isthe easiest as

it isthe stupidest of tasksto demonstr atethat thir ty yearsOffr eedom have n ot taughtthe youngest n ation what the Oldest tookeight cen tur iesto lear n . It gallsm e to hearthesuper ciliousr em ar ksdr opped bystr angerscom ing fr om a countr y wher e ser iousditficultiesof gover nm ent have n ot existed inthe m em or y of m an

,the casual w isdom Of

cr iticswho look ar ound too car elessly to notethe en er gy with which one by one the r ootsof evil ar e plucked up, andthe r efuse of thelong tyr anny clear ed away. I am n ot wr iting a political tr act ; b ut I say once for all


that the r ecent history of Italy can Showm or e tr iumphsthan itsfailur es; andthe daywillsur ely com e when the indom itable courage ofher r ulersshall pur ge the country ofthose cankerswhich for cen tur iesate outher

manhood.

We do n otser ve the dead— the past ispast.God lives, and liftshisglor iousm or n ingsupBefor e the eyesofm en awake at last,Who put away the m eatsthey used tosup ,Anddown upon the dust ofea r thoutcast

The dr egsr em ain in g ofthe ancien t cup ,Then tu r n to wakeful pr ayer andwor thy act.

Dear pr ophetessand poet,who once fr om

Casa Guidi sang so br avely of the futur e,

kindling the love Of Italy in m any a hear twher e it hassince gr own into a passion

,— it is

com ing tr ue It m ay be that fulfilm en t loiters,b ut Heaven doesnot disappoint m ankind ofhopesso gr eat asthese. They ar e of thesor tWith which God keepstr oth. The childwhoWen t bysinging O bella liber ta

,O bella !

doesnot flutesosweetly now he isa m an,

b ut hishandshave taken hold, andhishear tisset on the gr eatnessOfhism other land.Thesun liesthick andhot in the Toledo

,

that long and cr owded str eet which isthe

THE APPROACH TO NAPLES . 29

chief thor oughfar e of Naples. It ishotterstill when

,having to iled asfar asthe museum

,

I tur n off along the Corso Vittor io E mm an

uele,which windsalong the hillside

,giving

at each tur n gr and viewsacr ossthe town and

har bour towardsCapr i shin ing in the west.A little way down the Corso isa flight Ofsteps

,long

,tor tuousandsteep

,yet form ing

m uch the pleasan test appr oach to the whitepr ior y whither ever y visitor to Naplesgoesonce at least towar dsthe hour ofsunset. Asone m ounts

,the city dr opsaway

,and the

long sem icir cle of hillsbehind it r isesin toeight, gr een r ounded hills

,bear ing on their

summ it palmswhich stand out shar p and

dark against the sky. Withever y convolu

tion of thestairsoneseesm or e and m or e ofthe gr eat plain out ofwhich Vesuviusr ises

,

—the Campagna Felice,a pu rple flat

,str etch

ing fr om the base of the volcano asfar asthat m ountain chain which m arksthe lim itofitspower . Out of the m ountainscom esafresh cool wind, andall the city Spar klesinthesun .

So I wen t up am ong the housetopstill at

length I r eached an openspace bounded by a


r am par t whence one looked down upon thetown . On the fur ther side a gateway gaveadm ission to a cour tyar d

,andthat again to a

cor r idor of the Old pr ior y,thr ough which a

guide ledm e with vain poin tingstowar d thecham ber contain ing the Pr esepe

,

”a vast

m odel of thescene of the Nativity. Mar ysitsupon a height under a fr agmen t of an Old

Gr eek building ; while all the valleysar efilled with the pr ocession of the kings.Their goodsar e being unloaded fr om thetr oopsof asseswhich bor e them . I n them eadowssheep ar e gr azing

,cowsar e being

m ilked ; andthe sky isfilled with choirsofangels. It isan ingen ious, theatr ical toy,b ut not halfso pr etty asthe sunset

,which I

cam e to see. SO with som e indign ation of

my guide, I pr essed on thr ough an exqu isitelycool ar caded cou r tyar d of white m ar ble

,its

centr e occupied by a gar den wher ein palmsand r osesgr ew alm ost pr ofuse enou

hide the an cient dr aw well,with itschain

andbucket lying asif they waited for som ebr other told Off by the Pr ior to dr aw waterfor the r est. I n one cor ner of thiscou r tyar da doorway givesadm ission to the belveder e

,

32 NAPLES,PAST AND PRESENT .

fr om landsso ver y far away. A fain t br ownhaze cr ept down fr om the hilltops

,the first

touch Ofeven ing chilled the air,b ut thesea.

war d sky wasm ar vellously clear,and the

wide b ay gleam ed with gold and pu r plelights.

CHAPTE R II.

THE ANCI E NT MAR V E L S OF THE PHL E GRE AN

F I E L DS.

I T isa m or n ing ofalter natesun andshadow.

The cloudsar e flying low acr ossthe city,so

that now one dom e and now another flashesinto light and the or ange gr ovesshine gr eenand gold among the squar e white houses.All the high r ange of the Sor r ento Mountainsliesin shadow

,b ut on the sea the

coloursar e glowing warm and br ight,her e a

tender blue,ther e deepen ing in to gr ey, and

again,near er into shor e

,a m ar vellousr ich

tint which hasno nam e,b ut isazur e and

em er ald in a. single mom ent. Away acr ossthe cr escen t of the gulf a cr owd Of fishingboatsar e putting for th fr om Tor r e del Gr ecoor Tor r e dell’ Annun ziata. E ven at thisdistance one can see how theyset their hugetr iangular sailsandscatter

,som e one way,

som e another,sear ching each per hapsfor his


favour ite volcan icshoal ; for the lar gest fishlur k alwaysin the hollowsof those lavar eefswhich have fr om tim e to tim e burst outOf the bottom Of the b ay: Som e

,perhaps,

ar e sailing for the cor al fisher y upon thecoast of Afr ica

,to which gr eat numbersgo

still in thism onth OfApr il out of all theharboursben eath Vesuvius

,though the pr of

itsar e n ot what they wer e,and the tr ade is

falling upon evil days. Asfor the m ountain

,he hasclear ed himself of clouds

,and

fr om hissumm it a heavy coil of smoke n ucu r lsitselflazily andspr eadslik e a pennan tstr etching far acr ossthesky.

All these thingsandmor e I have time tonotice while I tr udge along above the housetom of the city, those flat r oofsn am ed astr iciwhich ar esuch pleasan t loungeson thesumm er even ingswhen the blue b ay isdottedover with whitesailsand theshadowsdeepenon theflanksof Vesuviusor the distan t lineof the Sor r ento coast. At length the r oadappr oaching the r idge Of hill whose pointfo rmsthe headland of Posilipo dr Opsswiftly,and I find myself in face of ashor t ascentleading to the m outh of the ver y ancien t

THE PHL E GRE AN FIELDS. 3 5

grotto by which, these two thousand yearsandm or e

,those who far ed fr om Naplesun to

Pozzuoli havesaved themselvesthe tr oubleofthe hill.It isabsolutely n ecessar y to pause and

consider thishill,to which so much of the

r ar e beauty of Naplesisto be attr ibuted.

For the m oment Iset aside itslegendsandtr aditions

,and tur n my atten tion to the em i

nence itself. It isa clifl"of yellow r ock,

whose consistencysom ewhat r esemblessandstone

,eviden tly wor ked without much diffi

culty,sin ce it hasbeen quar r ied out in to vast

cavities. The r ock istufa. It isa volcan icpr oduct

,andformsthestaple n ot only of the

headland,b ut also of all thesite of Naples

andthe r ising gr ound behind it up to thebaseof the blue Apenn in es

,which ar e seen con

tinually tower ing in the distan ce beyondVesuvius.Thusat Naplesone m ay distinguish b etween the eter n al hillsand those which haveno title to the n am e. Of the latter isPosilipo

,form ed asI said out of volcan ic ash.

That ashw asejected under neath thesea,and

having been compacted into r ock by the ac

3 6 NAPLES , PAST AND PRESENT.

tion of the water wasupr ear ed bysom e convulsion longsince for gotten . It isan in tr usionon the landscape— a ver y ancien t one

,cer

tainly— b ut it hasnothing to do with the

gr eat moun tain - chain which hemsin the Neapolitan Campagna and endsat last in theSor r ento pen insula andCapr i. All the mostfer tile plain which lieswithin that bar r ierwasonce beneath the sea, which flowed up

to the basesof the mountains. Ther e isnodoubt about it. The r ock of Posilipo con

tainsshellsof fish now living in the b ay.

BTom Gaeta to Castellamm ar estr etched one

wide inlet of thesea. But under n eath thewater volcan ic ashwasbeing cast out

,asit is

still at cer tain spotswithin the b ay ; theheapsof ash and pum ice ston e gr ew in toShoalsand r eefs

,wer e uplifted into hills

,the

sea flowed back fr om itsuptilted bed,and

the coastsof Naplesand Of Baiae assum edsome outlin e r oughlysim ilar to that whichthey possessat pr esent.Ofcourse all thisisver y ancien t histor y

,

far beyond the ken of wr itten r ecords,or even

the faintest Whisper of tr adition,unless

,

indeed,in the awewith which ancient w r iters

NAPLES, PAST AND PRESENT .

city to Antign ano,in the dir ection of Camal

doli,and kept along the ridge asfar as

possible. The coast r oad began to be usedwhen the tunnelhad been m ade. Still ther emust have been at least a tr ack acr osstheheadland

,andone wonderswhy the Romans

didnot impr ove it,in pr efer ence to bor ing

un dergr ound. The ease with which the softstone can be work ed m ay account par tiallyfor their choice b ut it isnot to be for gottenthat number lesscaves

,whether n atur al or ar

tificial,exist in the cliffsat Posilipo, and

P izzofalcone,giving occasion to the qu ick

fancy of the Neapolitansto devise wild talesof bur ied tr easur e andofstr ange fier ce beastswhich guar d it fr om the gr eed ofmen . The

oldlegendsof the Cimm er ianswho dwelt indark caver nsof the Phlegr aean fieldspr esentthemselvesto m ind in thisconnection

,and

without following out thismyster ioussubjectfu r ther into the m istswhich envelope it

,we

m ay r ecognise the possibility thatsome amongthese caver nsar e fa r older than iscommonlybelieved. Of course the pr efer ence of theRom ansfor tunnellrng 1sexplained at once

,

if we m aysuppose that by enla rging existing

THE PHL E GRE AN FIELDS. 3 9

caver nsthey found their tun n el alr eady par tlym adeI do notkn ow

,cr iesCapaccio

,an an cien t

topogr apher who m ay yet be r ead withpleasur e

,though the gr apeshave r ipened

thr ee hundr ed tim esabove histomb, I donot know whether the Posilipo ism or eador ned by the gr otto or the gr otto by P0silipo .

” I r eally can not guesswhat hem ean t.Itsoundslike the despairing obser vation of awriter at a lossfor m atter . We will leavehim to r esolve hisown puzzle and go onthr ough the darknessof the ill- lighted gr otto— no pleasanter n ow than when Seneca

gr um bled at itsdust and darkness— spar ingsome thought for that gr eat festivalwhich on

the 7th of September every year tu r nsthisdar k highway in to a pandem on ium of noiseand r iot. The festival OfPiedigr otta isheldasmuch within the tunn el ason the openspace outside

,wher estandsthe chur chwhose

Madonn a fur n ishesa devotion al pr etext forall the r acket. Indeed it isalmost m or ewild andwhir lingwithin than without ; forone need not becom e a boy again to under

stand that the joysof r ushing up anddown,


wear ing a fan tasticpaper cap, blowingshr ieksupon a catcall

,and br andishing a chin ese

lan ter n,must be infin itely gr eater in the

bowelsof the hill than in the open air . Ofcourse it isnot only

,nor even chiefly

,a feast

for childr en . All the lower classesr ejoice atPiedigr otta

,andoften with the best ofcause;

for it happensnot infr equently that the Sky,

which for many weekshasbeen pitilessandbr azen

,cloudsand br eaksabout that tim e

,

the welcom e r ain falls,thestr eetsgr ow cool

again,andlaughter r isesfr om end to end of

the r eviving city.

Of Fuor igr otta,the unpleasing village at

the fur ther endof the gr otto,I have nothing

to say, unlessit b e to expr essthe wish thatGiacom o Leopar di

,who liesin the chur ch of

San V itals,lay elsewher e. Thatsuperb poet

andfinescholar whose versesupon Italy n ot

yet r ebor n r ank by their m ajesty and fir e

n ext after those of Dan te,andwho yet could

pr oduce a poem r ender ingso nobly thesolitude of contemplation asthat which commences

Che fa i tu luna in ciel,dimm i. che fai,

Silen ziosa lun a !

THE PHL E GRE AN FIE LDS. 41

thisman should have lain upon som e mountain - top, among thescen t of r osemar y andof

fr agr ant myr tle, r ather than insuch a r ockingdir ty village asFuor igr otta.

But I for get l— the compelling inter est ofthisday'sjour ney isnot liter ary . Ashor tway fr om F uorigr otta br ingsm e to a poin twher e the r oad tur nsslightly upwar d to ther ight

,leadin g me to the br ow of a hill

,over

which I look in to a wooded hollow— non eother than the Lago d’Agnan o , once a cr ater ,then a volcanic lake. Oddly enough

,it is

not m en tioned asa lake by any ancien twr iter . Pliny describesthe Gr otta delCan e

,

which we ar e about to visit,b utsaysnot a.

wor d of any lake. Thisfact,with som e

others,suggeststhat the water appear ed in

thisold cr ater only in the m iddle ages;though it r eally doesnot m atter much

,for it

isgone now . The bottom hasbeen r eft fr omthe fishesandconver ted into fer tilesoil. Thesloping heightswhich wall the basin have a

waste andsomewhat blasted aspect ; b ut Iwasnot gr anted tim e to m use on these appear ancesbefor e a smiling b ut determ inedbr igand

,belonging to the classof guides

,


saun ter ed up withasmall cur r unning at hisheels

,andmade me awar e that I hadr eached

the en tr ance of the Dog Gr otto.I m ight have known it for

,in fact

,

thr ough m any cen tur iesup to that r ecentyear when it pleased the Italiansto dr ain thelake

,the life of the sm all dogsdwelling in

thisn eighbour hood hasbeen composed of

pr ogr essesfr om gr otto to lake andback again,

first held up by the heelsto bestifled by thepoisonousgas, then soused head over earsinthe lake

,with instr uctionsto r ecover quickly

because another car riage wascom ing downthe hill. Thuslak e and gr otto wer e twinbr anchesof one establishm en t

,now dissolved.

Perhapsthe lake w asthe m or e impor tan t ofthe two

,since it iseasier to stifle a dog or

m an than to r evive him ; and on m any occasionsther e would have been melancholycidentshad n ot the cooling watersbeen at

hand. For instance it isr elated by M. deVillamon t

,who cam e thisway when the

seven teen th centu r y w asver y young indeed,

that M. de Tour non,a few yearsbefor e

,de

sir ing to car ry off a bit of the r oof of thegr otto

,wasunhappily over com e by the fum es


accordingly we all went gaily down the hill,

pr eceded by the happy cur,r unn ing on with

tail er ect, till we r eached a gate in the wallthr ough which we passed to the Gr otta delCan e.A low en tr ance

,hardly m or e than a m an

’sheight

,a long tubular passage of un iform

dim ensionssloping backwar dsin to the bowelsof the hill— such isall oneseeson appr oaching the Dog Gr otto. A m isty exhalationr isesfr om the floor and m aintainsitslevelwhile the gr ound slopesdownwar ds. Thus

,

if a m an enter ed,the whitish vapour would

cling at first about hisfeet. A few stepsfur ther would br ing it to hisknees

,then

waist high,and in a little m or e it would r ise

about hismouth and nostri lsand becom e a

shr oud indeed ; for the gasisca rbon ic acid,

anddestr oysall hum an life. King Char lesthe E ighthof Fr ance

,who flashed acr ossthe

sky of Naplesasa conquer or,cam e her e in

theshor tspace of tim e befor e he left it asafugitive

,br inging with him a donkey

,on

which he tr ied the effectsof the gas. I donot know why he selected that an im al ; b ut

the poor br ute died. SO did two slaves,

THE P I I L E GRE AN FIELDS . 45

whom Don Pietr o di Toledo,one of the ear ly

Span ish vicer oys,used to decide the question

whether any of the vir tue had gon e out ofthe gas. That question issettled mor e human ely now . The guide takesa tor ch

,

kindlesit to a br ight flam e,and plungesit

into the vapour . It goesout instan tly ; andwhen the act hasbeen r epeated som e halfdozen tim esthe gas, impr egnated w ithsm oke,assum esthe appear an ce of asilver sea , flow ingin r ippling wavesagainst the black wallsofthe caver n .

With all itscur iosity the Dog Gr otto isadeadly little hole

,in which the wor ld takes

much lessinter est nowadaysthan it doesinm any other objectsin the n eighbour hood of

the Sir en city,going indeed by pr efer ence to

see those which ar e beautiful,wher easnot

m any gen er ationsago it r ushed ofl’ hastily tosee first those which ar e odd. For that r easonmany visitorsto Naplesneglect thisr egion ofthe Phlegr aean fieldsand a r e con ten t to waitthe n atu r al occasion for visiting the mouthofStyx

,over which all cr eated beingsm ust

be fer r ied befor e they r each the n ether wor ld.

I t isa pity ; for , judged fr om the poin t of


beautysolely,ther e isenough in theshor e of

the Bay of Baize to conten t most men . Ther oad mountsupon the r idge which par tstheslope of Lago d’Agn ano fr om thesea. One

looksdown fr om thespine over a br oken landofvineyar dsto a cur ved b ay, an almost perfeet sem icir cle

,bounded on the left by the

height of Posilipo , with the high cr ag of theIsland of Nisida

,andon the r ight by Capo

Miseno,the poin t which took itsnam e

fr om the oldTr ojan tr umpeter who'

m ade thelong per ilousvoyage with E neas

,b ut per

ished ashe r eachedthe pr om ised land wher eat last the wander erswer e to find r est. The

headland,whichlike ever y other em inence in

sight,ispur ely volcan ic

,isa lofty m assof

tufa,un ited w ith the land by a lower tongue

,

like a m er e causeway ; and on the n ear erside standsthe Castle of Baiaa

,with the in

sign ificant townlet which bearson itssm all

shouldersthe burden of so gr eat a n am e.Midway in the b ay the ancien t town ofPozzuoli n estlesby thewater ’sedge, deser tedthislong while by all the tr ade whichbr ought it into touch with Alexandr ia and

m any an other city fu r ther east,filling itshar

THE PHL E GRzE AN FIELDS . 47

bour with str ange ships, cr owding itsquayswith swar thy sailors, and with silksand

spicesof the Or ient. All that old conac

quence hasgon e now like a dr eam,and n o

one visitsthe cluster ofoldbr own housesforany other r eason than to see that which isstill left of itsancien t gr eatn ess. But befor egoing down the hill

,I tur n aside towardsa

gateway on my r ight,which adm itsm e to a

place ofstr ange and cur iousinter est. It isthe Solfata r a

,and isnothing m or e or less

than the cr ater of a half- extinct volcano,

which,having lain torpid for full seven cen

tur iesisnow astriking pr oof of the fer tilityof volcan ic soil, and the speed with whichn atu r e will haste tospr ead her lushest vegstation even over a thin cr ust which coversseething fir es. It w asso oncewiththe cr aterof Vesuvius, which, after five centu riesofr est

,filled itself w ith oaksand beeches

,and

cover ed itsslopeswith fr esh gr assup to thever ysumm it.Indeed

,on enter ing the inclosur e of the

Solfatar a,one r eceivesthe impr ession of

tr eadin g the winding alleysof a well- keptandlovely par k. The path r unsthr ough a


pr etty wood. The tr eesar e scar cely mor eimpor tant than a coppice ; b ut under theirgr een shade ther e gr owsa wealth of flowersofevery colour

,glow ing in thesoftsunshine

which filtersthr oughthe boughs. Ther e isthe white gum cistus

,which isso str angely

like the white wild r ose of E nglish hedges;and the br anching asphodel ; with myr iadsofthose exquisite an em ones

,lilac andpur ple

,

which m ake the woodsof Italy inspr ingtim ea per petual joy to uswho com e fr om colderclim ates; and among these

,a pr ofusion of

sm aller blossomstr ailing on the gr ound,

cr imson,white and or ange

,m aking such a

m assof colour asthe m ost cunn ing gar denerwouldseek vainly to pr oduce. One lingersand delaysamong these woods

,doubting

whether anysight which m ay b eshown one

fur ther on can compensate for the lossof thecool glades.But alr eady over the gr een coppice bar e

,

gr ey hillsideshave com e in sight. They ar e

the wallsof the oldcr ater,andher e andther e

a puffof whitesmoke cur ling out of a cleftr em indsm e that the flowersar e only her e onsuffer an ce

,and that the whole hollow isin

THE PHL E GRE AN FIELDS. 49

fact b ut waiting the m omen t when itshiddenfir esw ill br eak for th again

,and vom it de

str uction over all the countr y. A few yar dsfur ther on the coppice fallsaway. Theflowerspersist in car peting the gr ound ; b utin a little w ay they too cease, thesoil gr owsgr ey andblasted. Full in fr on t ther e r isesastr angescene of desolation . The wall of thecr ater ispr ecipitousandblack. At itsbasether e ar e Open ingsand pilesof discolour edear th which suggest the débr isofsom e factor y of chem icals

,an impr ession which is

dr iven hom e by the yellowstainsof sulphurwhich lie in ever y dir ection on the gr eybottom of the cr ater . . Fr om one vast r en t inthe soil a tower ing pillar of white sm okepoursout with a loud hissing noise

,and

blowsaway in wr eathsand coilsover thedar ksur face of the cliff.

Ther e issomething cur iously ar r esting inthisquick passage fr om a gr een glade car petedwith flowersto the calcin ed ashand the gr eydesolation of thisbr oken hillside. Of vegetation ther e isalm ost nouc except a stuntedheather which cr eepshardily towar dstheblast hole. A little w ay off

,towar ds


the right,liesa levelspacesunk beneath the

su r r ounding land,not unlike the fashion of

an asphaltskating r ink,soeven in itssur face

that it r esemblesthe work of m an,and one

str ollstowar dsit to discover w ith what purpose anyone had dar ed to tamper with thesoil in a spot wher eso thin a cr ust liesoverbottomlesspitsof fir e. But when onestepsout upon the level flat

,it r evealsitself at

on ce to be no hum an work. The guidestam pswith hisfoot

,and r em arksthat the

sound ishollow. It isindeed,most unplea

san tly so. He jumpsupon it, and the surface qu ivers. You b eg him to spar e youfu r ther demonstr ations

,andwalking ginger ly

on tiptoe,wishing at eachstep that you wer e

safe in Regent Str eet once mor e, you followhim out towar dsthe m iddle of thisdevilishcr ust

,which r ocksso easily and coverssom e

thing which you hope devoutly you m ay

n ever see. Midway in the expanse the fellowpausesin tr iumph— he hasr eached what heisconfiden t will please you . He isstandingby a hole

,justsuch an open ing asism ade in

a fr ozen lake in win ter for the watering ofan im als. Fr om it ther e em ergesa little


Fr om the hillside just beyond the gate of

the Solfatar a one gazesdown on the town ofPozzuoli

,br own and ancient

,looking

,I do

not doubt,m uch the sam e unto thishour as

when the Apostle Paul landed ther e fr om theCastor a nd P ollux

,a ship of Alexandria

which had win ter ed in the Island of Melita.

But ifthe town itself, the ver y housescluster ed on the hill, pr eser ve the aspect whichthey bor e twen ty cen turiesago , so m uch cann ot besaid for thesea -fr ont

,which isvastly

changed. Pozzuoli in those daysm ust haver ung with the noise of shipsenter ing or depar ting. I tsquayswer e clam or ouswithall

thespeechesof the E ast ; itsgr eat tr ade incor n needed longwar ehousesnear the water ’sedge ; itsamphitheatr e wasbuilt for thegam esof a people number ing m any thousands. But now the little boatswhich com eandgo ar e too few to br eak the long silenceof the city

,and ther e ar e scar ce any other

noisesin the place than theshout of childr enat their games

,or the loud cr ack of the

vettur 'ino’swhip asthe str angersr attlethr ough thestr eetson tln 11 w ay to Raise.

It wasthe fall of Capua which m ade the


tr ade ofPozzuoli,andit wasthe r ise of Ostia

that destr oyed it. Capua,long the first

town ofItaly by r eason of itscommer ce anditsluxur y, lost that pr e- em inence in the year21 1 B . o.

,when the Rom ansavenged the

adhesion ofthe city to the cause ofHann ibal.That act ofpunishm en t m ade Rom e the chiefm ar t of m er chan tsfr om the E ast

,and the

n ear est por t to the E ter nal City beingPozzuoli

,the tr ade flowed thither n atur ally.

Naplesno doubt had a finer har bou r ; b utNapleswasnot in Rom an hands

,while

Pozzuoli was. Ostia,befor e the daysof the

E mper or Claudius,who car r ied out gr eat

wor ksther e,wasa por t of smallest co nse

quence. Thusthe har bou r of Pozzuoli w ascon tinually full of ships. They came fr omSpain

,fr om Sar din ia

,fr om E lba

,br inging

ir on,which waswr ought in to fine toolsby

cun n ing wor kmen ofthe town ; fr om Africa,

fr om Cypr us,and all the tr ading por tsof

Asia Minor and the islesof the E gean .

Thither came also the m er chantsof Phoen icia,

br inging with them all those gor geouswar eswhich m oved the pr ophet E zekiel to utter sogr eat a chant of glor y anditsdoom . Tar

54 NAPLE S, PAST AND PRE SENT.

sh'

rsh w asthy m er chant by r eason of them ultitude of all kindsof r iches; withsilver ,ir on

,tin

,and lead they tr aded in thy

fairs. These wer e thy m er chantsin all

sor tsof things,in blue clothesandb r oider ed

w o rk and in chestsof r ich appar el,bound

w ithcordsand m ade of cedar am ong thym er chandise. Theshipsof Ta rshishdidsingof thee in thy m a rket Thou w ast r eplen

ished andm ade ver y glor iousin the m idst oftheseas. All that m ost noble descr iptionof the comm er ce of Tyr e r etu r nsir r esistiblyupon the m ind when one looksback on thegr eatnessof Pozzuoli

,wher e the Tyr ians

themselveshada m ighty factory andall then ationsof the E ast br ought their war esforsale. Most of all the town r ejoicedwhen thegr eat fleet hove in sight which came eachyear fr om E gypt in the spri ng. Seneca hasleft usa descr iption of thestir . The fleet oftr aderswaspr eceded some way in advanceby light

,sw ift sailing shipswhichher alded

itscoming. They could be known a longway off

,for they sailed thr ough the n ar r ow

str ait between Capr i and the m ainland withtopsailsflying, a pr ivilege allowed to none


b utshipsof Alexandr ia~ Then all the townmade r eady to hasten to the water ’sedge, towatch the sailorsdancing on the quays, orto gloat over the wonderswhichhadtr avelledthither fr om Ar abia

,India

,andper hapseven

far Cathay.

Well,all thisisan oldstor y now— too old,

per haps,to be of any str iking inter est—yet

her e upon the shor e isstill the vast oldTemple of Ser apis

,the E gyptian goddess

whom thestr angersworshipped. One knowsnot by what slow stagesthe E gyptiansdepar ted and the ancient temple wasdeser ted.

The only cer tain fact isthat at some per iodthe whole inclosur e wasburied deep ben eaththe sea

,and after long centur iesr aised up

again bysom e fr esh movem en t of the swayingshor e.Str ange asthisseemsto those who have

not watched the per petualheavingsandsubsiden cesof a volcan ic land

,the testimony of

the fact isunm istakably in sight ofall. F or

thesacr ed in closu r e once hallowedto the r iteof Ser apisisstill n ot allotted to any otherpur pose ; and the visitor who en tersit findsm any of the ancient colum nsstill. er e

'

ct. It


isa vast quadr angle,once paved withsquar es

of m ar b le. Ther e wasa cover ed per istyle,

and in the centr e another smaller temple.

Many of the columnsof fine m ar ble whichonce ador ned the abode of the goddesswer er eft fr om her in the last centur y

,when the

spot wasclear ed of all the soil and br ushwood which had gr own up about it ; b utthr ee huge pillarsof cipollino

,once form ing

par t of the pr onaos,ar e still er ect

,andwhat

issingular about them isthat,beginn ing at

a height ofsome twelve feet fr om the gr oundandextendingsome n ine feet fur ther up, themarble ishoney - combed with holes

,dr illed

in countlessnumbersdeep in to the r oundsur face of the colum ns.Ther e isno an im al in ear th or air whichwill attackstone in thisdestr uctive m anner ;

b ut in thesea ther e isa little bivalve,called

by natu r alists lithodom us,whose only

happinessliesin bor ing. Thisan im al isstillfound plen tifully in the Bay of Baisa. Hisshellsstill lie in the per for ationsof the col

um us; and it isthusdem onstr ated that theancien t temple must have been plunged b en eath thesea

,that it lay ther e long ages, till

THE PHL E GR rE AN FIELDS. 57

at length som e fr esh convulsion r ear ed it uponce m or e out of the r each of fish. Sur elyfew buildingshave sustain ed so str ange a

fate !The holesdr illed by the patien t lithodo

m us,asI have said

,do n ot extend thr ough

the whole height of the colum n,b ut have a

r ange of about n ine feet only,which isthus

the m easu r e of the space left for the oper ationsof the busyspoiler . Above the r ing ofper for ationsoneseesthe indicationsof or dinar y weather ing

,so that the upper edge of

the holesdoubtlessm arksthe level of highwater

,and the summ it of the columnsstood

up above the waves. But one doesnot seer eadily what pr otected the lower por tion ofthe m ar ble. Possibly

,befor e the landswayed

downwar dssom ething fell which cover edthem .

I n the twelfth centur y the Solfatar a br okefor th in to er uption for the last tim e. The

scor iae andstonesfell thick in Pozzuoli,and

they filled the cour t of the Ser apeon to theheight of some twelve feet. Pr obably thesea had then alr eady stolen in to the cour tyar d ; and it m ay be that the ear thquakes

58 NAPLES, PAST AND PRE SE NT.

attending the er uption caused thesubsidencewhich left the lithodomusfr ee to cr awl and

bor e upon the,

stoneswhichsaw the ancientmyster iesof Ser apis. At any r ate it wasanother volcan ic outburst which r aised the

dripping colum nsfr om thesea in 153 8,sin ce

which tim e the land hasbeenswayingslowlydown once m or e

,so that now if anyone car es

toscr atch the gr avel in the cour tyar d he willfind he hasconstr ucted a pool of clear seawater .

It isastr ange andter rible thing to r ealisethe existen ce of hidden for ceswhich can

sway thesolid ear th aslightly asa puff ofwind disturbsan awn ing ; none the lesster r ible because the gr ound hasr isen and

fallen so ver y gen tly that the pillarsstander ect upon their bases. Once mor e

,asat the

Solfatar a,one hasthesense of tr eading over

som e vast chasm filled with asleeping powerwhich m ay awake at any m om ent. L et usgo on beyond the city andsee what hashappened elsewher e upon thisb ay, so beautifuland yet so deadly

,a str ange dwelling-

pl

for men who have b ut one life to passonthesu r face of thisear th.


pr eciousheaps,otherwise the whole mass,

even if found,will tur n to lumpsofcoal !

What a wilder nessof cr aters! Smallwonder if wild talesexist yet in a distr ictwhich in olddays

,andeven moder n ones, has

been encompassed with fear . Onevolcano isenough to fill the countr y east of Napleswith ter r or . But her e ar e m any— active,doubtless

,in ver y differ en t ages—Monte

Bar bar o,Monte Cigliano

,Monte Campana

,

Mon te Grillo,which hemsin the mor e r e

cent cr ater ofAvem usmuch asSomma en

cir clesthe er uptive cr ater of Vesuvius.What ter rible sightsmust have been wit

n eesed her e in those far - distant dayswhenthese and other cr aterswer e in actionafflictionsuch aswasnot fr om the begin

ning of the cr eation which God cr eateduntil then But a few m ilesaway acr ossthe sea isMonte E pomeo

,tower ing out of

Ischia. That wasthe chief vent of thevolcan ic for cesin Roman times; and thenthe Phlegrman fieldswer e still. E pomeo

hasbeen silen t for five centuries; b ut thatpr ovesnothing

,and ther e ar e people who

suggest that the awful ear thquak e which

THE PHL E GRE AN FIELDS . 61

destr oyed Casam icciola may be just such a

pr elude to the awak en ing of E pomeo asw asthe convulsion which shook Pompeu to itsfoundationssixteen yearsbefor e itsfinal destr uction . D2aver tite omen I

We need not,however

,go back five cen

tur iesfor factsthat bid men heed what m ay

be passing un der gr oun d about the shor esofthisblue b ay. Her e isone too lar ge to beover looked

,imm ediately in fr on t of us— no

other than the gr een slope of Mon te Nuovo,a hill of aspect both inn ocen t and ancient,r idged with a few pine tr eesby whose aidthe m ountain con tr ivesto look asif it hadstood ther e beside the Lucr in e Lake aslongasany eminence in sight. Thisisa falsepr etension. Ther e wasno such moun tainwhen Petr ar ch climbed the n eighbour in gheight

,nor for full two centur iesafter war ds.

What Petr ar ch saw existsno longer . Helooked down upon the Lucr in e Lake con

nectedw ith thesea by a deep channel,and

formed with Lake Aver nusinto one wideinlet fit for shipping. Thiswasthe Por tusJulius

,a har bour so lar ge that the whole

Roman fleet could m an oeuvr e in it. The


canalsand pierswere in existence lessthanfour centur iesago ; and thisgr eat work, sor emar kable a witnessto thesea power of theRomans

, would doubtlesshave lasted untoour day had it not been for the intr usion ofMon te Nuovo

,which destr oyed the channels

and r educed the Lucr ine Lak e to the dimensionsof asedgy duck pond.

The catastr ophe iswor th describing,for

no other in histor ic tim eshasso gr eatlychanged the aspect ofthiscoast or r obbed itofso gr eat a por tion of itsbeauty. For fulltwo yearsther e had been constan t ear thquakesthr oughout Campan ia. Som e im

pr isoned for ce washeaving andstr uggling tor elease itself

,and all men began to fear a

gr eat convulsion. On the 27thof September,

1538,the ear th tr em orsseem ed to concen

tr ate themselvesar ound the town ofPozzuoli.Mor e than twenty shotsstr uck the townin r apidsuccession . By noon upon the 28ththesea wasr etr eating visibly fr om the pleasant shor e beside the Lucr ine Lake

,wher e

stood the r uined villa ofthe E mpr essAgr ippina

,anda mor e moder n villa of the An jou

kings,who wer e used

,like all their pr edeces

THE PHL E GRE AN FIE LDS. 63

sorsin Campania, to take their ease in summer among the luxur ian t vegetation of thehillswhose volcanic for ceswer e believed tobe lulled in a per petualsleep.

For thr ee hundr ed yar dsthesea fell back,itsbottom wasexposed

,and the peasants

cam e with car tsand car r ied ofi the fish leftdry upon thestr and. The whole of the flatgr oun d between Lake Aver nusand the seahad been heaved upwar ds; b ut at eighto’clock on the following mor ning it began tosink again

,though not asyet with any vio

lence. It fell appar en tly at one spot on ly,

and to a depth of about thir teen feet,while

fr om the hollow thusformed ther e burst outa str eam of ver y cold water

,which w asin

vestigated cautiously by sever al persons,

som e of whom found it by no m eanscold,

b ut tepid andsulphur ous. E r e long thosewho wer e examin ing the new spring perceived that the sunken gr ound wasrisingawfully. It wasupr ear ed so r apidly thatby noon the hollow hadbecom e a hill

,and

asthe new slopesswelled and r ose wher enever yet had ther e been a rising gr ound

,the

cr est burst and fir e br oke out fr om the summit.


About thistim e,saysone Fr ancesco

del Ner o,who dwelt at Pozzuoli

,

“about

thistim e fir e issued for th and form ed thegr eat gulfwithsuch a for ce

,noise

,andshin

ing light that I, who wasstanding in my garden

,wasseized with gr eat ter r or . For ty

m inutesafterwar ds,though unwell

,I got

upon a n eighbour ing height,and by my

tr oth it wasa splendid fir e,that thr ew up

for a long time much ear th and m an ystones.They fell back again all r ound the gulf

,so

that towar dsthesea they formed a heap inthe shape of a cr ossbow

,the bow being a

m ile anda half andthe ar r ow two- thir dsofam ile in dim ensions. TowardsPozzuoli ithasformed a hill n ear ly of the height ofMonte Mor ello

,andfor a distan ce ofseventy

m ilesthe ear th and tr eesar e cover ed withashes. On my own estate I have n either aleaf on the tr eesnor a blade of gr ass.The ashesthat fell wer e soft, sulphur ous,and heavy. They n ot only thr ew down thetr ees

,b ut an imm ense number of birds, har es,

andother anim als'wer e killed.

”

Am idsuch thr oesandpangsMonte Nuovowasbor n , and the eventsof that natal day


suggest hesitation befor e we label any cr aterof the Phlegr aaan fieldswith the wor dextin ct.” It isgr anted that in the course

of geologic agesvolcan ic for cesdo expendthemselves. The Br itish Isles

,for instance

,

contain m any deadvolcanoes,once at least as

form idable asany in the wor ld. But theexhaustion hasbeen the work of coun tlessages

,andmany gener ationsof mank ind will

com e and go upon thisplanet befor e thecoastsof Raise andMisenum ar e assafe asthose ofCumber land.

While speaking of these ter r ors,I have

been halting by the wayside at a poin t,not

far b eyond the outskir tsof Pozzuoli, wher etw o r oadsun ite, the one going inland b eneath theslope ofMonte Barbar o, the otherfollowing the outline of the cur vedshor e onwhich Baim stands. The inland r oad istheone which goesto Cumin , and isentitled tor espect

,ifnot to ven er ation , asbeing among

the oldest of Italian highways,the appr oach

to the m ost ancien t Gr eeksettlem en t in Italy,

mother city ofPozzuoli andof Naples,not to

m ention the mysteriousPalseopolis, whosevery existence hasbeen disputed by some


scholars. Som e say it wasm or e than ten

centur iesbefor e Chr ist’sbir th that the boldGr eeksof E uboea cam e up thiscoast, wher ealr eady their kinsmen wer e known astr aders

,

and having settled first on Ischia m oved tothe Opposite m ainland

,andbuilt their acr op

olisupon a cr ag Oftr achyte which overhungthe sea. Their life wasa long war far e.Mor e than once they owed salvation to theaidoftheir kinsm en from Sicilian cities

,yet

they made their foundation a m ighty powerin Italy. With one hand they held back thefier ce Samn ite moun tain eerswho covetedtheir wealth

,and gave out with the other

m or e and m or e fr eely that noble cultur ewhich hashadn o r ival yet.One must wonder why these str angers

com ing fr om the south passed byso m anygulfsandhar bou rsshaped out Of the enduring r ock only to choose a site for their new

city at the foot of all these cr aters. It m aybe that chance haditspar t in the m atter ; insom eslight indication Ofwind or wave theym ay have seen the guidance of a deity. I n

deed,an an cient legendsaystheir shipswer e

guided by Apollo, who sen t a dove flying


hindr an ce,and anyone who hasalr eady in

hism ind a pictur e ofthe gr eatnessOfE uboeanGumm had better leave it ther e without attempt to ver ify itsaccur acy on thespot.Obser vationssimilar to these apply justly

to most ofthe r emain ing sightsin thismuchvaunted district. The guidesar e per fectlyuntr ustwor thy. They give high-soundingnamesto ever y br oken wall

,and ther e isnot

a bur r ow in the gr ound which they cannotconn ect withsom e nam e that hasr ung r oun dthe wor ld. It isabsolutely futile to hope tor ecaptur e the m agic with which Vir gilclothed thiscoun try. The cave ofthe Sibylunder the Acr opolisof Cumw wasdestr oyedby the imper ial gener al Narseswhen he b esieged the Goths. The dar k, wet passage ontheshor e of Lake Aver nus, towhich the nam eofthesibyl isgiven by the guides, isprobably par t of an Oldsubter r an ean r oad

,not

devoid of in ter est,b ut iscer tainly not wor th

the discomfor t of a visit. The Lake of

Aver nushaslost itster r ors. It isno longerdark and m enacing, and anyone m aysatisfyhimself by a cursor y inspection that bir dsbyno meansshun it now .

THE PHL E GRE AN FIELDS . 69

The tr uth isthat thisr egion compar esillin attr actionswith that upon the other sideof Naples. I n daysnot far distan t

,when

brigandsstill invested all the r oadsandb ywaysof the Sor r ento pen insula, str angersfound upon the Bay Of Baiae almost the onlyexcursion which they could m ake in safety ;and imbued asever y tr aveller wasw ith classical tr adition

,they still discover ed on this

shor e that fabled beauty which it m ay oncehave possessed. Ther e isnow little to suggest the aspect of the coast when Roman

fashion tur ned it in to the most voluptuousabode of pleasur e known in any age, and

when the shor e wasfringed with mar blepalaceswhose imm ense beauty iscer tainlynot to be im agined by contemplating any one

of the fr agm en tsthat stud the hillside,

though it may per hapsbe r ealised in som edim way by anyon e who will stand w ithinthe atrium ofsom e gr eat house at Pompei i

,

say the house of Pansa , who will note thesplendour ofthe vista thr ough the colonn adedper istyle

,and will then r emember that the

Pompeiian houseswer e not famedfor beauty,

while the palacesOf Baiaewer e.


Baise,like Gumm ,

islost beyond r ecall.Fairyland isshatter ed in to fr agments; and

the guideswho baptise them with r idiculousn am esknow no m or e than any one ofuswhatit istheysay. Really

,since the tr agedy of

that first gr eat outbr eak of Vesuviusdid, asGoethesaid

,cr eate m or e pleasur e for posterity

than any other which hasstr uck mank ind,

one isdisposed to wish that it hadbeen mor ewidespr ead. If only the asheshad r aineddown a trifle har der atMisenum andatBaizs

,

what noble Rom an buildingsm ight havesurvivedunto thisday, conser ved by the kindwisdom of the moun tain ! What matter ifmor e Ofthat gener ation hadbeen left houseless I t near ly happened, ifPliny

’sletter isnot exagger ated.

“ The ashesnow began tofall on us

,

” he says,Ofhisescape withhis

mother fr om the palace atMisenum,though

in no gr eat quantity. I tur ned my head, andobser ved behind usa thick smoke whichcame r olling after uslike a tor r ent. Wehadscar cestepped out ofthe pathwhen dar knessoverspr ead us

,not like the darknessof a

cloudy night,nor that when ther e isno moon

,

b ut that of a closed r oom when all the lights


thing which mor e piquesmy in ter est in thenarr ow tongue of land par ting the Lucr in eLake fr om the sea. Ther e is, or was

,a

causeway her e so ancien t that even theGr eeks

,whosettled at Cumzsso many centu

r iesbefor e our er a, did not kn ow who bu iltit ; andbeing in the dark about the matter

,

put down the constr uction to no lessa personthan the god Her cules

,who made it

,they de

clar ed,for the passage of the oxen

,which he

hadtaken fr om Ger yon,the monster whom he

slew in Gades. It wasnosmall work,even

for Her cules. The dam waseightstadia long,

near ly a mile,made of lar gestoneslabslaid

withsuchskill that they w ithstood the seafor many centur ies. Who could have beenthe buildersof thisdam in daysso ancientthat even the Gr eeksettlersdid notknow itsor igin Rom e wasnot in those days. Ther ewer e factor iesand tr aderson the coast

,

Phcsn iciansper haps. But why guessabouta question so impossible tosolve ? The curiosity ofthe thing iswor th noting for theage of civilisation on these coastsisver ygr eat.At thisspot beside the Lucr ine Lake

,

THE PHL E GRZE AN FIELDS. 73

wher e the sea islapping slowly,almost

stealthily,on the one hand

,and the dimin

ishedwatersofthe lake liestill and r eedy onthe other

,one m emor y

,m or e than any other ,

haun tsmy m ind. It cannot have been farfr om thisver y spot

,cer tainly in sight of it

,

that ther estood in old Roman daysthe villaOf the E mpr essAgrippina, mother of theE mper or Ner o

,and it wasat Baiae

,lying

just acr ossthe blue cur ved b ay, that heplann ed her mur der

,assoon ashe discover ed

thatshe loved power,like himself

,andstood

in the way of cer tain schem eson which heset gr eatstor e.The fleet which lay at Capo Miseno

,the

gr eat n avalstation of those days,wascom

manded by one Anicetus,a fr eedman

,who

,

being of an ingen iousm echanical tur n Ofmind

,devised aship ofasor t likely to pr ove

useful to any tyr ant anxiousto speed hisfriendsinto the n ether wor ld without suspicion . I t hadmuch thesame aspect asothershipswhen viewed fr om without ; b ut a car eful Obser ver of itsinwar d par tsm ight noticethat the usual tight boltingswer e r eplacedby m ovable ones

,whichcould be shot back

74 NAPLES , PAST AND PRESENT .

at will,so that on a given signal the whole

ship would fall to pieces. Thispr etty toywasof course not design ed to m ake longvoyages— it wasenough if it would r eachdeep water .

Ner o wasdelighted. Hesaw now how toavoid allscandal. The E mpr esswasat thatmom en t on the sea

,hom ewar d bound fr om

Antium,anddesigned to land atBauli

,which

lay n ear Baise on the b ay. The ship waspr epar ed

,the boltswer eshot

,and the pr etty

pinn ace lay waiting on the beach at Bauliwhen the E mpr essdisembar ked. And

ther e too wasNer o,com e fr om Baise on

pur pose to pay duty to hismother and

invite her tospend the Feast OfMiner va withhim at Baim

,whither he hoped she would

cr ossover in the boat which he hadhad thepleasur e of fitting up with the splendourwhich waspr oper to her r ank.

Agr ippina knew her son , and wassuspicious. She would go to Baise, b ut pr efer r edto follow the r oad in a litter . That n ight,however

,when the festivitiesat Baim was

over,her fearsvan ished. Ner o had been

afiectionate and dutiful. He had assur ed


andher attendantsinto thesea. Agrippinaretained sufficien t pr esence of mind to lie

silent on the water,suppor ting herself as

b est she could,while the sailorsthr ashed

thesea with cars,hoping thusto make an

endof their victim,and one poor gir l who

thought to save herself by cr ying out thatshe wasthe E mpr esshad her br ainsbeatenout for her pains. At last the Shor e boats,whose ownerscould not know that theywer einter r upting the E mper or ’sdear est wish,ar r ived upon the scen e

,picked up the E m

pr ess,and car ried her to her villa on this

Lucrin e lake.It would have been wiser to flee to a

gr eater distance, if indeed ther e wassafetyin any Roman ter ritor y for the mother oftheE mper or when he desir ed toslay her . Thatn ight

,asshe lay br uised andweak

,deser ted

byher attendants, a band ofmur der ersr ushedin

,headed by An icetus

,who thusr edeem ed

hiscr edit with hism aster when hismor e ingeniousschem e had failed. Strike thewomb that bor e thismonster ! ’ cr ied theE mpr ess

,andso died.

Then,

” saysMer ivale, fr om whose most


vividstor y thisisb ut an outlin e,

“ began thetorm entswhich never ceased to gnaw thehear t stringsof the Agrippin a ’sspectr e flittedbefor e The tr umpethear d at her m idn ight obsequ iesstill blar edwith ghostly music fr om the hillofMisen urn .

CHAPTE R III.

THE BE AUTI E S AND TRADITIONS OF THE POS I L I P O

WITH SOME OBSE RVATI ONS UPON V I B

GI L TE E E NCHANTE R .

IT wassetting towardsevening when Itur ned my back on Baise anddr ove thr oughPozzuoli along the dusty r oad which r unsbeside the sea in the dir ection of Posilipo.

All day I hadseen the blun t headlan d of

tufa lying like a cloud on the fur ther side ofthe blue b ay ; and fr om hour to hour asIplodded thr ough the blasted coun tr y

,my

thoughtstur ned pleasan tly to the gr eat r ampar t which stood solid when all the r egionfur ther west wasshaken like a cor nfield bythe wind

,and beyond which liesthe city

,

with itsendlesshum an tr agediesanditsfatalbeauty un impair ed by the possession Of m anymasters. Bocca baciata non per de ven

the scandalousOldpr over b,has

a. sweet application to the city,and the

F E STI VAL O F P I E D I GR OTTA .


thr ough the clear air,anda boat pushesOfi ,

sculledslowly by a m anstanding er ect andfacing towar dsthe bow,

in the ancient fashion of

the Mediter r an ean . At thispoin t I dism issmycar r iage

,for I have m any thingsto think

ab out,and do not want the company of the

chatter ing,extor tion ate vettur ino. Having

seen him go offup the hill, cr acking hiswhiplike pistol shots

,and ur ging on hiseager

pony in the full hope of a far e at the Pun tadi Posilipo , Istr oll towardsthe long ascenttowar dsthe shoulder of the hill

,stopping

Often to watch the gold light gr ow warmeron the sea

,tinging the volcan ic cr agsof Is

chia,until my en joym en t Of the view is

br oken by an un invited compan ion, who

thr ustshimself upon m e with a r em inderthat I have r eached the open ing ofthe Gr ottoofSejanus.I had for gotton all about the gr otto

,

though indeed it wasthe point for whichIshould have m ade

,and b ut for the in ter

r uption of the lively little Tuscan who actsascustodian , I m ight have walked by without going in. I accepted gr atefully the vol

uble assur ancesthat thisisindeed the most

BEAUTIES OF THE POSI L I PO. 81

wonder ful and authentic gr otto on the Posilipo

,far sur passing those twin tunn els

thr ough which one goesfr om NaplestoPozzuoli ; andthe guide, having caught up a

tor ch of smoulder ing tow,and vented a few

hea r ty curseson the Neapolitans,who lie

,he

says,without r ecollection Of eter n ity , con

ducted me into a long passage of utter and

palpable dar kn ess.Ne. femmonsné tela a lum e di cannela

,

say the Neapolitans— You must not judgeeither a woman or a weft by candlelight.Thisisver y tr ue

,and many a man hassuf

fer ed fr om for getting it. But when it isacase of gr ottoes

,ther e isno choice ; andac

cor dingly I deliver ed myself over to thechatter of the Tuscan .

The lively little man wasextolling thesuper ior char acter of hisown coun tr ym en of

Tusca ny ; and when histor ch flicker ed out

with no war ning, leaving usin sudden blacknessin the bowelsOf the ear th

,hisindigna

tion blazed out fier cely against the wor thlessk naveswhosoldsuch tow in Naples. I paidlittle heed to him ,

for the gr andeur and thesilence ofthe place appeal to the imagination .


I wastr eading on a smooth and even floor,

between wallsof tufa which had been chisclledoutsostr aight that whenever I lookedback the en tr ance shon e behind me like a

star acr ossa vast dark sky. The air wassweet and fr esh

,filtering thr ough som e hid

den open ingsOf the r ock. The r elightedtor ch flashed now on Roman br ickwork

,now

on ar chesOf m assive stone built to incr easethestr ength ofthe vault

,andfit it the better

for those gr eat pr ocessionsOf char iotsandhorsemen which cam e and wen t to the villaat the fur ther end

,r etur ning fr om a hun ting

par ty with dogswhich hadwear ied out thegam e on the hillsof Astr on i

,or escor ting

the gladiatorslanded at Pozzuoli for somecombat in the theatr e which now liessowaste and desolate am id the vineyar ds.How thispassage must have r ung withshoutsand laughter in old Rom an days!But now it isassilent asthe tomb ; andone

passeson a full half-m ile in darkn ess, to

emer ge at length w ith heated fan cy andhighm emoriesof Rom an splendour

,on nothing

b ut a r uinouscottage,a star ved vineyar d

,

and a paltr y gar den gr ound of common vegetables

84 NAPLE S, PAST AND PRESE NT.

and r elicsinnumer ab le of one ofthe gr eatestof all Roman villas

,which must have been

incompar ably lovely. If only one suchmight have lasted to our day !

The long dar knessof the gr otto, the exiton. the hillside

,wher e the ancient splendour

issoshatter ed, combin e to cr eate a sense of

myster y which one n ever loseson the Posilipo. The sea fr etsand chafesabout thejagged r eefsat the base of the headland

,

echoing and r esounding in cavesOf vast antiquity, wher e br oken mar blesand defacedinscriptionsgive substance to the talesof

tr easur e which the fisherssay lieshidden inthem to thishour . The dullest of mankindwould besmitten with som e touch of fancyon thisspot, much m or e the quick-witted

r iot among the r elicsofasplendid past.

acteristic Of all the headland. Isend awaymy guide, who can do nothing mor e for me

,

and per ch myself upon a scr ap Of ancientwall

,whence I can look past the gr een island

ofNisida,full in the warm light of the west

eringsun , over the wide b ay to wher e the

BEAUTIES OF THE POSI L IPO. 85

black peak OfIschia,tower ing in to the clear

sky, beginstoshine asifsome goddesshadbr ushed it with liquid gold.

Ther e isa caver n in the clifi'

at no gr eatdistance which the fisherm en call L a Gr ottadei Tuoni (The Cave of Thunder) Iscar cely know why, unlessit be b ecause thesea bellowsso loudly when it isdriven bythestorm win d r ound the vaultsandhollowsofthe r ock. The cave isaccessible only byboat

,and

,lik e many another cleft in thesoft

tufa ofthisheadland,it isbelieved to hide

imm easur able r iches,left ther esince the days

when ever y cliffbor e itswhite Rom an villa,

and all the shady caver nswer e the coolar boursoftheir pleasur e gr ounds. Fr om theCr eek ofMar echiano

,which cleavesthe Po

silipo in half, up to the ver y spot on whichIsit

,ther e isno br eak in the succession of

the r uins. Ancien t cister nslie upon thebeaches

,the gr een tide washesover shatter ed

colonn ades,theboatmen peer ing down thr ough

the tr anslucen t water astheysink their netssee the light waver r oun d the foundationsofold palaces

,and the seaweedsstir b ntasti

cally on the walls. It islittle wonder if no


one Of them can r id himself of the belief inspiritswan der ing yet about the wr eck ofsomuchsplendou r

,or shake offthe fear

L est the deadshould fr om their sleep,

Bu rsting o’

er thestar lit deep,

L ead a r apid masque ofdeathO

’

er the watersofhispath.

”

Asfor thiscave of the thunders,the story

goesthat one day cer tain E nglishm en pr esen ted themselvesbefor e a boatm an who waslounging on the quay OfSan ta Lucia atNaplesanddem anded whether he would take themon hisskiff into the gr otto.Pepinohadseen the caver n m any tim es

,and

didnot fear it. “ Why not ? hesaid,and

the bar gain wasstr uck. Asthey r owedacr ossthe cr escen t b ay Of the Chiais

,past

the Palazzo di Donna An na, and under thehillside wher e the whisper ing pinesgr owdown the high cliff faces

,and golden

lemonsglow in theshade Of m ar ble ter r aces,

the E nglishm en wer e ver ysilen t andPepino,

who loved chatter,began to feel oppr essed.

He did not qu ite like the zeal with whichthey Sat studying a huge volum e ; for hekn ew that gr eat bookswer e Of mor e use


cave, andstill the water sank stair bystair ,till suddenly it paused— the r eader ’svoicehadstopped

,andslowly

,steadily thesea b e

gan to rise again.

Thespell wasbr oken. A page wasm issing fr om the book ! The E nglishman in

despair clutched at the pagesasif he wouldtear them piecem eal. Instan tly the cr ashof

thunder r ang thr ough the cave, theseasur gedback to itsOld level

,the mar ble stair case

leading to the tr easur e wasengulphed, andthe boatman

,scr eaming on the nam e of the

Madonna,waswhir led out ofthe caver n into

the light ofday again.

Close below me isa little r eef or island ofyellow pozzolano stone, jutting out fr om thePunta di Cor oglio

,which isthe name of the

m ost wester ly cliff Of the Posilipo , thatthr ough which the tun nel r uns. Under theisland ther e isa tiny cr eek with a beach of

yellowsand ; thespot issosilen t that I canhear the r ipple plashing on the beach. That

rock isa famousone. It isthe Scoglio diVir gilio

,

” the Rock of Virgil, b y all tr aditiona favour ite haunt Of the gr eat poet, and thespot in which he pr actised hisenchantments.

BE AUTIE S OF THE POSI L IPO. 89

Petr a r ch said he didn ot believe in thoseenchantm en ts. But then King Rober t questionedhim about them at a m om ent whenboth wer e r iding with a gallant par ty, andthe joy Of life wassur ging high enough tomak e men doubt all achievem en tsb ut thoseof battle or oflove. HadPetr ar chsat alonewatching the sunset bathe the Scoglio diVir gilio with gold

,he m ight have judged

the m atter differ ently. At any r ate twen ty

gener ationsofNeapolitanssince hisday haveaccepted the beliefsofthir ty mor e who wen tbefor e them

,andset down Vir gil asa m agi

cian . Why must we be wiser than fiftygen er ationsofmankin d ?To be a wizar d isnot to be wicked ! Vir

gil’sfair fam e isin no dan ger . Ther e wasno

-

malign ity in any Of thespellswr ought outon that little headland. E ach of them con

fer r ed a ben efit on the city which the poetloved. One by one the woesOf Napleswer eassuaged by the b eneficen t enchanter ; itsflies

,itsserpen ts, the fatal tendency Of butch

er’sm eat to go b ad, exposur e to volcanic fir es,

all wer e held in check by the power of the


A str anger visiting Naplesten centur iesago would have found it studded with theingen iousinventionsofthe wizard. Per hapsthe device for bridling the audacity Of Vesuviusmight .be the first to str ike him . Itwasnothing lessthen a horse of br onze b estr idden by an ar cher

,whose n otched ar r ow

wasever on the str ing,itspoin t dir ected at

thesumm it of the mountain. Thism enacesufficed to hold the unr uly demonsof the fir ein check

,andm ight doso to thishour

,wer e

it not that one day a countryman com ingin to Naplesfr om the Campagna

,andlooking

at the statue for the hundr edth tim e feltbor ed byseeing the ar cher had not fir ed offhisar r ow yet

,andso did it for him. The

shaftsped thr ough the air,str iking the rim

of the cr ater,which str aightway boiled

andspouted fir e, andfr om that day to thisnom an hasfound the m eansof placing anotherar r ow on thestring. It isa thousand pities.San Genn ar o hastaken up the duty now ,

and

standspointing imper iously with outstr etchedhand bidding the volcano halt. He hadsom esuccesstoo. I n 1 707

,when the fir esof

the volcano tur ned n ight in to day, and its


mosquito cur tainswill lament the lossOfVir gil’sfly.

It isan E nglishm an,one John ofSalisbury,

who collectsthese pr etty talesfor us; and

he hasanother which,asitsuppliesa r eason

for an historical fact which must have puzzledm an y people in the histor y Of Naples

,isthe

better wor th r ecording,andm ay indeed have

the luck to please both clever and stupidpeople in one mom en t.The puzzling fact isto discover how on

ear th it happened that the city which inMiddle Agesbor e asom ewhat evil r eputationfor sur r endering itselflight- hear tedly at thefirst summ onsOf any conquer or

,yet held

such a differ en t r epute in ear lier days,having

r emained faithful to the Gr eek E mpir e inConstan tinople when Am alfi had fallen and

Saler no r eceived a str anger gar rison,which

r esisted her oically ever y attack of Lombar dor Of Norman

,andsaw army after army r etir e

b afliedfr om befor e itswalls. Whither hadall that stout- hear tedn essfled in the dayswhen Fr ench

,Span ish

,andGerman conquer

orsfound no m or e r esistance in the Sir en citythan in a beautifulwom an to whom one m an

’s


love isasmuch asany other ’s? How camethat old glory to sink in tosham e, to acceptslaver y and to for get faith The answer isthat in the Old daysthe citywaskept by a

spell Of thesuchan ter Vir gil.Vir gil

,it seems

,m using on thispoint Of

r ock thr oughout long m oonlight nights, hadconstr ucted a palladium . It consisted of amodel Of the city

,in closed in a glassbottle

,

and aslong asthisfr agile ar ticle r em ain edin tact the hostsofbesiegersen camped in vainbeneath the walls. The E mper or Henr ythe Sixth wasthe first whom anaged to br eakit. The city fathersr ushed to their palladium to discover why for the first tim e ithadfailedto pr otect them. The r eason wasb ut too plain . Ther e wasa small cr ack inthe glass!Thr ough that cr ack all the vir tue wen t out

ofthe palladium,andun til the gr eat upstir

ring of her oichear tswhich the wor ld owestoFr an ce at the close of the last century

,Na

pleswasn ever cr edited again with anym ar ked disposition to r esist attack or tostr ikecour ageously for fr eedom. I am not sur ewhether those who know best the inn er hear t


ofNapleswould claim that the gr eat deedswr ought since then ar e to be attr ibuted toany new palladium ; b ut, for my par t, ifspellsar e to be spoken of

,I pr efer to hold

that the long age ofsloth andslaver y isthatwhich n eedsthe explan ation of black m agic

,

andthat n either the loyal NaplesofOlddaysnor the fr ee Naplesofthe pr esen t time owesan y debt to other sour cesthan itsown highspirit anditsn atur alstout hear t which sleptfor centuries

,b ut ar e now awake again.

Thesettingsun hasdr oppedso far towar dsthesea that the tide beginsto wash in gr eyandgold ar ound the yellow cliffs. The b ayiscover ed with darkshadesfalling fr om thesky in m asses

,anda little wind r ising fr om

the west r ufliesthe water constantly. Onlythe ridge of Ischia yet holdsthe light

,and

ther e itseemsasifa r iver ofsoft gold flowedalong the moun tain - top

,vivid andpur e

,tur n

ing all the peak Of E pom eo to a liquid r eflection

,impalpable asthe sky itself. But

the glow fadeseven asI watch it ; and theappr oach of chilly even ing war nsm e not to

loiter on the lonely hillside. I wan der downacr ossthe hollow

,passing near the br oken


wher e spr ing comeswith gentle touch and

warm,sweet daysof sunny weather . Far

down amid the depthsof thisluxuriance of

fruit andflowersthe sea washesr oundsom ecr eek or cur ved white beach, andther e builtout with ter r acesandbalcon iesofpur e whitestone ar e villaswhich r epeat thesplendour Ofthose Roman homesover whose r uinstheyare built andwhose altarsliestill in the innum er able caver nswhich pier ce the base ofthe oldlegendary headland.

I n the silver y dusk of thisspr ing eveningthe beauty of these r avin esbr imm ing overwithfr uitsand flowersisquite m agical. Ipause beside a low wall

,over which a m an

may lean br east high, andgaze down thr oughtheshadowsspr eading fast among the tr ellised pathsbelow. The fading light hasr obbed the lemonsof their colour ; b ut the

flam ingstill against aheavybackgr ound of dar k firs

,and beyond them

thepath windsout upon a little beach,wher e

the tide br eaksat the foot of yellow cliffs,

anda boat ism aking at her moor ings. Be

yondthe outline ofthe wooded cliff the gr eysea liesdarken ing lik e a steely m ir r or ; and

BEAUTIES OF THE POSI L IPO. 97

liftin g my eyesI can see thespit of r ock on

which standsthe enchanted Castle of the

E gg, black andgr im asever,andhigher still

Vesuviustower ing amid the palesky and thestars

,itsslowly coiling pillar Ofdar ksmoke

sufiused with a r osy glow,the r eflection of

the r aging fur nace hidden in itscone. AL

r eady one or two lampsar e flashing on theshor e. The day isn ear ly gone

,and the

beautiful Souther n n ight iscom e.Many people had wander ed up fr om Naplesto en joy the taste of appr oaching summer on thisheight

,wher esur ely thescen t Of

poignan t than elsewher e and

the outlook over land andsea isof incomparable beauty. AsI walked on slowly downthe r oad my earscaught the tr emulousshr illmelody ofa mandolin

,anda man

’svoice n earat hand tr olled for th the pr etty air Of L a

ver asor r entina. I stopped to listen . Thevoice wassweet enough

,andsom e passion

Ma la:sgr atasor r entinaNon ha maje di me pieta

The musrc cam e fr om a little r oadside r estaur ant

,half open to the sky, wher e a few


peoplesat at tablesover look ing the sea. Istr olled in

,andsat sipping my vino di Posi

lipo while the mandolin thr ummed till thesinger gr ew tir ed

,took hisfees

,andwen t OE

tosom e other café. The win e isnot what itw asin Capaccio ’sdays. Semper Pausilypivigeat poculum ! cr iesthe jolly topogr apher

,

andmay Jupiter himself lead the toasts! ”By all m eans

,if he will ; b ut I fear theson

Of Satur n will not be tempted fr om Olympusby the contentsOf the purple beaker set b efor e me at the pr ice of thr ee soldi. “ It ispur e

,it isfr agr an t, it isdelicious,” Capaccio

goeson,waxing mor e eloquent with ever y

glass. I n the fier cest heat it isgr ateful tothe stomach

,it goeth down easily

,it pr o

motethmoistur e,it molestethneither the liver

nor the r eins,nor doth it even obfuscate the

head ! I tsvir tue isnot of those that passaway ; for whether ofthisyear

,last year

,or

ofGodknowswhen , it hathstill thescent offlowers

,and lyethsweetly on the tongue.

I think Capaccio must have had a vineyar dher e

,andsold hiswin esby auction . Far b e

n eath me I could hear the washing of thesea

,andthe m oon climbing up theskyscat


ter eda gleam of silver her e and ther e uponthe water . Naplesstr etched darkly r oun dthe cur vingshor e

,while high upon the r idge

the Castle of St. E lmo stood out black and

solid against the night sky, with the lowpriory in fr ont

,swor d and cowl domina ting

the city,asever thr ough her histor y

,whether

I n dusk or sunshine no man who looksupon thisview will n eed to ask why Vir gilloved it

,and desir ed to be bur ied n ear the

spot whence he had been used to watch it.Not far away upon my left, above the gr ottowhich leadsto Pozzuoli, isthe tomb tr aditionally known ashis. Ther e ar e m any who b elieve and som e who doubt ; b ut ther e isamedimval tale about the matter which iswell wor th telling. It wascommonly r e

por ted in the daysofHohenstaufen andAn

jou that the bon esofVir gilwer e bur ied ina castlesu r r ounded by thesea. Ther e isnoother for tr essto which thiscould apply thanthe Castle Of the E gg.

In the r eign of Roger,King of Sicily

,a

cer tain scholar - they ar e alwaysE nglish,in

these legends— who had wander ed far in


quest of lear ning, cam e into the r oyal pr esence w ith a petition. The King, who foundhim wise andgr ave, andtook pleasur e in hisconversation, waswilling to gr ant hiswish,whatever it might b e ; wher eon the E nglish

r eplied that he would not abuse ther oyal favour

,nor beg for any mor e ephemer al

pleasur e,b ut would ask a thing which in the

eyesof men must seem b ut small, nam ely,that he might have the bonesof Virgil,wher esoever he m ight findthem in the r ealmof Sicily. It waseven then longsince forgotten in whatspot pr ecisely the body ofthegr eat poet had been laid ; and itseem ed tothe King little likely that a str anger fr omthe nor th should be able to discover whathad r em ained hidden fr om the Neapolitans.SO he gave consen t

,and the E nglishm an

set for th for Naples, armed with letterstothe Duk e

,giving him full power to sear ch

wher ever he would. The citizensthemselveshadno fear ofhissuccessin a quest wher ethey hadoften failed

,andso m ade no eE or t

to r estr ain him . The scholar sear ched and

dug, guiding hisoper ationsby the powerOf m agic. At last he br oke into the centr e


bonesmight lie un to thishour on the spotwher e thespirit isso well r emember ed. But

the E nglishscholar had the King’swar r ant,

andclaim ed at least the bookson which theWizar d’shead waspr opped. Those theDuke ofNaplesgave him

,b ut the boneshe

r efused,and had them taken for gr eater

safety to Castel dell’Uovo, wher e they laybehind an ir on gr ating and wer e shown to

anyone who desir ed to see them . But if

they wer e at any time distur bed, the air

would dar kensuddenly, high gustsofstormwould r oar ar ound the battlemen tsof thecastle

,andthesea beating heavily about the

r ockswould r age asifdemanding vengeancefor the insult.Such isthe tale told by Ger vasiusOf Tilbur y

,who had been dead almost half aslong

asVir gil. It may be tr ue or un tr ue. I amnot fond of climbing up into the judgmen tseat

,or attempting to r ecognise white- r obed

tr uth in the midst of the thr ong of lesswor thy, though mor e amusing char acters

,

which thr ong Italian legend. Least ofallonsuch a night asthis

,when the soft win d

blowing over the sea fr om the enchanted


into the water,andthe br oken outlin e of its

r oof br eaking the palesky. The tide washesr ound itsfoundations. The whole massliesblack andsilen t

,except at one point wher e a

r estaur an thasintr uded itself into theshell ofa once Splendid hall

,andlightsflicker r ound

the empty windowswhich wer e built for thepleasur e of a Cour t. Thr ee hundr ed yearsago thispalace wasbegun for the wife of a

Spanish vicer oy,Donna An n a Car afa. It

wasn ever fin ished,andhasbeen put to a

number of degr ading uses,being at one

time a quar antinestation,at another astable

for the horsesof the tr amway,while a few

fisherm en have alwayshoused their wivesandchildr en in itsold m ined chambers

,un

deter r ed by the taleswhich associate them in with thespirit ofthe Queen Giovann a.

Queen Giovann a isso gr eat a personage inNaplesthat it iswor th while to consider herpar ticular ly. Ther e ar e few spotswithinthir ty milesofNapleswhere one doesnothear Of her too amor ouslife andher tr agicdeath. I doubt if ther e ar e half a dozen

guidesor vettur in i in all the city who,if

asked the nam e of thisgr eat building, will

BEAUTIE S OF THE POSI L I PO. 105

not answer that it isIl Palazzo della Regin aGiovann a

,andon being fru 'ther questioned

will not tell a dolefulstory ofhow she wasstr angled in one of the deser ted chambers.The str anger

,ignor an t of Naples

,will per

hapsset down thisfact, pleased to discover atr ace Of history yet linger ing in the r ecollec

tion of the people,and will cher ish it car e

fully un til he istold thesam e tale at CastelCapuano

,on the other side ofthe city

,with

dam aging to Queen Giovan na ’schar acter .

For instance,it issaid ofher thatshe wasin

those ear ly daysso convinced a democr at asto choose her loversfreely fr om among thesover eign people. They wer e doubtlessgr atified by her choice ; b ut the pleasur efaded when they discover ed in due course of

tim e that each . favour ite in tur n,after the

fickle Queen gr ew tir ed of him,wasexpected

or compelled to leap fr om the top ofa hightower

,thuscar r ying allhisk nowledge ofthe

secr etscandalsofa Cour t by ashor t cut in tothe next wor ld. A cruel Queen

,it istr ue ;

b ut how pr udent ! Any one of usmight


leave a mar velloussweet memory ofhimselfin the wor ld

,ifonly he couldstop themouths

of But that hasnothing to do with

Thissweet m emor y, however , thisfr uit ofpr udence

,ispr ecisely what the Queen has

attained in Naplesandin all thesur r oundingcoun tr y. I have question ed many peasan tswhospoke to m e abouther

,and r eceived the

invar iable answer thatshewasa good Queen,

a very good Queen— in fact,Of the best.

Now histor y,listening to thisdeclar ation

,

sighsandshak esher head despairingly.

Ther e wer e two queensnamed Giovannaleaving out sever al otherswho

,for var ious

r easons,do not come in to the r eckon ing.

The first wascer tainly a better woman thanthesecond

,b ut she iscr edibly believed to

have begun her r eign when quite a gir l bymur der ing her first husband, after whichshedepar ted in variouswaysfr om the ideal Of

woman , concer n ing whose waysof life it isbetter to say aslittle aspossible. The firstwasstr angled, though not in Naples

,or its

neighbour hood, b ut at the Castle ofMur o, far

CHAPTE R IV.

THE RIV I E RA DI CHIAI A AND SOME STRANGE

THI NGS WHI CH OCCURRE D THE RE .

IN br ight sunshin e I cam e down the lastslopesof the Posilipo, wending towardstheRivier a di Ghiaia. The b ay sparkled withinnumer able colours; the hillslay in mom

ingshadow ; Vesuviuswasdar k andsullen,

and the twin peaksof Capr i r ested on the

hor izon like the softest cloud. Thesun fellver ysweetly among the oran gesin the villagar dens

,lighting up their dar k and glossy

leaveswith quick- chan ging gleamswhichmoved and wen t aslightly asif r eflectedfr om the r estlesswatersofthe b ay. Out on

thesea there wasa swar m of fishing boats,

eachpr ovided with a r odofmonstr ouslengthwhile asI r eached the level Of thesea

,and

enter ed on the winding r oad that goestoNaples

,I found myselfskir ting a long

,nar

r ow beach, ofwhich the r eekin g odourspr oclaim ed it to be a landing- place Of fishers.

THE RIVIERA DI CHIAIA. 109

Ther e,under the shadow of the tower ing

cliE,boatswer e hauled up, n etswer e dr ying,

fishfr ailswer e piled in heaps,andclose to a

sm all stone pier which jutted out in to thewater a couple of fishing

-wiveswer escoldingeach other much in the sam e way astwodam esof Br ixham or of Newlyn

,while a

sm all ur chin,pr on e upon thesand

,watched

the en coun ter of witswith eager cur iosity toknow whether mor e wasto com e of it or not.

Mor e didn ot com e of it. The str ife sankintosilence

,andasI paced along the m ar gin

ofthe little beach,glancing now at the wide

cur ve ofthe b ay, now at the dar k for tr essofthe enchan ted Castle of the E gg upon itsfur ther hor n , I found myself in a str angem edley ofancien t thoughtsandm oder n on es

,

the old wor ld wr estling with the new,tales

of the kingsof Ar agon m ingling with thecr iesof cabm en and the whir ring noisesof

Thislittle beach by which I stan d isallthat isnow left of the Mar in a di Chiaia

,

which once r an r ound the b ay up to the r ocksand caver nsof the Chiatam one

,wher e the

E gg Castle jutsout in to thesea . It wasall


asandy for eshor e,with boatshauled up and

netsset out to dry, just asone m aysee themon thisscr ap whichstill r emains. It wasr enownedasa place of ineE ab le odou rs. I n

deed,an ancien t wr iter

,seeking asim ile for

a cer tain very evilsm ell,could think ofnone

mor e striking than “ that which onesmellson the Mar in a di Chiaia in the even ing.

” Itisto be gather ed that the wom en wer e inlar ge m easur e r esponsible for this— asform ost other thingsthat go w r ong in Naples.Tutt’ e’ peccate mur taliso ’ femmene

,

” saysthe pr over b

,all the mor talsinsar e femin ine

,

andifthose,why not the smellsalso ? But

it isnot to be supposed that the wom en of

the Chiaia wer e the lessattr active. F ar

fr om that. We have the wor d ofthe poetdel Tufo that they wer e so gr aciousand

charm ing that even a dead man would not

r emain insensible to the desir e of lovingthem . What can have become of thesehOur is? I did m uch desir e tosee them

,b ut

Isear ched in vain . I found none b ut heavy,w ide-m outhed women , owning no char m b ut

dir t,andno attr actionssave a r aucoustongue.

Per hapsthe disappear ance of the sm ellsin


be wr ought by a man who cannot denyhimselfthe pleasur e ofa qu ir k un til he hasr eflectedwhat injur y it m ay do to an other ’sr eputation .

Alfonso of Ar agon wasKing of Napleswhen the Fr ench

,led by their King Char les

the E ighth,wer e advan cing thr ough Italy to

the attack ofNaples. The Old title of theHouse ofAnjou which r eigned in Naplesfornear two cen turies

,wasin the Fr ench judg

m en t not extinct ; and Char les, called in toItaly by Ludovic the Moor

,Duke ofMilan

,

andone ofthe gr eatestscoundr elsofall ages,

waspr essing on thr ough the pen insula fasterandwith mor esuccessthan either hisfr iendswished or hisen em ieshad fear ed. One byone the Obstacleswhichwer e to have detainedhim in nor ther n Italy cr umbled at hisappr oach. Flor ence wasbetr ayed by Pier o diMedici the Neapolitan armiesin the ROmagna were driven back ; the win ter wasm ild

,oE er ing n o obstacle to campaigning ;

the Pope wasover awed ; and at lengthAlfonso

,seeing the en emy victor iousever y

wher e,andn ow almost at hisgates

,fell in to

astr ange state of n er ves. The first war riorofhisage br oke down like a pan ic-str icken


gentle wor dsand after wardswith ter r ifyingthr eats

,that heshould go for thwith to King

Alfonso,telling him that it wasvain to hope

to stem the Fr ench invasion ; that fate haddeclar ed their house wasto be tr oubled withinfin ite calam ities

,and at length to be

stamped out in pun ishmen t for the m anydeedsof enorm ouscr uelty which the two hadcomm itted

,b ut above all

‘

for that one

w r ought,at the persuasion of Alfonso

,in the

Chur ch of San Lion ar do in the Chiaia whenhe w asr etur n ing hom e fr om Pozzuoli.The spirit gave n o detailsof thiscrim e.Ther e wasn o n eed. The mer e r efer enceto it completedAlfonso ’sover thr ow. Whatever the secr et m ay have been it Scor ed theKing’shea r t with r ecollectionswhich hecould not face when conjur ed up in thisstr ange and awful m ann er . Ther e wasno

longer any r esour ce for him . Hislife wasb r oken once for all

,and hastily abdicating

hiskingdom in favour Ofhisson,Ferdin and

,

whose clean youth wasunstained by anycr im es

,he car r ied hisr emorse andallhissin

ful m em or iesto a monaster y in Sicily,wher e

he died,per hapsin peace.


N0 man who r eadsthistale can r efr ainfr om wondering wher e wasthisChur ch of

San Lionar do on the Chiaia,andwhat it was

that King Alfonso did ther e. The firstquestion iseasier than the last to answer

,yet

ther e ar e som e m ater ialsfor satisfying curi

osity in r egar d to both.It isuselesstoseek for the Chur ch of San

Lionar do now . It wasswept awaywhen thefine r oadway wasm ade which skir tsthewholesea - fr on t fr om the Piazza di Vittor iato the Tor r etta. But in old daysit musthave been a r ar ely pictur esque addition to

the beauty of the b ay. Itstood upon a littleisland r ock

,jutting out in to thesea about the

m iddle Of the cur ve,near thespot wher e the

aquarium now stands. It wasconn ectedwith the land by a low causeway

,n ot unlike

that by which the Castle of the E gg isnowappr oached ; and it wasa place of peculiarin ter est andsanctity

,apar t fr om itsconspicu

ousandbeautiful position , because fr om thedaysof itsfirst foundation it had claim ed aspecial power of pr otection over those whower e torm en ted by the fear ofshipwr eckor captivity, both common casesin the lives


ofthe dwellerson ashor e haun ted by pir atesandOften vexed bystorms. The foundationwasdue to the piety of a Castilian gen tleman

,

’

Lionar do d’Or ia,who

,being in per il of

wr eckso long ago asthe year 1028,vowed a

chur ch in honour ofhispatronsain t upon thespot

,wher ever it might be

,at which he cam e

safely to land. The wavesdr ove him ashor eupon thisbeach

,m idway between Vir gil’s

Tomb and the enchan ted Castle ofthe E gg ;andher e hischur chstood for seven hundr edyearsandmor e upon itsr ocky islet— a r efugeandashr ine for allsuch aswen t in peril bylan d or sea.Natur ally enough

,the thoughtsofNeapol

itanstur ned easily in daysOf tr ouble to thesain t whose special car e it wasto extricatethem . Many a fugitive slipped out of

Naplesin the dar k andsped fur tively alongthesan dy beach to the islan d chur ch

,whence

,

ashe knew per fectly,he could embar k on

boar d a fishing- boat with far better hope of

getting clear away than if he attempted toescape fr om Naples. Thusat allm om en tsofdistur bance in the city the chance wasgoodthat impor tant personswer e in hiding in the


r epr oached hisson with any one of them .

What wasdone in the Chur ch of San Lionar do wassomething passing the commoncr uelty of even Span iar dsin those ages

,and

it isper hapsa m er ciful thing that Oblivionhasdescended on the details.Ishall r etur n again to King Alfonso and

hisfam ily,for the city isfull ofm emor iesof

them,and in the vaultsof the CastelNuovo

ther e ar e thingsonce an imate which thr ow a

ter r ible light upon the pr acticesofthe Houseof Ar agon . But for the tim e thismay beenough ofhor r ors; andI tur n with pleasur eto the long sea - fr ont against which the tideisbr eaking fr esh and pleasantly

,su r ging

white and foam ing over the black r ockswhich skir t the foot Of the sea -wall. Thewind comesfr eshly out ofthe east. Capr i isgr owing into a wonder ful clear ness. E venthe little town upon thesaddle of the islandbeginsto glow white andsparkling

,andthe

lim estone pr ecipicesshow their cleftsandshadowsin the incr easing light. The softwind blowsin littlesunny gusts

,whichshake

the blossomsof wistaria on the housefr onts,

mingling the salt and fishy odoursof the

E RIVIERA DI CHIAIA. 119

beach with the scent of flowersin the villagar dens. Ther e isscar ce asign of cloud inthe warm sky, and all the cr escen t b ay b etween me and the city takescolourswhichar e per petually changing in to deeper tintsOfliquid blue and r ar e soft gr een

,with flashes

her e andther e of br own,and exquisite r eflec

tionswhich ar e b ut half seen befor e theyyield to othersno lessbeautiful The longwhite sea -wall gleamslike the setting of a

gem ,and the warm air tr emblesslightly in

the distance,so that the Castle of the E gg

looksasif it wer e indeed enchanted,and

m ight be near the doom pr edicted for it whenitsfr ail foundationsshall be br oken .

Ihadm eant tospend an hour thismor ning inthe Chur ch of Sannazzar o, on theslope ofthehill

,at no gr eat distance fr om thisspot. He

who doesnot see chur chesb etirnesin Naplesm ay chance to m issthem altogether

,andwill

waste much temper during the hot after noonin hammering on bar r ed doorswith vain eE or tto r ousesleepysacr istans. Heaven knowsIam not indiE er ent to chur ch ar chitectur e

,and

had the mor n ing been lessbeautiful Ishouldcer tainly have described lear nedly enough

,


the bu ilding pr eser ving the memOry of thequaint and ar tificial poet whom Bembo

,as

fr igid andunn atur al ashimself,declar ed to

be next to Vir gil in fam e,ashe wasalso

next in sepultur e. I often wonder whetherBembo r eally m ean t anything at all by thisjudgm ent

,except an elegan t tur n of verses

If he did But I am str aying away fr omthe lightsandshadowsof thism agic mor ning, which ar e far m or e delightful than thear cadian r hapsodiesof Sannazzar o and of

Bembo. L et me put them both aside. Or

stay,oneobser vation ofthe form er com esin to

m ind. He said theMergellina was Un

pezzo di cielo caduto in ter r a — ascr ap ofheaven fallen down on ear th. He

'

had bloodin him

,then

,thisworshipper of nymphsand

classicism ; let usgo andseehisMergellina.

It will not take usfar fr om thesea - fr on t,to

which it once lay open , in the dayswhenther e wer e no gr and hotels

,nor ugly boar d

ing- housesblocking out the sweet colours

andthe clean air of thesea.

AsI tur n in land,my eye iscaught by a

tablet on a housefr ont to the left,which has

a m elancholy in ter est for all E nglishmen

THE RIVIE RA DI CHIAIA. 121

ln QUE STA OASA NACQUE FRANCE SCO om ccrou

m emo

I L 18 00 1m m 1752

STRANGOLATO AL 29 GUIGNO 1799

Str angolato ay, hung at . Nelson ’syar darm

,while hisflagship lay OE Naples

,

andsunk afterwar dsin the sea,whence his

nak ed body waswashed up on shor e. It isafoulstor y ; a blackstain on the m emory of a

her o whose achievem en tswer e too gr eat forany man to attempt a judgment

,or tostrike

a balance between hisvir tuesandhissins.I tur n my back upon the tablet

,and wish

that I could forget it.I n a few yardsfur ther the whole charm ing

length of Sannazzar o’sbit of heaven lies

spr ead out befor e me. A wide,str aight

str eet,a par adise of yellow stucco

,sta ined

andpeeling OE,a wilder nessofsordidshops

and dir ty childr en r unn ing wild,a solitar y

tr amcar spinn ing on itsway to Naples,a

cr eaking car t with vegetables,a huckster

bawling fish— I have not patience to catalogue the delightsof theMergellin a of to

day, b ut tur n my back on them and flee tothesea - fr ont again

,wher e I can look out on


what isstill unspoiled,because m an hasno

dom in ion over it.A shor t str oll towar dsthe city within

r each ofthe lapping wavesr estor ed my temper , and I r em ember ed that asI fled fr omtheMer gellina I saw over my shoulder a

halting- place for tr am cars,well known to all

who visit Naplesby the nam e of the Tor

r etta.

”

I hardly know how m any ofthose visitorshave asked themselveswhat thisTor r ettawas

,to which they have so often paid their

far esof twenty - five cen tim es,or have con

nected it in m em ory with the other towersOfwhich they hear upon the fur ther side ofNaples. Butsince Naplesisa seabor n city

,

and a wealthy city by theshor e of ocean at

tr actspir atesasnatur ally asfliesflock to

honey,it m ay be aswell to explain why the

Tor r etta wasbuilt.The tale goesback asfar asthe daysof

Don Fer nando Afan de River a, Duca d’Al

cala,who did Naplesthe honour of condes

cending to gover n it asVicer oy to HisMostCatholic Majesty of Spain fr om the years1629 to 163 1 . He w asan old and gouty


sleep. So r ich a pr isoner would have br oughtthem a vast r ansom ; b ut the scheme tur ned

to take the waters,over the hillsat Agnano

,

whither gr eedy Tur kscould not pursue her .

Nothing r emained b ut to b ag asman y peopleof infer ior consequence astime permitted ;andthe r enegades

,tur nin g to their advan tage

the alarm whichwasalr eadyspr eading amongthe inhabitants

,r ushed about knocking at

every door and implor ing the people in

guished tonesto com e out at once andsavethemselvesfr om the Tur ks, who wer e landingat that mom ent. Some poor fr ightenedsoulswer esimple enough to accept thisinvitation

,

and wer e m ade pr isonersfor their painsthemom en t they cr ossed the thr eshold. Others

,

mor e wisely,suspecting the trick

,made r ude

r eplies,andbar r ed their doorsandshutters

,

knowing that at dawn , if not befor e,help

must sur ely com e fr om the neighbouring

They wer e not mistaken in their faith.

Napleswasastir , and the guar dswer e mustering by tor chlight in the str eets. TheDuca d’Alcala wasat the Palazzo Stigliano,

THE RIVIE RA DI CHIAIA. 125

near the Por ta di Chiaia. Old andgouty ashe was

,he hadset himself at the head ofhis

men,the city gate wasflun g open

,andin the

gr ey light of mor ning the Tur kssaw a con

sider ab le for ce advancing on them . Theydid not stay to fight

,b ut pushed OE their

ships,car r ying with them twen ty four pris

oners,whom nextday theysignified that they

wer e willing to r ansom . Accor dingly parleyswer e held upon the Island of Nisida ;the Vicer oy himselfpaid par t Of thesum demanded

,while the r est wascontr ibuted by

the Society for the Redemption of Captives,a useful public institution whose incom e washeavily dr awn upon in those days. Pr obablyn either one nor the other wasen tir ely pleasedat having to pay out a lar gesum for the r edemption of people living almost under thewallsof the city. It wasto guar d againstsuch m ishapsin futur e that the Tor r etta wasbuilt

,and gar r isoned asstr ongly asitssize

perm itted.

0

What old talesthese seem,and how

changed isall the aspect of thisb ay ! San

Liona r do gon e ascompletely astheshadowofa dr ifting cloud ! The Tor r etta degr aded


to a halting- place oftr amcars! The Mergellinastripped of all that m ade the poet Sannazzar o love it ! Only on the sea-fr on t thesame beauty ofheavenly bluestillshimmerson the waters

,br eak ing into bubblesofpu r e

gold wher e the soft tide washesup am idthe r ocks. The fishing boatsslip to and fr o

under their large thr ee - cor ner edsails. Thereism or e wind out ther e upon the b ay ; itstr ikesinshar p puffson the bellying canvas

,

and the light cr aft heel towar dsthe land.

One of them hasput in beside thestairsnotfar fr om wher e I am loitering. The bottomof.hisboat isalive withsilver y fish; and on

the cool ston esof the landing- place,just

awash with clear gr een water ,stand the bar elegged fishermen ,stooping over the still living fish

,cleansing their bur n ished scales

fr om thesoil ofthe dir tyskiE ,laughing and

chattering like childr en,asthey ar e. Sud

denly one ofthem sn atchesat a little objectwhich the othershadnot noticed

,and holds

it up to m e in gleeful. expectation ofa fewsoldi. Cavallo di m ar e A tinysea -horse

,

alr eadystiE and rigid,a clammy anduncom

for tab le cur iosity. My good man,ifI desir e

128 NAPLES,PAST AND PRE SENT.

dwelling worms,thr ust out fr om the mouth

oftheir tall cylinderslike a feather y tuft oftendr ils

,a r evolving fan

,which spinsand

spinsun til som e sea - horse floating up er ectand gr aceful com estoo close

,and instan tly

the fan closes,the tendr ilsdisappear and lie

hidden till the danger hasgone by. Far

along the r ock clefts,high and low thr ough

out the pools,ther e isa per petual watchful

n essandmotion,a constan tstir andtr embling

and the pr ovision which the lowest an im al

possessesfor the pr otection of itslife isinquick and mom en tar y use

,laying Open such

a r evelation ofthe infin ite r esour cesofnatur easitself m akesthiscool chamber one of themost inter esting placesin the wor ld.

But if a m an go ther e for beauty only,in

what pr ofusion he will find it ! The gr eendepthsof the tanksar e all aglow with softrich colour . The sea ben eath the cliEsatVico isnot mor e blue on the softest day inspring than the fishwhich glide by amongtheseshadows; nor ar e the lightsseen fr omCastellamm ar e when thesun dr opsdown b ehind Ischia andthe r osy flushesspr ead alongthe coast

,mor e exquisite than thesoft pink


scaleswhich glance thr ough the ar chesofther ocks. Tur quoise and pear l

,em er ald and

jacinth,the gleamscaught fr om the hidden

sun abov'

e r eflect the huesofever y gem . Thestr ange, dense vegetation , the quick flash of

moving gold and pur ple,r eveal a wor ld of

mar vellousr ich beauty ; and if it be indeedthe case that those bold diversof past dayswho dar ed to plunge out of the br ight suninto the dusk and dimnessof the oceandepthssaw ther e the or ange sponges

,the

waving for estsof cr imson weed,and all the

myr iad coloursof the moving fishesglinting thr ough them ,

it isno wonder that theycam e back in to the wor ld of m en spr eadingtalesof coun tlessjewels

,and unnumber ed

tr easu r eswhich lie bur ied in the cavesandgr ottoesofthesea .

Naplesisalive with stor iesof thissor t ;andnot Naplesonly, b ut all Sicily andsouther n Italyshar e the talesof the gr eat diver

,

Nicolo Pesce,who issometim esa Sicilian

and sometimesa dweller on the m ainland,

b ut isclaim ed by Napleswith good r eason,

asIshall Show pr esen tly. The m er esight ofthingsso like those which Nicolo must have

130 NAPLES,PAST AND PRE SE NT.

and I go up in to the Villa Gar den , whichskir tsthe longsea -fr on t

,and. having found a

seat beneath ashady palm tr ee,whence I can

watch the blue sea lying motionlessar oundthe dark battlem entsof Castel dell’Uovo,while the wind m akeslight noisesin thefeather y boughsabove me

,I fall to think ing

ofthe diver who,at the bidding of the king,

sear ched the caver nsunder n eath the castle,

which no m an hasever found b ut he, andcam e back withhisarmsfull ofjewels. Anychild in Naplesknowsthat heapsof gemsar e lying in those caver nsstill.Who wasNicolo Pesce ? Ah! what isthe

use of askingsuch questionsabout a myth?He wasonce

,lik e all of us

,a thing which

cr ept about the ear th— it m atterslittle when,

temp i a ntichi I But now he isa butterfly flutter ing in the wor ld of r omance

,a

them e for poets,and cherished in the hear t

of childr en . If you must know mor e abouthisactual existence

,catch a child and give

him a fewsoldi to escor t you to the foot ofthe VicoMezzocann one

,away on the fur ther .

side of the city,wher e the lanesdr opsteeply


But another tim e the King bade Nicolodive down andfindout how Sicily floated onthesea

,and the m an br ought up a fear ful

tale. For hesaid that gr oping to andfr o in

the dim abysseshesaw that Sicilyhadr estedon thr ee pillars, wher eof onehad fallen , onewassplit andlike to fall

,and one onlystood

er ect andsound ! The yearshave gone byin many hundr edssince that plunge ; b ut noman knowswhether the shatter ed pillar iser ect.Now the King desir ed to be sur e that

Nicolo did actually r each the bottom of thesea

,andaccor dingly took him to thesummit

ofa r ock wher e the water wasdeepest,and

ther e,sur r ounded by hiscour tiers

,hur led a

gold cup far out fr om theshor e. The gobletflashed andsank

,and the King bade Nicolo

dive andbring it back.

The diver plunged,and the King waited

,

watching long befor e the sur face of theseawasbr oken . At last Nicolo r ose

,br an dish

ing the cup asheswam,and when he had

r eached shor e andwon hisbr eath again hecr ied

,

“ Oh,King

,if I had known what I

should see,n either thiscup nor half your

THE RIVIERA DI CHIAIA. 13 3

kingdom would have tempted me to dive.What didyou see 2 the King demanded,

and the diver answer ed that he found on thefloor of the ocean four impenetr able things.First the gr eat r ush ofa r iver whichstr eamsout ofthe bowelsOf the ear th

,sweeping all

thingsaway befor e the m ight ofitsr esistlesscur r en t ; and n ext a labyr inth of r ocks

,

whose cr agsover hung the winding waysb etween them . Then he wasbeaten hitherand thither by the flux and r eflux of thewatersout ofthe lowest par tsofocean ; andlastly, he dar ed not passthe monsterswhichstr etched out long tentaclesasif to clutchhim and dr aw him in to the caver nsof ther ocks. So he gr oped andwan der ed in mor talfear

,till at last he saw the gleam of gold

upon ashelf ofr ock andgr asped the cup and

cam e up in to the wor ld again.

Now the King ponder ed long upon thisstor y

,and then takin g the cup flung it in to

the sea once mor e,and bade Nicolo dive

again . The fellow begged har d that hem ight not go

,b ut the Kingwasr uthless

,and

the watersclosed over the diver . The daywaned, the n ight cam e on , andstill the King


waited on the cr ag beside the sea. But

Nicolo Pesce the diver wasn ever seen again .

Many a child hasthr illed over thisstor yastold in Schiller ’sverse

,Wer wagt es,

Rittersman Oder Kn appWhat isthe tr uth of these Oldstor ies? Ianswer that they have neither tr uth nor falsity, andthat isenough for m ost ofusin thisdull wor ld

,of which so much hasto b e

pur ged away befor e the beauty can appear .

The flower - laden boughsin thisvilla gar dengo on r ustling in thesunny wind ; the Judastr eesar e gay with pur ple blossoms, andfr omthe long,str aight avenue, wher e white marblestatuesgleam in the coolshades

,the cries

andlaughter ofthe childr en r ing outm er r ily.

Tell a child these talesand he will doubtnothing

,r eason over nothing

,b ut accept the

beauty and talk ofit with quickened br eathandglowing cheeks. That isthe wisdom of

the bab es. L et usbe con tent to copy it.

13 6 NAPLE S, PAST AND PRESE NT.

totter ed,allso long ago asthe year 1576.

Napleshad the best of r easons,asI have

said alr eady,for r ejOicing over any even t

which r educed thesea power of the Turks,

and I do not doubt that the child ofKaiserandofwasher wom an hadan intoxicating trium ph on thisspot which hasso long forgotten him .

At thispoint I hesitate,asthe assdidb e

tween two bundles,a dilermna often thr ust

on one in Naples. For ifI tur n towardsmyleft and moun t the hill, I r each the Piazzadei Mar tiri andthe pleasan tstr angers’ quarter . But since my aim isnot to descr ibethingsknown easily to allwho visit Naples

,

b ut r ather to talk at lar ge ofwhat the guidebooksdo not m en tion

,I take the other way

and move out on the sea - fr on t again,just

wher e the V ia Par tenope, a new r oad,r uns

towardsthe ancien t castle at the poin t.AsI appr oach the centr e of thisancient

city,scen e ofso m any bitter conflicts,it b e

comesthe mor e needful toselect those epochswhich ar e most wor thy to be r em ember ed

,to

let all the ghostsof gr eat nam esflutter byexcept a few

,andthose the few whose m em


the gr eat Bar bar ossa, and asr esolved asheto tur n in to r ealitiesthe shadowy claimsofthe emper orsto the over lor dship ofall Italy.

But the popesalr eady claim ed the universalspir itual domin ion, asthe emper orsclaimedthe tempor al ; and Since in the r ough- thinking m indsof men ther e wasb ut little com

pr ehension of the theor etical distinction b etween the dom inionsofspirit andofmatter

,

it happened often that even in the understanding of Pope andKaiser themselvesthediffer ence waslost, and the two claimsworked out to r ivalr y andthe clash of interestswhich wr ought much bloodshed.

Ther e wasnot r oom in Italy for two uni

versal r ulers, both holding of God,even

though one r uled spiritual thingsand theother tempor al. The theory wasclear

,b ut

who could inter pr et the pr actice on all

occasions. E ver y pope wasgr eedy for tempor alities; and no kaiser

,unlesswholly oc

cupied in taming r ebelliousbar onsb eyondthe Alps

,could r efr ain fr om m eddling with

spiri tual aE airs. Thusar ose two par tiesthr oughout Italy, and all the land wascleftwith the feudsof Guelf andGhibelline, the

THE E NCHANTE D CASTLE . 13 9

former holding to the Pope, the latter dr eaming, asDante did, of the dayswhen theE mper or should descend fr om the Alpsagain br andishing the swor d of judgment,andpur ge away the foulnessfr om the lovelycitieswhich stood oppr essed andm our n ing.

Day and n ight,in the fancy of the gr eat

Flor entin e,Rom e lay weeping, widowed and

alon e,calling constan tly

,Cesar e mio

,why

hast thou deser ted m e i

Mor e Often than not the emper orsdid not

come,andthe Pope gr ew ever str onger . But

when thesuccessor ofSt. Peter saw hisgr eatrival established by natur al inheritance inthe ter r itor y which wasnot only the fair estofall Italy

,b ut also the one over which he

claimed feudal r ights,it wascer tain that

ther e could b e no peace ; and the conflictm ight have br oken out at once hadnot theE mper or died and hiswidow gr an ted theChur ch gr eat power over her young son

,

whom the Pope m ight natur ally hope tomould in to what he would.

But the lad gr ew up str ong andself- r eliant

,a noble andasplendid monar ch

,wor thy

ofthe fam e which clingsto thisday about


the name of the E mper or Fr ederick the

Second. Alone of all the lin e of Wester nE mper orsthisone lived by choice in Italy.

He loved the bluesea and the pur ple mountainswhich guar d the land of Sicily. Hishear t wasin the white coast townsofApuliaandthe r angesof long low hillswhich looktowar dsthe Adriatic over the flat plainsofFoggia, where the hawkswheelscr eam ing inthe clear air and the gr eat moun tain shrin eofMon te Gar gano towersblue anddim abovethe heel of Italy. He loved the Ar ab ar tand lear n ing. He wasno m ean poet— a

tr oubadour , mor eover ; and withal a justandupr ight r uler

,with aimsfar gr eater than

those of the age in which he lived,ar ch bor n for the happinessof nations

,had

only the Pope been able to bate a little of

hispr ide andtoler ate the rival at hisgates.But those wer e daysin which the Popeswould endur e no compr om ise andfr om thehour in which he enter ed m ansestate to thatin which he laid down hiswear y life in an

Apulian castle,F r eder ick wasin continual

warfar e with the Chur ch. Had he lived,

who knowshow that str uggle m ight have


Manfr ed also,like hisfather

,might have

made the happin essofa whole people.But Char lesofAnjou descendedsuddenly

andmetManfr ed in battle outside Benevento.It wasthe twenty-sixth of Febr uar y

,in the

year 1266. Manfr ed,watchin g the battle

fr om a hillock,saw histr oopswaver ; and

suspecting tr eacher y,which wasindeed

abr oad that day, he r ushed in to the thickestof the fight

,and wasslain by an unk nown

hand ashestr ove to r ally hisApulians.That day ther e fell befor e the Fr enchspearsn ot only a n oble king

,b ut the peace

andhappinessofsouther n Italy. Char lesofAn jou w asa gr im andr uthlesstyr an t

,whose

conceptionsofm er cy andjustice wer e those ofa hawk hover ing above a hen - coop. He den ied bur ial to the body of hisenemy

,and

caused it to be flung naked on the banksofthe river

,wher e ever ysoldier ashe passed

cast astone at it. Heseized Manfr ed’slucklessqueen

,Helena, and kept her prisoner

with her childr en un til death r eleased them.

He over thr ew good lawsand set up b ad

ones. Hesought tostamp out loyalty to theoldkingsby exile andtheswor d. I n Sicily

THE ENCHANTED CASTLE. 143

he wr ought unu tter able woe, such asin theend tur ned the blood of ever y islander to fir eandhishear t to ston e

,and pr oduced a m assa

cr e fr om which no Fr enchm an escaped. All

the wor ld knowsthat gr eat act ofr etributionby the nam e ofthe Sicilian Vespers.But in the m ean tim e Conr adin had gr own

up to tall boyhood, andhishear t wasalr eadyb r ave enough to r age when hesaw hiskingdom in the handsof a cr uel conquer or , and

hisown subjectsslain and ban ished becausethey loved hishouse. Hismother wept

,

b ut the b oy did what any br ave b oy of

kingly blood would do. I w ill tell the taleofthat gr eat tr agedy later , when I r each thesquar e outside the Carm in e wher e the lastscene wasplayed out

,and the b oy- king lost

the gam e,b ut car r ied all the honourswith

him fr om the wor ld,leaving eter nal infam y

for a her itage to the foe whoslew him .

So Char lesof Anjou possessed the kingdom . But it b r ought no happin essto him or

to hisr ace. Hisown dayswer e tor tur ed bythe lossofSicily

,andever y one of those who

followed him r eigned un easily. E ven hisgr andson Rober t, called The Wise,” issus

NAPLE S, PAST AND PRESENT.

pooted of having won the thr on e by mur der .

Rober t’sgr an ddaughter,Queen Giovanna

,

whosesweet memor y we found on theslopesof the Posilipo , waspr ivy to the mur der ofher husband

,andw asherselfsmother ed w ith

a pillow f The other,Joanna

,who followed

her wasthe most pr ofligate woman of her

age, and in her ended, m eanly andsor didly,the lin e ofAnjousover eigns.Then cam e the House of Ar agon , which

had r eign ed in Sicily ever since the Vespers,

and now expelled the last scion Of An jouand established a kingdom which seemedlik ely to be stable. But the claimsof ther oyal house of Fr ance wer e only dorman t ;and befor e the end of the cen tur y theystar ted up again

,eager and adventur ous

,in

the hear t of the youn g King,Char lesthe

E ighth. It wasthe wily Duk e of Milan,

Ludovic Sfor za, nam ed the Moor , who incitedthisyoung m an to lead the Fr ench chivalr ythr ough the passesof the Alps. He wasthewar der of Italy, and he betr ayed her . Itwould be har d to name any one act Of mansince God dividedlight fr om dar kn esswhichhaslet loose upon the wor ldsuch tr emendousconsequencesof woe.


It wasnot thishandsome quaystr etching onbeyond the castle which set the Neapolitanssinging

Oh, dolce Napoli ,Oh,suol b ea

For the tr uth isthat moder n wor ksof engineer ing have not yet pr oved aspr olific inpoetry asthe abusesthey r eplace

,and the

Neapolitanshave not wr itten about their seawall anysong onehalfsosweet asthat whichwasinspir ed by the pr etty

,solitar y cr eek out

side the city walls,b ad asit isunderstood to

have been in mor als. Ther e wer e,and ar e

still,caver nsallalong the cliEsof Santa Lucia

which wer esadplacesin the oldday, full ofr iotousand evil people who r esor ted thitherfor the worst ofends. For thisr eason DonPietr o di Toledo

,when he wasVicer oy

,

r uin ed some andclosed others,by which act

he at once impr oved the mor alsof Naplesanden r iched itsfolklor e, for nothing stimu

lated the imagination of the people so muchasthe idea that their caver nswer e lyingempty andsilen t. They believe now thatsome ar e the haun t of witches

,while others

THE E NCHANTED CASTL E . 149

ar e filled with tr easur e. One or two ar e

wor thseeingstill if a guide can be found toshow them.

But Isat down her e to talk of tr agediconn ected with thiscastle. Som e peoplem aythink it would be better to doso within and

not without the walls, andthey a r

e welcom eto their Opinion ; b ut I have tr ied bothcoursesand think not. The inter ior of thecastle isbadly moder nised. The custodian isstupid and k nowsnothing. The oldchapelisa kitchen

,andwhen I went tosee thespot

wher e thespir it ofQueen Helena wr ote thewor d “

r evenge ” upon the altar I found itfull ofsoldier cookswashing potatoesfor thegar r ison . The pr isonsar e either forgotten ornotshown . Inside the wallsther e isnothingb ut disillusion and r egr et.Queen Helena wasthe youngwife ofManfr ed

,who

,asIsaid above

,wasslain at Bene

vento,defending hiskingdom against the

butcher , Char lesof Anjou . The poor gir lwasat Lucer a with her childr en

,when they

br ought her newsthather husband, kingdom ,

andhom e wer e all lost ; andher first natur alimpulse wasto flee to the pr otection of her


father,the Gr eek E mper or in Constan tinople.

So she took to horse, and r ode down out of

the hill country thr ough the coast plainsofApulia

,wher e b ut a few weeksear lier she

hadhun ted andfeasted w ith her lor d, andsocame to the por t of Tr an i, where she hadtouched land and met the King in all thesplendour ofhisr etinue whenshe cam e fr omthe east a happy br ide. One can fancy withwhat fearfulnessthislittle band of fugitivesr ode towardsthesea

,car r ying with them the

childr en of the slain King, andhow oftenthey must have tur ned their headsto watchlest they mightsee thespearpointsof An jouflashing among the defilesof the moun tains.At Tr ani sur ely they would findser vantsloyal enough to speed them on boar d shipbefor e they cast themselvesat the feet oftheconquer or ; andasshe r ode beneath the gateway of the whitewalled town andsaw theAdr iaticstr etching far towar dstheshor esofGr eece the Queen ’shear t must have leaptam idst itssor r ow at the thought thatshehadbr ought her dead lor d’sboysin sight of

safety andoffr eedom .

Alas,poor Queen ! The whole land was


b lood. Nothing could er ase those letterstillthe night ofthe Sicilian Vespers

,when the

Fr ench wer e hun ted andslain in ever ystr eetandalley ofPalermo. After that dr ead act

of vengean ce w r ought in her own capitalcity

,the spirit of Queen Helena wasnever

It isin sight of these grey walls,which

stood her e befor e Napleswasa kingdom,

cer tainly in the year 1140,that ever y pageant

andalmost ever y tr agedy in the longstor y ofthe city haspassed by. I n those dayswhenduk esr uled Naples, and the age of Gr eekdomin ion wasb ut just over , the castle wascalled Castello del Salvator e,” the Castleof the Saviour

,with the addition of the

wor ds near Naples,

” for the old walledcity which m ade such valor ousdefenceslaybeyond the r idge. Som etim es

,again

,it is

spoken of as Castello Mar ino,

”a nam e

which sufficiently explainsitself ; b ut no

wher e isitspr esent designation used inancien t docum en tsun til the year 13 52, whenit appearsin the r ulesof the Or der of theHoly Spir it

,founded by LouisofAn jou

,and

appears, mor eover , not only as“ the Castle


No castle builder of the dayswhen ar

tiller y hadcom e in to use would haveset thisfort r esson the shor e beneath the Pizzofalcone

,whence it could beso easily bombar ded.

It isr ather cur iousto sit under these old

walls,and tu r n one’seyesin succession to

the thr ee castlesof the city. Thisismuchthe oldest

,and the least defensible. Then

cam e Castel Nuovo,a little higher in the

town ; Char lesof An jou founded it ; and

lastly S. E lmo, high upon the hillside,in a

per fectsituation,of all othersbest suited to

be the a r m,or citadel. Why

,one wonders

,

did not the first buildersuse it,and let the

city gr ow ar ound it ? or at least,why did

they not place their keep andfor tr esson thePizzofalcone ? an eminence well suited fordefence. Sur ely those first Gr eek settlerswho cam e acr ossthe hillsfr om Cumaa couldnot have over looked the m er itsof thissitePer haps

,assom e scholarshold, Neapolis,

the new city,

”could not be built upon the

Pizzofalcone because Palmopolis, “ the old

city,”wasalr eady ther e. I cannot tell.

Ther e ar e no answersto these questions,

which r ecur again and again asone wanders

V I LLA D E L P OP OLO AND CASTE L

SANT’ E L DI O .

THE E NCHANTE D CASTLE. 155

r ound these coasts,none the lessabsor bing

because one must speculate on them in vain .

But in Naplesone must notspend tim e inchasingshadows. I havestill tospeak aboutthe Fr ench bombar dment of the enchantedcastle ; b ut first Iwill take up the tale ofthefall ofthe House ofAr agon wher e I left it inmy last chapter , when King Alfonso, ter r ifiedand br oken by n am elessfear

,leapt down

shudder ing fr om histhr on e,and fled fr om

r oyalty andk ingdom ,to die a pen itent monk

in a mon aster y in Sicily.

It wasa well- n igh hopelesstask for hisson Fer din and to m ain tain the sceptr e thushastily thr ust in to hishands. The Fr enchwer e alr eady over the bor dersof hiskingdom . They hadstorm ed and sacked the

Castle of Monte di San Giovann i, puttingthe gar r ison to the swor d. This

,

” saysGuicciardini with scor nful bitter ness, wasthesum of the Opposition and tr ouble whichthe King ofFr an ce metwith in the conquestof a r ealm so noble andso splendid ; in thedefence of which ther e wasshown n eitherskill, nor cour age

,nor good counsel

,no de

sir e for honour , no str ength,no loyalty.

”

t

156 NAPLES, PAST AND PRESE NT .

The Neapolitanswer estr ongly posted at SanGermano

,the River Gar igliano flow ing like a

moat in fr ont,and their flanksguarded by

lofty moun tains; b ut they fled w ithout a

blow,befor e they even saw the Fr ench

,leav

ing their gunsbehind, and falling back on

Capua.At Capua

,that ancient city of delights

,

which tu r ned the str ong Car thagin ian invadersin to feeble voluptuaries

,cowardice was

fitly followed up by tr eacher y. The tr 00pswer e under command of Gianjacopo Tr iulzi,a captain of r epute

,

“accustom ed to make

pr ofession of honour,

” obser vesGuicciardini,in hisdr y, con temptuousway. Thishonourable captain seized the mom en t when hisyoung master had been called back to Na

plesby disor dersin the city,to deliver over

hiswhole comm and to the Fr ench. Ferdinand hur r ied back ; b ut ar rived too late. Her etur ned with a few followersto Naples.The whole city wasin an upr oar

,the mob

wasalr eadysacking thestablesof the CastelNuovo. Ther e wasno m or e hope of stemm ing the tide. The young king, br ave, just,and personally popular , wasoverwhelmed

158 NAPLES,PAST AND PRE SENT.

Cour t,andk new both Char lesandhisbar ons.

They took him up to the height,and when

the F r ench Kingsaw him com ing,saysPas

sa r o, that most gossipy of chr on iclers,he

leapt down fr om hishorse and b owed downto the ground, and embr aced Don Feder igow ith the gr eatest pleasur e

,and took him by

the hand andledhim apar t to aspot beneathan olive tr ee

,wher e they began to talk to

gether,b ut ofwhat theysaid I know nothing

,

though m any supposed that King Char leswastr ying to tr eat with King Fer dinand

,

oE er ing him gr eat lor dshipsin Fr ance, b uthe would not

,and Don Feder igo left him

andwent back to hisships.Astr ange in ter view,

sur ely,between King

andPr ince,while the Fr en ch gunnersstood

waiting with their m atchesbur n ing,and the

standar d of Ar agon still flew over the en

chan ted castle. I t fell er e long,and the

whole kingdom wasin the handsof Char les.I t istr ue hehadnot the wit to keep it. But

anyone who wan tsto know that stor y mustseek it in Guicciardini, andm ay live to thankme for r efer r ing him to one of the gr eatestandm ost in ter esting wr iterswhom the wor ld


seen in the Str ada de’Tr ib unali, or ar ound

Castel Capuano,than isnow pr esen ted to the

eyesofthe aston ished visitor in San ta Lucia .

However,the wide pavem en t on the side of

that highway which openstowar dstheseafor the fam ouscr eek isfilled up now— isatall tim esastanding place for booths

,chiefly

for thesale of the fr utti del m ar e,

” edibleor n ot ; and ther e one m ay see both younggir lsand ancien t hagspr offer ing their war eswith clamor ousper tinacity

,m aking use of a

vocabulary which ispiquan t,if not sweet

,

andsoar ing up in to howlssuch asonly a Neapolitan thr oat can execute.The charm of Santa Lucia islar gely ofthe

past. Naplesissuffer ing a change ; and at

thispoin t one r ealisesfor the first tim e thatthe old city of dir t and laughter isbeingswept and gar n ished. The piano di r isanamen to

,

” that much- needed schem e of r esanitation which wasconceived in Naplesafterthe dr ead outbr eak of choler a hadscour gedthe nar r ow alleysin a way to mak e the mostcar elesspeople think— that gr eat conceptionof br oad str eetsto be dr iven thr ough thecr owded quar ters, letting thesweet andheal

162 NAPL E S, PAST AND PRESE NT.

peded, beyond the power ofscience to r e

str ain . The r eason for building these linesof housesso close together was

,of course

,to

secur eshade, that pr icelessblessing thr oughout the bur n ing dog daysin souther n Italy.

N0 m an can havestr olled about Italian townseven in fin espr in g weather without feelinggr ateful for theshadowswhich fall on him

fr om som e over hanging house -fr ont. Undershelter fr om the sun the ver y smellsseemless; and in Augusthealth m ay appear too high to pay for a

patch ofshade which laststhr oughout theday.

The cur ved r oadway of Santa Luciamountsthe hill on which the kingsofAn jou

,

having r esolved to take up their r esidence inNaplesr ather than in Palermo

,which was

the former capital of the Two Sicilies,built

their new castle— Castel Nuovo—still a for

tr ess, though untenable in moder n war .

Thiseminence lay outside the city then .

Cen tu r ieslater the town hadnot absorbed it,

and the castle on the knoll r emained surr ounded by vineyar dsand the palacesofthose pr incesof the blood who wer e entitled

FE RDINAND OF ARAGON . 163

to dwell in the imm ediate neighbour hood ofthe King. E astwar dslay the city

,much as

one m aysee it now ,filling the hollow ofthe

coast andstr etchingsom e way up a hill.The r oyal palace

,which standsnow upon

the right,hiding the fr on t of the Castel

Nuovo,isof course a moder n building. It

hasno beauty,andI have naught tosay con

cer ning it. The handsom e piazza laid out

befor e the palace isa pleasan t place tostr ollin

,especially on war m eveningswhen the

lightsar e glitter ing and ther e ismusic at

Gambr inus’ Café at the cor ner . But it hasno special inter est, and I go on ther efor er ound the cor n er ofthe piazza , past the halting

- place of tr amcars,past the little gar den

ofthe palace and the colonn ade of the SanCar lo Theatr e

,till I r each the Piazza delMunicipo , wher e a gateway in the long wall

adm itsto the castle pr ecinct. Admission isfr ee. The sentr y at the gate m er ely nodswhen I declar e my businessto be curiosityand nothing mor e

,and leavesme to str oll

unchecked up the ascendin g causeway till Ien ter the quadr angle of the castle

,wher e a

squad ofsoldiersar e drilling awkwar dly.


It isstr ange that many visitorsto Naplesom it thiscastle fr om thesightstheysee. Itiswell tospend hoursand daysin the museum and aquar ium

,or in wandering fr om

chur ch to chur ch,spoilt asisalmost ever y

one am ong thosesacr ed buildingsby thr upt taste of the eighteen th cen tur y

,which

daubed over noble gothic ar cheswith un

m ean ing Bar occo or nam ent,and left Naples

degr aded am ong Italian citiesby the lossofalmost all that wasonce don e nob !y withinher wallsin stone or m arble. But her e isthe ver y foun t andcentr e of thesover eigntyof Naples

,the hom e of all itsk ingssince

Manfr ed,the Palace of An jou and Ar agon.

I n these wallstheir secr etswer e deposited,and som e to thisday r em ain open to thecurious. Her e wasthe chief theatr e of theirpomp

,andher e, on the knoll above theshor e

am ong the olive gr ovesand or char dsthatfr inged the city walls, unn umber ed tr agediesoccur r ed.

The castle hastwo cour tyar ds. The portal leading fr om the outer to the inn er isdign ified by what ispr obably the fin est pieceof building now left in Naples

,the tr iumphal


ar chway ; for not Only istheir workmanshipextrem ely fine

,b ut also the figur espossess

the in ter est of por tr aitur e. The scenes

second Of the five monar chsOf Ar agon , over

upon hiswar horse talking to the Duke of

Tar anto,histhin

, cr uel face r ecognisable at aglance by the high nose which he der ivedfr om hisfather

,King Alfonso

,builder Of

the ar ch. I n the m edallionsOf the door thesame sharp face appears; while hisson ,after war dsAlfonso the Second, bearsa

shor ter,thicker face

,which issuggestive,

though very falsely, Of mor e k indness.Let usgo into the castle andsee what r e

mainsther e to explain the r eputation of in

human cr uelty which histor y hasconfer r edonthese k ings. Asm all b oy armed with keysisalr eady hover ing about expectant ; and

though it ishispur pose to show only. theChapel Of San to Bar bar a

,the slightest hin t

ofa desir e to see the subter r anean chamberwill cause him to lead you thr ough thesty, wher e he will pr oduce a couple of

candle ends, andthr ow open asmall doorway

FE RDINAND OF ARAGON. 167

hidden in the wall. A winding stair of

perhapstw en ty stepsconductsto a littlechamber

,fain tly lighted by a deep-set

dow. At first the r oom seemsempty,b ut as

one’seyesadjust themselvesto the dim

light four coffinsbecom e visible,each lying on

ashelf,two open andtwo closed.

Sur ely,one thinks

,thismust be a place of

pr ivatesepultur e for the Royal Fam ily or fortheir ser vants

,and the stair giving access

fr om the chapelwasbuilt for the conven ienceofmour nerswho wished tostand beside theirdead. But the b oy, with a chuckle ofamusem ent

,liftsthe lidof one ofthe closed coffins.

Within liesthe mummy of a m an,fearfully

distor ted by hisagony,hiscr amped hands

clutched desper ately,asif fighting with all

hisstr ength against those who held himdown . Hismouth iscon tor ted

,hiswhole

body heaving with a last str uggle for lifeand br eath. The man wasstr angled, ther ecan b e no doubt of it ; and ther e he liestothishour

,fully clothed in the garmen tswhich

he wor ewhen he cam e down that little winding stair , hose, buttons, and doublet stillintact.


E ach Of the other coffinscontainsthe bodyof a man slain in hisclothes

,the headsepa

r ated,andlying by theshoulders.

Who wer e these men,andhow hasit hap

pened that they lie her e all together ? Whatmade m umm iesOf them

,and with what oh

ject wer e their bodiespr eser ved ? The an

swer must besought in history. The Dia r ioFer r a r ese, pr in ted by Mur atori , tellsusthat “ it wasthe constant habit of KingFerdinand and King Alfonso

,when their

enemies,whether bar onsor people

,hadfallen

in to their hands,to cut Off their headsand

keep them salted in chambersunder neaththeir palace.” Not content with having dismissed the spir itsof their foesto anotherwor ld

,these kingly Ar agonsm ust n eeds

have,close by the scene Of their continual

spor tsand labours,so m any secr et pleasur e

chambersin to which they could withdr aw at

leisur e mom entsand gaze in r aptur e on thevery featur esOfthe en emy whose tur bulencewasstilled and whose witswould n ever betur ned against hisking again . Doubtlessthese visitsr enewed the joy of killing !SO in thischamber wher e King Alfonso


the daysOf Anjou with affection. But thefact isthat Alfonso

,Duk e Of Calabria

,whose

power asthe eldest son of the aged Kinggr ewstr onger daily

,w assuch a r uler asmust

needsr ouse r egr etsfor other dayseven in a

patien t gen er ation,much m or e in one so

pr oud and tur bulent asthe Neapolitans.Harshnessand cr uelty they understood ; b utAlfonso did what no nation willendur e. Hetook the wom en

,even Of the noblest houses

,

at hiswill. Of thiscam e unquenchable hatr ed

,andin the endthe r uin ofhishouse.

The conspir acy w asa ter r ible one. Halfthe gr eat Officersof the kingdom wer e involved in it

,andKing Ferdin and knew not

wher e to look for loyalty. The Pr ince OfSaler no

,Lo r d High Admir al of the r ealm

,

andthe Pr ince Of Bisignano wer e among theleaders— m embersboth of that gr eat fam ilyof San Sever ino

,whose palace iskn own to

ever y visitor asthe Chur ch ofthe GesuNuovo. The Gr and Constable, the Gr and Seneschal

,the King’sSecr etar y— ther e wasno end

to the m en of note and consequence whojoinedin the appeal to the Pope to dethr onethe tyr antsOf the House Of Ar agon , andgive

FE RDINAND OF ARAGON. 171

the kingdom to René of Lor r ain e,last de

scendant Of the ancien t kings.Ferdinand wasa pr ince whosesagacity isextolled by all men . He waswise asistheserpen t. Hisstatesmanship wasOf the typemade widely known twenty yearslater byCwsar Bor gia, andin thisemer gency he pr actised the sam e ar tsasenabled that accomplisheddissimulator tostr angle hisfour chiefenemiesat once. The two occasionsdeser veclosestudy fr om those who would understandthestatecr aft ofthe fifteen th cen tur y. E achwasindeed a master piece of that ar t whichMachiavelli calls vir tu and it isdifficultto decide wher e to awar d the palm .

Fer din and n egotiated. It wasindeed hisonly course, for time must be gained at anycost. Thiswasin the r egular r outine of

kingsin difficulty. De Com ines,in a memo

r able passage, explainshow useful it istosend am bassadorsto meet on e’senemies;they see so much even while they ar e tr eating. Ferdin and negotiated with suchskill

,

such open fr anknessand goodwill,showed

such a br oad andm er cifulspir it,and wasso

r eady to for give,that the conspir ators

,who


hadwaited in vain for their new king,

cepted the accor d and r etm '

nedsullenly totheir castles

,doubting andfearingsor ely.

“ Let no m an think that pr esent kindnesseslead to the for getting of past injur ies

,

” saysMachiavelli

,laying bar e the r ootsof human

n atur e in hisincisive way. TO do them justice

,the bar onssupposed no such thing.

The Pr ince Of Saler no wasm issing one finemor n ing. On the gateway ofhispalace wasa car d

,on which wer e inscribed the mystic

wor ds Passer o vecchio non entr a in caggi

Ola (An Oldspar r ow doesnot go in to thecage). He issaid to have got out Of the citydisguised asa muleteer . Other spar r owswer e lesspr uden t or mor e un for tunate Thecage doorswer e wide open

,andthe King and

Duke sat piping so pr ettily that any bir dm ight have thought it safe to flutter in .

Towar dsthe Count Of Sar no Fer din andshowed par ticular afiection . Hisson Mar coCoppola wasbetr othed to the daughter Of theDuke of Amalfi

,the King’snephew. The

wedding wasat hand. It must be held inthe Royal Palace

,in Castel Nuovo

,ifonly to

mark the r oyal favour . Ther e wer e gr eat

FERDINAND OF ARAGON. 173

festivities. The pomp of the Cour t wasboundless. But the wedding garm en tswhichthe King waspr eparing wer e not of thiswor ld. Midway in the feastingsand themusic, when all men wer e confiden t andcar eless

,thestr oke fell. How

, one wonders, didFer dinand andAlfonso look at that m om entwhen

,sitting at the headof the tables

,gazing

down upon their guests,br idegr oom andbride

and r elativestr usting in the r oyal honour,

they gave thesign al andcalled in thesoldierswho tur ned that feast to ter r or ? How didthe guestslook when the guar d wen t r oundar r esting every m an of m ark or consequencewithin the hall ? Sur ely since Belshazzarw asKing in Babylon no feasthasbeen br okenup mor e awfully !The cr aft andtr eacher y of thisgr eatstr oke

fixed once for all the r eputation ofFer dinandandAlfonso. The n ice taste of Ren aissanceItaly r evolted, giving voice to loud condem

n ation. King and Prince,surpr ised at the

outcr y, paused, andheld back thesecr et executioner . It would besafer to have ashowof justice ; so a cour t w asnom in ated

,the

pr isonerswer e tri ed, andwhen theyhadbeen

NAPLES, PAST AND PRE SE NT.

despatched fr om the wor ld in thisunexceptionab le m anner

,one by one the other duk es

andbar onswer e caught andled into thesecr et pleasur e chambers

,whence they never

mor e em er ged. The Pr ince of Bisignano,the Duke ofMelfi

,the Duke of Nar do

,counts

andknightsinnumer able disappear ed. Theirchildr en andtheir wiveswer e tr eated in likem ann er . Few escaped ; b ut for m any a dayNeapolitanstold the tale how Bandella Gaetano

,Pr incessof Bisignano

,a wom an Of high

cour age and r esour ce,fled with her young

childr en to the Chu r ch Of San Lionar do inthe Chiaia ; and ther e

,pr ofiting by the Old

fam e Of thesaint asthe guar dian Of fugitives,

bribed a boatman to take her on to Ter r acina,and so sought r efuge with the Colonuss.Fer dinand would have given much tostampout the br ood ; andhadhe been able to tur nthe pagesof the book of fate he would havegiven even m or e.

What happened to the pr isonerswasneverkn own . For som e tim e the fiction waskeptup that they wer e alive, and food wasevensen t daily to their cells

,set down per hapsb e

side the salted bodiesin mockery. But the

176 NAPLE S, PAST AND PRESENT .

though not inside the chapels. One isthedoor way

,a lovely work of Giulian o daMa

jano,mer cift left un touched

,I know not

by what happy chance ; the other isa windingstair case behind the choir , consisting Of ahundr ed andfifty- eightsteps

,each formed of

a single block of tr aver tine,andso ar r anged

that their inwa r d edgesform a per fect cylinder . Ther e isno endto thescenesOf historyand tr agedy which ar e r ecalled by these oldwallsand chambers

,in which the hottest

passionsof life in Napleshave spent themselvesso Often

,even fr om the first com ing of

Char lesof Anjoudown to the cr eation of thePar thenopean Republic

,when Nelson r e

ceived the sur r ender of the Revolution ists,

dr iven to despair by the ar rival ofhisfleet.But these ar e taleswhich visitorsm ust findout for themselves. If they will not go toCastel Nuovo on the inducem ent which Ihave given them

,neither will they if I

should wr ite a volum e.When I emer ge fr om the Old palace fortr essI hesitate, being, in tr uth, half inclinedto tur n dir ectly to the Carm ine, thestr ongestpoint of inter est in Naples. But a m an will

FERDINAND OF ARAGON . 177

fail to compr ehend the r elation of the Carm ine to ancien t Naplesifhe goesto it by thebr oadstr eet along the quayswhich lay out

side the m ediaeval city. It isbetter toplunge in to the m aze Of n ar r ow wayswhichstill

,un to thishour , r etain the gener al aspect

of the city wher ein Boccaccio r ambled,piok

ing up in I know not what haun t of r oysterersthosesad taleswhich beguile one yet inthe pagesOf the Deco/mor on . Who hasnotr ead Of the noctur nal adventur esofAndr euccio

,who cam e fr om Pisa to Naplesto b uy

horseswith twen ty gold fior insin hispocket ?Who

“

would not wish to see the ver y lanesthr ough which he wander ed naked in thenight ? Who hasnot felt the charm of thatna

‘

r‘

ve ir r esponsibility which per vadesthetalesOf Naplesin Old days? Doesit stillexist ? Ar e the nar r ow lanesathr ob evennow on summ er n ightswith the thr umm ingof the lute

,with the patter of gir ls’ feet

,

made musical by waftsOf song blown downfr om lofty windows?

Flower ofthe r ose,IfI

’ve been m er r y, what ma tter who kn ows2


Well,let usgo andsee andfirst we will

tur n up the Toledo, now r echr isten ed V ia

Roma,” that long str aight str eet which the

Vicer oy Don Pietr o di Toledo m ade withoutthe city wall, and which isstill the chiefar ter y oflife andfashion.

The n ar r ow vista, made pictur esque byhanging balcon iesand gr een shutters, isbathed in sunshin e— not the fier ce gl

which even in ear lysumm er br ingsout theawn ingsused to conver t the footwaysintoshaded cor ridors

,b ut the pleasan t golden

glow of an ear ly E aster tide,ca r rying with it

the r eek of violetsand ear ly r oses. It isnowonder that thestr eet isOdor ousof flowers;for at any cor n er a few soldi will b uy themby the handful

,fr esh and dewy

,r edolent Of

summ er,though indeed summ er n ever flees

far fr om thissunny coast, and even in m id

win ter she will slip back for a while,br ing

ing golden days. It ison thestr oke Of noon ,noon of Holy Thursday, andin another hourthe r oadway will be closed to vehicles. For

on thisday, by custom Old en ough to be r espectab le, the Neapolitansgo on foot to visitthesepulchr esOfChr ist in the chur ches

,com :


tier e,without which no good citizen of

Napleswould dr eam Of passing E aster , anymor e than he would go thr ough Christmaswithout capiton i. It isr ar ely wise to ap

ply to local delicaciesany other test than thatofsight. The wom en push past mewith theirtr ays

,knowing well that their market does

not lie among the str angers. Meantim e theV ia San ta Br igida, whichRoma

,hasbr oken out in to a jungle ofstand

ing booths,on which ar e displayed pr oudly

cheap playthingsfor the childr en ,sweatmeatsandother paschal joys, mingled with combs

,

shir tings, and suchlik e useful ar ticles,to

which attention isdr awn by huge placards

while the seething cr owd which hustlesr oun d the stallsisan imated by any b ut a

feeling ofdevotion .

SO the thr ong gathers,till b y- and- b y the

V ia Roma isa sea of moving heads. Thechur ch doorsstand wide Open

,Of itself an

unusualsight in Naples,wher e the chur ches

ar e closed at noon, and r eopen only for an


hour in the even ing. Their door waysar ecu r tained heavily in black

,andbeneath the

hanging foldsa ceaselessstr eam Of people ar epassing in andout

,pr essing forwar d to wher e

the r ecumbent figur e of our Lor d liesat thefoot of a blazing tr ophy Of flowersand wax

lights,kissing the con tor ted limbsfer vently,

then hur r ying away. A lar ge pr opor tion ofthese devoteesar e dr essed in black, especiallythe older wom en

,b ut am ong them ar e m any

who seem mor e anxiousto display theirbr ight spr ing toilettes

,and the cr owded

str eet assum esthe aspect of a dr awing- r oom,

in which gr eetingsand laughing salutationsfly fr eely on all hands. It isall pictur esqueenough

,and a r elic of old life in Naples

which iswor thseeing. I n the absence oftheusualstr eet noises

,in thesolemn tr appingsof

the chur ches,and yet mor e in the tr amp of

cr owdsso lar gely cladin mour n ing,ther e is

not wanting a suggestion of fun er al pomp ;andasIstand apar t andwatch the thr ong goby

,ther e com esinto my m ind the memor y of

asolemn pr ocession which once came downthisfam oushighway

,bearing to the gr ave

the body of a lad whom the city,by the

182 NAPLE S , PAST AND PRE SE NT .

str angest fr eak,had r aised in one day fr om

the lowest to the higheststation,andcast down

assuddenly into a bloody gr ave,onewho had

enough her oism in hisignor antmind to r esentoppr ession

,and m ight— who knows—have

pr oved an ear lier Gar ibaldi,had he been

suppor ted by the nobles. ItwasMas’aniellowho wasthusbor ne deaddown theslope oftheToledo

,honou r ed by the weeping people who

wer e little likely to findanother leader boldenough to head them ,

honour edeven by theChur ch

,which never r efusesoutwar d Show of

honour to the men she hasdestr oyed. Firstcame a hundr ed boysof the conser vator io ofLo r eto

,then all the br othersofthe monaster

ies,to the number of four hundr ed, andthen

the body ofthe fisherman dictator , wr apped ina whiteshr oud foldedso that all m ightsee thehead— I hope it hadn ot that hideouslook ofdeath andanguish fr om which oneshr inksonseeing the wooden model in the museum of

San Mar tino ! After the bier walked greatcr owdsofMas’aniello ’sfollowers, those r agamuflin soldierswho b ut a few daysear lierhad stormed down thisstr eet in triumph,sacking and destr oying wher e they pleased.


thr ough the ancien t city,and that isnow

quite close at hand. I have tr aversed alm osthalf the length of the Toledo— the ancientname comesm or e r eadily than the moder npassing by the little Lar go della Car ita,wher e in the shadow of the tr am carsgr eenbayshang ar ound the tablet that pr otestsagainst for getfuln essOfFelice Cavallotti. Iam insight ofthe Piazza Dan te

,anda little

mor e would Show me the r ed wallsof themuseum

,when I halt beneath the vast and

heavy fr ont of the Palazzo Maddalon i,and

tur n ing r ound into theshadow of the Str adaQuer cia, I see the fine cour tyar d andloggiaofthe palace, eloquen t Ofpompsandcer emo

nieswhich findno match in the Naplesof today. Som e hundr ed andfifty yar dsbeyondthe palace the Oldline Of the city wallscr ossedthestr eet at r ight angles. Ther e isnot a

sign Of wallsor towersnow. The ancien tquadr angle Of str eetsand alleys

,the Old

Gr eek city which held outsostoutly gener ation after gener ation when besieged by L ombar d Or Imperialist, liesOpen now tostr angersofever y nation . On en ter ing itspr ecinct oneappearsto have foun d a new wor ld, albeit an

FE RDIN iND OF ARAGON

unsavour y one. For her e, in place of the irr egular andcur ved vistasin which the buildersof m oder n Napleshave delighted, isalong nar r owstr eet of exceedingstr aightness

,

cleaving like an ar r ow flight thr ough theclose- packed houses. Ir r esistibly it bringstomind the longstr aightstr eetsof Pompeii

,so

far asa thor oughfar e seething with cr owdedlife can r ecall one which liessilent andOpenunder the windsofheaven. It isa just comparison ; for indeed Pompeu still r etainsthevery aspect which Naplesmust have bor ne.I nsize

,in manner ofco nstr uction

,in defences

,

the tw o townswer e closely similar,and

thislong str eet which under sever al namespier cesthe ancient city fr om side toside, wasone Of the thr ee Decum an wayswhich ever yvisitor to the bur ied city tr acesout andfollows. A little higher up the hillisthe Docum anusMajor

,now called the Str ada de’

Tribun ali, andstillbyfar the most in ter estingstr eet in Naples, while higher yet upon theslope the thirdOf the Decum an str eetsr unspar allel to the other two under the name OfStr ada Anticaglia, andin itstood the ancienttheatr e

,som e r emnan tsof which still exist


b etween the Vico di S. Paolo andthe Vicode’ Gigan ti. These thr ee Decuman str eetsar e the ar ter iesofancient Naples. I n them ,

andin the countlessalleyswhich unite them ,

ar e to be found almost all the r elicsof themediaeval city ; and indeed a m an wander ingabout b eneath those unmoder n ised housefr on ts

,elbow ing hisway thr ough cr owdsof

r agged peasan tsand Of bur ly pr iests,might

well doubt in what cen tur y he found himself,

so unlike thescene isto the tr im wor ld whichhe hasknown elsewher e.But these ar e quar tersin which it isnotpr uden t to wander when the n ight isfalling.

Naplesisnot asafe city,and tr avellerswould

do w isely to r ealise the fact. E ven in br oaddaylight caution and good sense ar e neededm or e than in m ost other cities. Ladieswillshow it by r em oving fr om their dr essall or nam en tsof theslightest value

,andm en by r e

fusing absolutely all inducem entsto enterhouses

,whether Offer ed bysmall boyspr o

fessing to findsacr istans— a not uncommontrick— o r by any other person not knownandvouched for . After dar k

,if a m an must

walk alone,heshould walk car efully on the

188 NAPL E S, PAST AND PRE SENT.

plor e the r ecessesOf oldNapleswith pleasur e

It isout Of these teeming quar ters,packed

with a population asdense andfetid asthatof Seven Dials

,tha t the Camor r a

,the gr eat

secr et society Of Naples,dr ew the str ength

andvigour which en ablesit still to defy thelaw . Ther e would be no exagger ation in

saying that hardly a full gen er ation haspassed bysince in all the lower quar tersofthe city the Camor r a r uled with an audacityso high that ther e wasn either m an nor wo

m an,b oy nor gir l, who didnot know he must

Obey it r ather than the law. The law wasblin d anddeaf. The Cam or r a had eyesandearsin ever y vicolo andever y cellar . It discover ed all things; it str uck heavily and

secr etly at those who tr ied to thwar t it. A

fr uitseller who r esisted paym en t of duestothe Cam or rist would findhiscustom disappear . Acciden t upon acciden t would happento hisgoods. E r e long he would be a r uinedm an . The Camor r a m ight accept hissubmission

,if pr offer ed humbly andaccompanied

by a fine ; b ut any active r esistance,any

communication with the police, would be


r epaid by a knife thr ust in thestomachsomedark n ight. Fisherm en ,

str eet hawkers,vet

turin i,guides— all wer e under the thr all of

the r uthlessorgan isation , all paid tribute inr etur n for itspr otection

,andexecuted itsor

derswithout r emorse.SO far asisk nown to Outsiders

,the aimsof

the Camor r a— which still exists,andw ields

consider able power yet— wer e not mainly

political,though it wascer tainly at one tim e

a power ful engin e in the handsof those whodesir ed the r etur n of the Bour bons. Thatdesir e

,once passionate in Naples

,hasalm ost

died away. Fr ancisthe Second isdead,and

ther e isnon e who can br eathe life into thedr y bon esofhispar ty. If the devotion tothe old Royal House exists

,it iskept alive

by the exer tionsof the pr iests,who would

m ake a her o OfApollyon if he cam e down on

ear th andshowed a disposition to unseat thepr esent king. The lower or dersar estill asclerical asin the daysOf Mas’an iello. Tur

bulen t and fier ce asar e their passions,they

ar e capable ofhigh devotion ; andaspiritualr uler who exer ted the whole influence of theChur ch m ight tur n them in to a gr eat people.


But her e too,asat ever y tur n in Italy

,the

task ofgover nm en t ischecked andham per edby the hostility Of Chur ch and Cr own . NO

for eigner can appr eciate the chancesof thisstr uggle

,or even appor tion fair ly blam e b e

tween the combatan ts. I t isenough for thoseof uswho love Italy tosit andwatch the unr olling ofthe futur e

,lam en ting that fr om the

ou tset of her car eer asa un ited nation shehasbeen wr estling with a Chur ch whosetr aditionslie in the humbling Of emper orsandkings.


ple if he neglect the chur ches. Past and

pr esent jostle each other perpetually ther e,

andthe effigiesof kingslook down with finegr ave eyeson the filthy peasant wom en lifting up their childr en to kissthe feet Of thedead Chr ist.I have paused in the Str ada Quer cia Opposite the GesuNuovo, once, asI havesaid b efor e

,the palace of the San Sever in i

,Pr inces

Of Saler no. Itwason that fine door way thatthe Pr ince affixed the inscr iption An Old

spar r ow doesnot enter into the cage,

”ashe

stood beneath hisancestr al gateway listeningfor the mule team with itsjingling bellswhich gave him hischance oflife andsafety.

Perhapshe waited under thisOld ar chwaytill hesaw the beastswith highpiledbur denscom ing up thisway fr om the Mer cato, andslipped in silently among theswar thy knaveswho ledthem

,andso for th fr om the city and

away to F r ance, wher e he hatched aschem eOf vengeance which destr oyed the King

,his

enemy. The tinkling of those m ule- bellsasthey wen t up thisnar r owstr eet in the nightfell on no earsthat heeded them , yet in tr uthand ear n est they wer e ringing the dir ge of

the House ofAr agon.

CHIEFLY ABOUT CHURCHES. 193

The in terior Of the Gesu isamong thosewhich ar ouse the citizensof Naplesto eu

thusiasm . I t isnot without gr andeur,b ut

over decor ated,and on my m ind it leavesb ut

littlesense ofpleasur e.But from thisar chway wher e I stand I

can see a chur ch far Older andmor e in ter esting, one indeed which yieldsin fame to nonein Naples. It isSan ta Chiar a, whose dignifiedfacade r earsitselfwith twin towersinthe cool shadow of the cour tyar d

,a nam e

famousnot only in the ecclesiastical histor yofNaples

,b ut in the legal also

,having given

itstitle to a gr eat body Ofstate councillorswhich once met her e. It wasthe r oyalchapel OfKing Rober t theWise, thir d amongthe mon ar chsofhishouse, andthe only pr osper onsone out of the whole number

,though

even he waspursued bysor r ows,andby r e

morse too,unlessthe constan t suspicionsOf

the cen tur ieshave er r ed.

For the tale goesthat Rober t knew betterthan any other the cause Of thatsudden illnesswhich car r ied off hiselder br other

,

Char lesMar tel,King Of Hungar y

,when

,

towar dsthe close of their father ’slife,he


came to Naplesto ar r ange for thesuccession .

Stor iesOf mediaaval poisoningsar e to be r eceived with caution . NO man who glancesr ound Naplesto -day,swept andgar nished asit hasbeen by advancing science

,will find it

har d to understand howswiftly disease m ay— n ay, must have str uck in those cr owdeddir tystr eetssix cen tur iesago. Yet Rober twasbelieved to have seized the thr on e byfr atr icide. ThisChur ch ofSanta Chiar a washisaton ement for the cr im e

,andby itshigh

altar hesleepsfor ever,r obed asa monk and

thr oned asa king,beneatha monum en t Of

r ar e beauty,on which Petr ar ch wr ote the

jingling epitaph Cer nite Rob er tum,r egem

Chock full Of vir tue.” Such wasPetr ar ch’sjudgmen t on King Rober t dead, anddoubtlesshe believed it,for the King’sCour twassplendid, poetsandscholarswer e heldin honour

,and Flor entinesespecially. I n

nocen t or guilty, Rober t r uled with a m agnificencewhichm akeshisr eign the one br ightspot in the tr oubled histor y Of the Anjousover eigns; and posterity, which haslittlegood tosay of any of them ,

r em embersgr ate


gr eat Flor entine,Giotto. Petr ar ch, Boccaccio,

Giotto ! How the best br ainsof Tuscanyflocked to Naplesin those days! The explanation of it was

,apar t fr om the natur al

attr actionsOf a splendid Cour t,that when

Char lesOf Anjou defeated andslew Manfr ed,

he cast down by that act,and r uined thr ough

out Italy,the par ty Of Ghibellines

,the E m

per or’smen

,ofwhom Manfr ed

,son of a gr eat

emper or, wasnatur ally head. The Guelfs

,

the Pope’smen,r etur ned to Flor ence

,whence

they hadbeen ban ished,andstr aightway the

closest tiesspr ang up between the city on

the Ar no and the city of the sir en,so close

that the money bagsOf Flor encesaved Char lesfr om r uin at least once.SO Tuscan poetsand ar tistsm aking thewear y ten days’ jour neywer e assur ed that ontheshor esOf the blue gulf they would findcompatr iots. Giotto cam e most gladly

,and

in the chapelsOf San ta Chiar a he paintedm anyscenesof Biblestor y

,allOfwhich wer e

daubed over w ith whitewash by or der Of aSpan ish Officer a cen tur y anda half ago. Hecomplained that they m ade the Chur ch dark.

Ther e isindeed one fr esco left in the Old r e

CHIEFLY ABOUT CHURCHE S . 197

fectory, now ashop. But Cr owe andCavalcaselle do not accept it asthe work Of thesam e hand.SO her e, in the lar ge, cool chur ch

,Giotto

pain ted for many a day, alter nating hislaboursper hapswith visitsto Casteldell’Uovo

,

wher e he painted the chapel,now asmoky

,

useful kitchen ! King Rober t loved theman

,soshr ewd and cogen t washistalk

,and

Often cam e to chat with him in one place orthe other . If I wer e you , Giotto, Ishouldstop pain ting now it isso hot

,

” obser ved theKing. SO should I

,if I wer e you , r e

tur ned the ar tist dr yly. Andone day, wishing per hapsto war n Rober t by how fr ail a

tenur e he held histhr one,he painted an ass

stooping under one pack saddle andlookinggr eedily towar dsanother lying at hisfeet.Bothsaddleswer e ador ned with cr owns

,and

the explanation w asthat the asstypified theNeapolitans

,who thought any other saddle

better than the one they bor e.The m ost beautiful worksOf ar t in San taChiar a

,if not indeed in the whole city

,ar e

the eleven sm all r eliefswhich r un asa friezealong the or gan gallery. Thescenesar e fr om


the life of St. Kather in e,m ar tyr aswell as

saint. Dign ified and tender,wr ought with

the r ar est delicacy, yet inspir ed with astonishing vigour

,the gr aceful figur esar e in white

r elief upon a gr ound Of black. Ver y memorable and lovely they appear

,r ebuking the

cor r upt taste which hasbegotten SO much

base or nament in Naples.Next to thisfr ieze the in ter est of San taChiar a liesin itsmonum en ts

,for in thisRoyal

Chapel Of Anjou m any childr en Of that housewer e bur ied. The King himself assumed thefr ock of a Fr anciscan m onk befor e hisdeath

,

cr aving for a peace which he did not find

upon histhr one,andliesr ecumben t ther efor e

,

attir ed humbly in hishabit,while on a

higher stor y of the monument he sitsenthr oned in all hisear thlysplendour

,gazing

down upon hischur ch with those keen featur eswhich wer e char acter istic Of hishouse

,

the thin hooked nose,not unlike a vultur e’s

beak,so str angely like that which one sees

on the coinsof hisgr andfather,mur der er of

Conr adin . Uneasy wer e the livesof all themonar chsofthat house ; their thr one w assetin blood

,and in blood it wasper petually

slipping.

zoo NAPLE S, PAST AND PRE SE NT.

that muddy r iver which the r ailway to Castellammar e cr osseson the outskir tsof thecity. On thism arshy gr ound gr ow quantitiesof ear ly vegetables, and these it iswhichthe padulano goesvaun ting in hisbr azenvoice. He needshisstr ength of lung

,for

see on the higheststor y a wom an hashear dhisbawling andcom esout upon her balcony.

At that height they do not bar gain in wor ds,b ut in signs

,the un iversal language of the

people. A few r apid passesofthe handsandthe businessisdone. The wom an letsdowna basket by a r ope ; a fewsoldi ar e jinglingin the bottom ; the basket goesup packedwithgr een stuff, and the padulano loafsonbesidehispatient donkey.

It isin these cr owded quar tersof thean cient city, thesestr eetsthr ough which thenoisy

,swar thy, dir ty people wer e seething

just asthey ar e now when Pompeu wasa

peopled town andthe hawkerswen t up and

down thestr eetsofHer culaneum ,— it isher e

that one can gr asp m ost easily those peculiaritieswhich fence ofl

'

life in souther n Italyfr om that of other r egionsin the peninsula.

Her e isneither the dign ity of Rom e nor the

CHIEFLY ABOUT CHURCHE S. 201

gr aciouscharm of Tuscany,b ut another

wor ld, a life mor e hot and passionate,mor e

noisy andm or esensuous,a char acterstr angely

blended out of the blood of m any nationsGr eek

,Sar acen

,Norman

,Span iar d— each of

which con tr ibutedsom e bur ning dr op to thequick glow ofthe Campan ian natur e

,making

it both fier ce and languid,keen andsubtle

beyond measur e when itsinter estsar e cn

gaged,capable of labour

,b ut not loving it

,

easily depr essed, andwhen thwar ted tur ningswiftly to the thought Of blood. Her e isdifficult mater ial for the statesmen. Neveryet

,in all itsvicissitudesof gover nm ent,

have these volcanic,elem en tal passionsbeen

concen tr ated on any one gr eat object. I n

the War of Independence Milan had itsCinque Gior ni Venice

,led by Manin

,

str uck a glor iousblow at the oppr essor ; b utNapleseffected nothing till Gar ibaldi camewith ar miesfr om without.How the str eet swarmswith cur iousfig

ur es! Istand aside in the opening ofasidelane

,andther e goespast m e a m an car r ying

in one hand a pail ofsteam ing water,while

on hisother arm he hasa flat basket, con tain

202 NAPLE S , PAST AND PRESE NT.

ing the sliced feelersof an octopus,and a

tr ay Of r usks. At the low price of asoldoyou may choose your own por tion of the hideonsdainty

,war m it in the water anddevour

it on thespot. Close upon hisheels, bawlingout hiscontr ibution to the deafen ing noisesofthe str eets

,comesthe pizzajuolo,

”

pur

veyor Of a dainty which for centur ieshasbeen unknown elsewher e. Pizza ”

m ay beseen in ever ystr eet in Naples. It isa k in dof biscuit

,crisp and flavou r ed with cheese

,

r ecogn isable at a glance by the little fish,

like whitebait,which ar e embedded in its

br own sur face,dusted over with green

chopped herbs. I cannot r ecommend thedainty fr om personal k nowledge

,b ut Neapol

itan tr adition isstr ongly in itsfavour .

The pizzajuolo goesOE chanting down a

sideway,andI

,moving on a little

,still away

fr om the Toledo andtowar dsthe older quar terofthe town

,findthat thestr eet waswidened

out in to a sm all squar e,the Lar go San DO

m en ico,on the left of which standsthe

famousChur ch of San Dom en ico Maggior e,second in beauty to non e in Naples

,andper

hapslessspoilt than many othersby thehand


gior e by a door adm itting to itssouther n

The cool andsilen t chapel into which one

stepsisthe most ancient par t of the church,massive andsever e. The first glance r evealsthat the building must have been in a highdegr ee esteemed a place ofsepultur e. Thetombsare very num er ous

,andnam esofmar k

in the histor y ofNaplesappear on everyside.Thr ough the vaulted doorway leading to themain body of the chur ch ther e str eam longr olling melodies

,the cr ash of a fine or gan

played tr iumphan tly,andthe gr andmusic of

a pur e tenor voice, ringing high among thear ches. The chur ch isfull of kn eelingfigur es

,among which othersstr oll about with

little car efor their devotions; while childr en,

infin itely dir ty, waddle up and down nu

tended,asif the show wer e for their

amusem ent only.

The chanting ceases,and the pri estsin

their gorgeousvestm entsstr eam down thealtar stepstowar dsthesacristy. I have comeat an unlucky moment ! The sacr isty at

least will be closed till the pr iestshave doneun r obing ! But no ! The hawk eyedsacr is

CHIE FLY ABOUT CHURCHE S. 205

tan hasmar ked down thestr anger,andhur r ies

up obsequiousand eager to detain me. I

cannot think of leaving without seeing themost in ter estingsight in Naples— the comus?Si

,sicur o ! The ver ysar cophagi of all the

princesof the House of Ar agon .

” But

they ar e in thesacristy,

” I object andthatisfull of pr iestsun r obing ! Oh

, you

E nglish, you oddpeople

,

” hintsthesacristan,with ashr ug. What doesthat matter ? ”If he doesnot car e

,whyshould I ? And in

another mom ent we ar e in thesacr isty.

Clear ly thesacr istan knew hisgr ound,and

hascomm itted no br each of manners,for

among the cr owd of ecclesiastics,young and

old,which fillsthe long panelled chamber

,

som e jovial,some ascetic

,many chatting

pleasantly,othersr esting on long seats

,not

one betr aysthe leastsur pr ise at the intr usionofa tour ist bent onsightseeing. High dignitar ies

,ar r ayed like Solomon in hisglor y

,

make way cour teously asthesacr istan dr awsme for war d, andstanding in the centr e ofthevast apar tment poin tsout that the pan ellingceasesathalf the height of the walls, leavinga k ind ofshelf

,on which lie

,shr ouded in r ed

206 NAPLE S, PAST AND PRESENT .

velvet,to the number of five- and- for ty

,the

coflinsofthe fam ily of Ar agon,andthe chief

adher entsoftheir house.Her e

,taking what r est r emorse allows

him,isthat Fer dinand who tr apped the

bar onsin Castel Nuovo. Hisson Alfonso,

whoshar ed in that and other infam ies,isnot

her e. He liesin Sicily,whither he fled at

the bidding Of the fur ieswho pursued him.

But close by ishisson,the young King

Fer dinand,whose chance of r edeem ing the

fame of hishouse waslost by death. And

her e isthat lucklessIsabella, Duchessof

Milan and of Bar i, whose husband, Duk eGiovanni Galeazzo Sfor za, wasr obbed of

thr one and life by hisuncle Ludovic theMoor

,the m an who

,mor e than any other ,

wasaccountable for all the woesandslaveryofItaly. What bitter tr agedieswer e closedwhen the scar let pallswer e flung over thoseold coffins! Her e, too, isthe dust of thebasescoundr el Pescar a , ar chtype oftr eacher yfor all ages, at least ofpublic tr eachery. I n

pr ivate life hishear t m ay have been tr ueenough, else how could hiswife VittoriaColonna have loved and m our ned him asShe


m en t blazesto an epidem ic andslaysr uthlessly. Ther e wer e high hopesof Napleswhen the r isanam en to wasbegun , thatgr eatschem e of clear ance which wasto let inclear air andsunshine among the r ooker ies.But alr eady the new tenem entsbegin to beascr owded andasfilthy asthe Oldones

,and

the better er a issoiled at itsvery outset. One

cannot m ake a people clean against itswill.And then the sunshine ! Week after weekit isa curse in Naples. The Old nar rowstr eetsm ade shadow

,the new wide onesdo

not. Who knowswhether the city will escape mor e lightly when the next epidem iccom es? God gr an t it may ! For the daysofcholer a in 1884 wer e m or e awful than one

car esto think about.Am ong these deviouslanesliesthe chapel

of San Sever o,a shr in e which ever y one

should visit, b ut one concer n ingwhich I havenothing to say that isnot set for th in theguide- books. Hadit been the Chur ch ofSanSever o and San Sosio indeed, I could havetold a gr isly tale ofpoison ings; b ut that liesfar down towardsthe har bour and we shallnot passit. At length I em er ge in the n ar


once ! Who hasnotseen the str eet ur chinsgnawing at a slice of crimson m elon

,while

the water str eamsout fr om am ong the blackseeds

,and doesin tr uth m ake str eaksof

cleanlinessat least upon their faces; for notthe widest mouth can catch all the dr ippingjuice.I n thisancientstr eet one isat the hear t of

Naples. Thisstr ong pulse oflife, thiseager ,abounding vitality hasthr obbed along thisthor oughfar e for mor e agesthan one can

count ; andthe Sight on which we look today, theseething cr owd

,the str aight house

fr onts,the long str eet dr opping to the east

,

isdiE er ent in no essential fr om that whichhasbeen seen by ever y r uler Of the citySpaniar d

,Angevin

,or Norman

, yes, even byGr eek and Rom an gover nors—fr om dayswhen the fir esof Vesuviuswer e a for gottenter r or

,andthestr eetsof Pompeiisur ged with

justsuch another cr owd asthis. It isher e,

in thism ost ancient Str ada Dib unali,that

the tr aveller should pause befor e he visitstheOldbur ied cities. Her e and her e only willhe lear n to compr ehend how they wer e peopled ; and only when he car r iesw ith him in

CHIEFLY ABOUT CHURCHES. 211

the eyesofm emor y the aspect of the cellarsandtheshops

,the cr owded side str eetsand

the pandemonium ofnoise,w ill hesucceed in

discover ing at Pompeu mor e than a heap of

r uins, out of which the inter est diesquicklybecause hisimagin ation hasnot gained m a

terialsout ofwhich to r econstr uct the livingcity .

Neapolis,the Old Gr eek city

,wassimilar

to Pompeii both in size and constr uction .

I tssituation,too

, wasnot dissimilar . Itstood near thesea, yet didnot touch it

,hav

ing a clear space of open gr ound between itsstr and andwalls

,per hapsbecause thesea was

an open gateway into ever y town whichstood upon it

,though the natur e of the

gr ound par tly dictated the ar r angement.Ther e isno building, even in the Str ada Tr ib un ali

,which wasstanding when Pompeii

wasa city. The Oldest left isnear the pointat which we enter ed thestr eet— to be exact,it isat the angle ofthe Str ada Tr ibun ali andthe Vico di Fr ancesco del Giudice— a tallbr ick campanile ofgr aceful outline which

,in

the confusion ofthe nar r owstr eet,one might

most easily passunobser ved. That isthe


only por tion still r emain ing of the chur chbuilt by Bishop Pompon io

,between the

years514 and532 andnot only isit alm ost,

ifnot quite the m ost ancient building now

extant in Naples, b ut it wasthe first of

Neapolitan chur chesknown to have beendedicated to the Vir gin

,and it isthuses

peciallysacr ed in the eyesofthe citizens.Going eastwar dsstill along thismost in

ter esting str eet I come er e long to a gr eatchur ch upon my r ight wher e I must pause

,

for ther e ar e associated with it closely thememor iesboth of Petr ar ch and Boccaccio.Now of these two men I confessto astr ongpr eference for the r ake. He wasa sinner ,anda great one. But for that m atter he wasa pen itent in the end, andhad he not foundgr ace

,it isfor no m an toscor n him. In iqui

tousthough they be, I pr efer the r ecor d of

hiswarm human passionsto the dr yspir ituality ofPetr ar ch ; and to me one tale out of

the Decamer on , with itshigh beat of joyousandexultant life, iswor th all thesonnetsinwhich the poet ofAvignon bewailed the factthat the moon would not come down out of

heaven.


having alr eady passed down the E aster nsky ,ther e appear ed to my eyesthe wondr ousbeauty of a young

‘

woman,come hither to

hear what I too hear d attentively. I hadno

sooner seen her than my hear tbegan to thr obso str ongly that I felt it in my slightestpulses; and not knowing why

,nor yet per

ceiving what had happened, I began tosay,Oime, what isthis? ’ But at length,being unable to sate myself with gazing, Isaid

,Oh

,Love

,most noble lord

,whose

str ength not even the godswere able to r e

sist,I thank thee for setting happinessbefor e

my eyes! ’ I had no sooner said thesewor dsthan the flashing eyesof the lovelylady fixedthemselveson mine with a pier cinglight.”

There wassin in that look,though not

per hapsby the standar d of those days. Itwasan An jou princesswho won immor talityin the Chur chof San Lor enzo on that HolyThursday when she wasdr eam ing ofnothingb ut a lover — per hapsnot even ofso much asthat. She wasthe Pr incessMar ia

,natur al

daughter ofKing Rober t the Wise, he whosetomb wesaw in the Chur ch of Santo Chiar a.

CHIEFLY ABOUT CHURCHES . 215

She hada husband ; b ut no one asksor r em embershisnam e. I t iswith Boccacciothat her m emor y islink ed for evermor e. Shewascer tainly of r ar e beauty. Her lover

,

than whom no man ever wr ote m or e delicately,

tr iesto fix it for all tim e. Hair so blondethat the wor ld holdsnothing like itshadowsa white for ehead of noble width

,beneath

which ar e the cur vesof two black andmostslender eyebr ows and under these twowandering and r oguish eyesno other colour than m ilk. Item two lips,indiE er ent r ed! Why

,what ashiver it gives

one to r ealise that not Boccaccio himself can

convey to usany r eal pictur e of hislove !E ven the m agic ofhisstyle, inform ed by allthe passion ofhisbur ning hear t

,can give us

nothing better than a catalogue of charmssuch asany village lover of to-day m ightwr ite ! The dead ar e dead ; and no wizar dcan set them befor e usasthey lived.

Yet gr anting that,it isstill thespiritsof

these loverswhich haunt the Chur ch of SanLor enzo

,filling the lar ge old temple with a

thr ob of hum an passion to thishour . Isaun ter r oun d endeavouring to fix my mind

216 NAPL E S, PAST AND PRE SE NT.

on the detailsof the ar chitectur e,which ar e

wor th mor e notice than they commonly r eceive fr om all savestudents. But it isuseless. E very tim e I r aise my eyesI seem tosee the subtle r adiance ofsympathy flashacr ossthe chur ch fr om the eyesof the

hor n of young hot blood, and the sensuous

some cooler head. Istr oll out into the cour tyar d, full ofmemor iesofkingsandpoetsandofAnjou Cour ts, when the wor ld was‘splendid

,and life wasfull of colour

,andthe city

not mor e unhappy than it isto-day.

Among the lettersofPetr ar ch isone written fr om the monaster y attached to thischur ch. The poet lodged ther e dur ing a

visit to Naplesin 1342,after the death of

King Rober t,andgivesa vivid description of

a gr eat hur ricane which str uck the city on

the 25thofNovember in that year .

Thestorm hadbeen pr edicted by a pr eacher,

whose denu dation str uck such ter r or intothe Neapolitans, easily stir r ed to religious

218 NAPLE S , PAST AND PRE SE NT.

The monkswho hadbeen astir thusear lyfor chantingMatins

,ter rified by the tr embling

of the ear th, came to my r oom br andishingcr ossesand r elicsof the saints. At theirheadstr ode a pr ior named David

,asaint in

deed,andthe sight of them gave usa little

cour age. We all descended to the chur ch,

which we found full of people, and ther epassed the r est ofthe n ight

,expecting every

moment that the city would beswallowed up,asfor etold by the pr eacher .

It would be impossible to depict thehor r or ofthat n ight in whichall the elementsseem ed to be unchained. Nothing can descr ibe the appalling cr ash Of thesto rm wind,r ain andthunder in one moment

,the r oar of

the fur ioussea,the swaying of the gr ound

,

theshrieksofthe people, who thought deathher e at ever y instant. Never wasn ight solong. Assoon asday cam e near the altarswer e made r eady, andthe priestsattir ed themselvesfor Mass. At last the mor n ing came.The upper par t of the town hadgr own mor ecalm

,b ut fr om thesea- fr ont came fr ightful

shrieks. Our fear tur ned into boldness,and

we moun ted on horseb ack,cur iousto see

what wasgoing on .

CHIE FLY ABOUT CHURCHE S. 219

Gods! What ascene ! Ship’shadbeen

wr ecked in the har bour,and the shor e was

str ewn with still br eathing bodies, hor r iblymangled by being dashed against the r ocks— thesea had burst the boundswhich Godset for it— all the lower town wasunderwater . Itwasimpossible to enter thestr eetswithout r isk of dr own ing. Ar ound uswefoun d mor e than a thousand Neapolitan gentlemen who had come to assist

,asit wer e at

the obsequ iesOf their countr y. If I die,

’ Isaid to myself

,Ishalldie in good company.

If we may tr ust thestory told by Wading,

a gr eat histor ical author ity upon the deedsOfthe Fr anciscan Or der

, to which the m onksofSan Lor enzo belonged

,thissam e prior David

,

whose aspect Petr ar ch found so comfor ting,

wasthe instr ument of a notable mir acle on

thisoccasion,having kept the impious

sea out of at least som e par t of the city byboldly thr usting the r elicsofthesaintsin itstr ack. Petr ar ch doesnot m ention this

,and

indeed ifPrior David could doso much he isto blam e for not having don e m or e

,sin ce he

m ight aseasily have pr even ted all the damage done while hewaschanting in hischur ch.

azo NAPL E S, PAST AND PRE SE NT.

Asfor Petr ar ch,thestorm impr essed him

so deeply that he told Car dinal Colonna hehad r esolved never to go afloat again , even at

the Pope’sbidding. I will leave the air tobir ds

,and the sea to fishes

,

” he obser vedver ysagely ; I k now that lear ned m en sayther e isno mor e danger onsea than on land

,

b ut I pr efer to r ender up my life wher e I r eceived it. That isa good saying of the ancien t wr iter

,He who suE ersshipwr eck a

second tim e hasno r ight to blam eNeptune.

’

Ar e we not gr owing a little tir ed of

chur ches? Ther e ar e so m any in thiscity,

andin the n ext chapter Ishall have to dwelllong upon the Carm ine

,or r ather on itsman i

fold associations. Well, n o gr eat har m will

be done if we passby a good m any of thesetemples; b ut one m ust not be left unmentioned

,n am ely the cathedr al

,which we have

almost r eached. A few yardsfr om San

Lor enzo,the Str ada del Duomo cutsacr oss

the old DecumanusMajor at right angles,andifwe descend it a little way towardsthesea we have befor e usthe fine fr ont of thecathedr al.It will be expected of me her e that in lieu


ing function . The officiating pr iest holdingup to the people the vase, not unlike a car ri

age lamp, inspectsit car efully, andbeginn ingto twir l it in hishands, cr iesout with astentor ian voice

,It ishar d

,the blood ishar d ! ’

At that fatal announcem en t the people br eakout in to cr iesmost pitiful. The pilgr imsweep

,some even ar e like to faint. Thesain t

isslow. The mir acle delays, the cr iesandtearsr edouble. A gr oup of peasant womenwhostand n ear m e pour out these pr ayers

,

Faccela,faccela

,la gr azia, San Genn ar ino

m io bello ! Andif the prieststillshookhishead they br oke out again

,It ishar d ! O

,

quan to ci mette stam attin a,San Gennar ino

m io ben edetto. Ah faccela,faccela

,questa

divin a gr azia,faccela

,faccela

, San Gennar inobello

,bello

,bello !

The pilgrimswent on chanting,the people

cr owded r ound the chapel. I n the nave apowerful pr eacher wasr elating the life andglor iesofthesaint. The noise of voicesr oseor fell asthe priestsignified that the com

m encement ofthe m ir acle wasstill far OE,or

gave hopesof itsspeedy consummation .

At last,when thesuspensehadlasted n ine

CHIEFLY ABOUT CHURCHE S . 223

and- twenty m inutes,we saw the pr iestsand

thosespectatorswho wer e near est to them fixtheir eyesm or e inten tly on the vase

,with

beckon ingsandsigns,asif tosay, Per haps

a m inute mor e — I almost thinkwho knows? ” Then followed a mom en t ofgr eat anxiety

,a shor t in ter val ofsilence

,

br oken only bysobsandstifledsighs. The

emotion spr ead,tear ful facesand tr embling

handsundulated in a kneeling cr owd. Thensuddenly all armswer e flung in air

,all hands

wer e clapped,the priest waved a white veil

joyfully, andlike the outburstsOf a hur ricanethe or ganspealed out in cr ashing harmon ies

,

the bellsclanged andclamour ed thr ough theair

,and the high r oof of the cathedr al r ang

with the tr iumph of the voicesof the vastcr owd chanting the Am br osian hym n.

If the Duomo had no other in ter est,the

emotion of thisoft- r epeated scene wouldcr eate a fascin ation to which ever yon e m ustyield. But it teemswith in ter est. It aboundsin r elicsout of ever y age ofNaples. I cannot convey itscharm to any other man . For

me the chur ch isfull of pr esencesandshadowsof the past, kingsand car dinals

,noble


gentlemen andlovely ladies,hopesandaspir

ations,andfeverish ambitionsm oulder ing to

gether ben eath m ar ble cenotaphsandstatelywealth Of gilding andOffr esco. Istand b efor e the m onument of Innocent the Four th

,

he who had no other wor d than “adder to

bestow on the gr eat emper or whom he opposed and cr ushed ; andstr aightway all thetr agedy of that ter r ific strife absor bsmym emor y

,and I am devour ed by pity for the

fair land of Italy which becam e the battlefield of two such powers, and which by thevictor y of the Chur ch and the r uin of theE mpir e lost a family of r ulersmor e apt forthe cr eation of her happin essthan any whichhasgover ned the Pen insula fr om the destr uotion of the Gothsunto our own day. To onewho looksback acr ossthe yearsdesir ingm or e the welfar e Of thisqueen am ong thelandsthan the tr iumph of any principle, itseemsa base deed that waswr ought bythisfine- featur ed Old m an

,lying her e so

peacefully in the con templation of the centuries

,hisjudges. One wondersif he ever

saw aswe do the r ar e and pr eciousvalueofthe thing he wasdestr oying, whether the

CHAPTE R VII I .

A GRE AT CHURCH AND TWO V E RY NOBL ETRAGE DI E S .

THE RE can be no question that the inter estof Naplesdeepensasone goesthr ough theancien t quar ter in the dir ection of the east.I n m oder n tim esthe centr e of the city isonthe wester n side

,b ut of Old it wasnot so.

Castel Nuovo stood outside the city among

gr ovesand gar dens. The fur ther one goesback in histor y

,the mor e fr equently the

cou r t isfound at Castel Capuano,which

fr ontsthe bottom ofthism ost pictur esque ofstr eetsby which we have come almost thewhole distance fr om the Via Roma.I n an ir r egular space

,shapelessand

cr owded with stallsand booths,standsthe

ancient for tr ess, longsince r ebuilt andhan dedover to the law . The ver y name of thestr eet in whose nar r ow entr ance we stillstand r ecallsthe tr ibun als. They wer e all

A GREAT CHURCH. 227

br ought together in thiscastle by Don Pietr odi Toledo

,that active vicer oy who stamped

hism emor y on so m any par tsof Naples.But ther e wasa place of judgm en t on thisgr ound long befor e hisday ; and the thingiswor th mention .

Opposite the gate ofthe castle,andwithin

aston e’sthr ow Of thespot on which we havehalted

,stood in former daysa pillar ofwhite

m ar ble on a squar ed base of stone. Itmarked the gr ound on which debtorswer ecompelledto declar e their absolute insolvency.

The wr etchedmen wer estrippedstark nakedin pr oof of their inability to pay, andstoodther e exposed to the insultsoftheir cr editors.Thiscustom ,

which existed in m any Italiantowns, wasdoubtlessof gr eat an tiquity.

The pillar wastaken down in 1856,and is

now in the museum of San Mar tino. Thepeople called it L a Colonn a della Vicar ia.

”

Similar ly the Castel Capuano isspoken ofasL a Vicar ia,

”a nam e which gained a fright

ful notor iety in the daysof the last Bourbonkings, by r eason of the bar bari ty of thetr eatmen t shown to political pr isonersconfined ther e, and the infamouscondition of


gentlemen wer eshut up.

SO many str eetsr adiate fr om the Lar godella Vicar ia that number lessstr eamsofpassengersun ite andsepar ate ther e, while all

day long a m arket goeson beneath the wallsof the Place of Lam entationswhosesecr etsMr . Gladstone laid bar e before the eyesofE ur ope. Nothing r ich or r ar e or cur iousissold. Old keys

,r usty padlocks

,shapeless

lumpsOf batter ed ir on , cheap hatsandtawdr ybedsteads

,with the in evitable appar atusof

the lemonadeseller,br own jars

,golden fr uit,

and dark gr een leaves, all dr ipping in the

shade—such ar e the war esset out to attr acttheseething cr owd whichsauntersto andfr o.

If the tr uth must he confessed the cr owdlooksvillainous. The NeapolitansOf thelower classeshave not asa r ule engagingfaces. They ar e keen and often humor ous,in tensely eager and alive

,eyesand lipsr e

sponsive to the quickest flashesof emotion.

But candid or inviting tr ust they ar e not ;

and asmanyscowlsassm ilesar e to beseenon the facesof Old or young alike. Theyhave their vir tues

,it istr ue. They have

A GRE AT CHURCH. 229

boundlessfamily aE ection . When m isfor tun estr ikestheir friends

,they ar e helpful even to

self-sacrifice. They r espect the old pr o

foundly, andser ve or tend them willingly.

They ar e industr iousand ver y patien t intheir pover ty , devout towardsthe chur ch, ospecially to the Madonna

,who fr om time to

tim e wr itesthem a letter,whichsellsin the

str eetsfaster even than the pizza. Ther eisper hapsin these and other qualitiesthefoundation Of a char acter which may some

day place Napleshigh among the citiesOfthe wor ld ; b ut befor e that day dawns, manythingswill have to be both lear nt andun

lear nt. I n thisr egion ofthe Por ta Capuan aone seesthe people in what Char lesLambwould have called itsquiddity. Ther e ar elow taver nsin the housefr onts, haun tsOfthe Camor r a and the vilest of the poor .

E ach hasitsfew chairsset outupon the pavem ent

,and itslar ge shady r oom inside

,with

gr eat casksstanding in the backgr ound.

Her e and ther e a bar ber hoversin hisdoorway, chatting with a neighbour . At mor nand even the tinkling bell announcesthecoming Of the goats, and childr en hur ry out


with tumblersto the wayside wher e thebleating her d isstopped andmilked ascustom goes, while all day long the stepsofSanta Cater ina a Form ello ar e cr owded withdir ty women sitting in the shade. Highagainst the chur ch towersthe gr eat ar chwayof the Por ta Capuana

,a fit gateway for the

appr oach of kings. What pageantsit hasseen ! The gr eat E mper or Char lesthe Fifthr ode in beneath it on hisr etur n fr om theTunisexpedition

,by which he dr ove out the

Corsair Bar bar ossa fr om the kin gdom he hadseized

,fr eed no lessthan twenty thousand

slaves,anddealt the pir atesone of the few

heavy blowsever levelled at their for ce byE ur ope until Lor d E xmouth thr ee hundr edyearslater smoked out the hor nets’ n est at

The Castel Capuano did not stand dir ectly on thestr eet in those dayswhen itwasthe home of kings. It had itsgar dens

,

which must almost have touched those ofanother r oyal palace, the Duchescha, ofwhich all tr aceshave beenswallowed up bythe gr owth ofsqualor which hasclaimed thisr egion for itsown . The gar densof the


Italy in the year 1480. So olda tale hasofcourse much inter est for educated peoplestill ;b utwhat

,one asksin wonder

,m akesit wor th

while to hawk the stor y r ound the squalidstr eetssur r ounding the Vica r ia

,wher e it evi

dently commandsasale asbr isk asif it wer eVendetta di fi gr e or any other highlypepper ed work about the social vicesof therich.The m atter will becom e a little clear er ifwe push past the half- clad women who sitsuckling babeson thestepsofSan ta Cater inaa Form ello

,and go in to that un inter esting

chur ch. At the altar r ailsa pr iest ispr eaching vehem ently to a languid congr egation

,

while in the empty nave four fat laughingchildr en ar e toddling r ound the benches

,

playing gamesandcalling to each other mer

rily. Ther e ar e gaudy paintingsand highsilk cu r tains; b ut the only Object that excitesmy inter est isa pr inted car d hung onthe closed r ailingsof the second chapel on

the left ofthe nave, which appealsfor E le

mosina pel culto dei b b,m ar tir i di Otr anto

,

dei quali 240 corpisi vener anosotto questoaltar e.

A GRE AT CHURCH. 23 3

Almsfor the worship of.

the blessed martyrsof Otr an to ! So som e Of those twelvethousand who wer e put to theswor d by theTur ksin cold blood on a hillside near thecity have been br ought to thissmall chur chin Naples. But why ? The answer doubtlessisthat the Duke Of Calabria

,who led

the mingled hostsof NaplesandOf E ur opeagainst the Turks

,br ought back these bones

asa r eligioustr ophy,and placed them in

Santa Cater in a because it lay near to hisownpalace. He may have been the mor e eagerabout the pioustr ophysince he br ought nom ilitar y ones. It wasthe death of theTurkish Sultan

,not the swor d of Alfonso

,

which dr ove the war riorsofthe Cr escen t out

It isthusclear why the b oy washawkinghispamphletsoutside San ta Caterina. But

what gainsa r eady sale for them ? Well,

par tly the str ong clerical feeling among thelower ordersof the Neapolitans, and par tlythe skill with which the pr iestsplay uponthisfeeling for political ends.I open the pamphlet, and in itssecond

par agr aph I findthese words


By thisstor y we shall Show that theCatholicsar e the r eal fr iendsofthe coun try

,

that the tr ue mar tyrsar e not found outsidethe chur ch

,that Catholicism isthe tr ue glor y

of Italy,and that the gr eat dayswor thy to

be comm emor ated ar e not those Of Milan,nor

those Of Br escia in 1848,nor those ofTur in

in 1864,b ut the daysof Otr anto in August

,

1480. May the tr ibute which we pay to dayto our tr ue m ar tyrsatone for the fr equentsacr ilege ofgiving that n ame to felonsNo wordscould pr ove mor e clear ly bywhat un tr aversable distance the Chur ch of

Rom e ispar ted fr om all sympathy with theun ity ofItaly. That iswhy I have told thisincident at length. I ventur e tosay that inthe length and br eadth ofBr itain

,wher e

,if

br aver y isloved,right and justice ar e loved

too,andfelonsar e not exalted

,ther e isscar ce

one man who can r ead the tale of the fivedaysofMilan without feeling that ther e isone of the br ight spotsin the history of all

mankind, one of those r ar e occasionswhenwhat isnoblest leapt to the fr ont, anda r ayoftr ue hope andsunshin e fell on Italy. But

in the eyesofthe pr ieststhislight andglory

23 6 NAPLE S, PAST AND PRE SE NT.

The life ofthe people in thisVico Sopr amur o

iselemental. It hasb ut few conventionsand disdainsr estr ain ts. A tatter ed shir t

,

gaping to the waist,admitsthe fr ee play Of

air r ound the bodiesof boysandgir lsalike ;the br eechesor the gown which complete thecostum e r ecall the aspect of astormy nightsky when the r ent cloudsar e scatter ed bythe w ind andthestarspeep thr ough. It isaswell not to loiter among thisengagingpeople. The Neapolitans

,said Von Rau

mer air ily,wer e invented befor e the fuss

about the seven deadly sins. ” I have no

wish to m ake a fussabout those or any othersinsso long asthey ar e pr actised upon otherpeople , and I feel completely char itable tothe human anthill when I emer gesafe and

sound in the widesquar e ofthe Mer cato.I n thiswide market- place

,thisbar e spot

ofopen gr ound which to day liescumber edwith ir on bedsteads, and piled with emptycases, the débr isof last m arket day, thebitter est tr agedy ofNapleswasplayed out

,

and a scene en acted of which the infamyr ang thr ough all the wor ld. Ther e isno

A GRE AT CHURCH. 23 7

spot in the whole city lessbeautiful or mor einter esting than the Mer cato ; andin the hotafter noon

,while the chur chesar e closed

,and

half the citysitsdr owsy in theshadyspots, Iknow no better way of passing tim e thanin r ecalling some of the poignan t m emor ieswhich haun t thisplace ofblood and tears.I n an ear lier chapter of thisbook

,when I

gave a r apidsketch of thesuccession of HOhenstaufen

,Anjou

,andAr agon to the thr one

of the Two Sicilies,I passed on without

pausing on the stor y of the b oy- king Corr adino

,little Con r ad

,asthe Italianshave al

wayscalled him . I t istim e now to tell thetale

,for it wason thisspot that the ladwas

m ur der ed.

I n eed n ot go back on what I have alr eadysaidso far asto r epeat how Char lesofAn

jou defeated Manfr ed andslew him outsidethe wallsof Benevento

,nor how utter ly the

par ty Of the Ghibellines, the E mper or ’smen ,wer e cast down thr oughout Italy

,by that

gr eat tr iumph ofthe Guelf. When Manfr edfell andhiswife, Queen Helena, passed withher childr en in to lifelong captivity , the HouseofHohenstaufen wasnot extinct. Ther e r e


m ained in Germ any the tr ue heir of Naples,

a king with a better title than Manfr ed hadpossessed

,Cor r adino

,a boy Offive

,who gr ew

up in the keeping ofhismother , E lizabeth ofBavaria ; and asyear after year went byfound hispr ide and fancy stimulated bym any a tale of the r ich her itage beyond them oun tainswhich washisby ever y r ight

,b ut

wasr eft fr om him by an usu rper,and lay

gr oan ing under the r ule of an alien and an

Oppr essor . Talessuch asthese must havehadfor the child all the fascination ofa fair ystor y ; b ut ashisyearsincr eased

,and he

cam e to the compr ehension ofwhat wr ongand in jur y m ean t, they touched him far mor enear ly

,andall the cour age ofhishigh r ace

,

all the spiri t which he der ived fr om theblood of emper orsandkings

,u r ged him on to

str ike onestout blow at least for the r ecover yof that land which washisfather ’s

,that

sunn y kingdom wher e the blue sea kissedthe ver y feet of the or ange gr oves

,andm ar

b le palacesgleam ed out Of theshade of gardenssuchasthe b oy had never seen exceptin dr eams.Hismother did her best to scatter these


tears, andcr ossed the Alpsin the autumn of

the year 1267 at the head of m en, b e

ing then fifteen , andby the universal consentofallwhosaw him both handsom e in hisperson andbyhisbr eeding wor thy to be thesonofm any kings.At first all wen t well with him . At

Ver ona he wasr eceived with the honoursOfa conquer or . Them er e n ewsthathisstandar dhadbeenseen com ing down fr om the high Alpin e valleysdr ew the exilesOfFer r ar a

,Ber

gamo,Br escia

,and m any another city in

cr owdsto welcome him . Padua andVicenzasent him gr eeting ; andin Jan uar y he movedon to Pisa

,wher e thesam e joy awaited him .

The Pisan fleet wasof high power in thosedays

,and it wassen t at once to r avage the

coastsofApulia andSicily,wher e it inflicted

a sound dr ubbing on the Fr ench. NearFlor ence

,too

, Conr adin’a ar my gained a vic

tor y,andwhen he moved on to Rom e

,wher e

Henr y of Castile, who r uled the city in theabsence ofthe Pope, hadjoined hispar ty, thehopesof every Ghibelline in Italy wer e highandpr oud, while Char lesofAnjon wasseriously anxiousfor histhr on e.

A GREAT CHURCH. 241

It wason the 18thofAugust of the year1268 that Con r adin left Rom e. Char lesexpected him by the ordinar y r oute Oftr avellerswhich liesthr ough Ceper ano, SanGermano

,and Capua. That r oute was

studded with for tr essesandwaseasy to defend—for which sufficien t r eason Conr adin did

not take it. Hisaim wasnot to m ake forNaplesby the shor test way, b ut r ather toget thr ough the m ountains

,ifhe could with

out a battle,and to r aise Apulia

,wher e he

wascer tain Of suppor t,not only fr om the

Sar acensof Lucer a, b ut fr om m any otherquar tersalso. So hestr uck oE fr om Tivolitowardsthe high valleysof the Abr uzzi

,

thr ough which he found a way not only un

guar ded,b ut cool

,well water ed and fr esh

,

consider ationsof vast mom en t to the leaderofan army thr oughsouther n Italy in August.It wasthe line Of the ancient Roman r oad

,

the V ia Valer ia,

”andhe followed it untilon

the 22ndofAugust ashistr oopscame downfr om the hillsof Alba, debouching on theplain ofTagliacozzo

,some five m ilesin fr on t

,

they saw the lancesofAnjou gleam ing on

the heightsof An tr osciano,dr awn up in a

position which wastoostr ong for attack.

242 NAPL E S, PAST AND PRESENT.

Conr adin’sar my lay acr ossthe r oad to

Tagliacozzo,oE er ing battle to the king, who

looked down upon the host of the invaders,

andliked not what hesaw . He hadpr essedon fr om Aquila

,and wasuneasy about the

loyalty ofthatstr onghold in hisr ear . Nightfell ; b ut befor e dusk hid the long line Of

foesupon the plain,Char leshadseen an em

bassy r ide into their r anks,and men said it

cam e fr om Aqu ila,offer ing the town to Con

r adin . Thiswaswhat Char leschiefly fear ed.

He would tr ust no man b ut himself to lear nthe tr uth ; and spur r ing hishorse acr ossplain and mountain thr ough the n ight

,he

r ode back headlong till he dr ew r ein ben eaththe wallsof Aqu ila

,and shouted to the

war der on the walls,

“ For what king ar e

you ?” Shar p andquick the answer cam e

,

For King Char les and the King,r eas

sur ed,r ode back wear ily towar dshiscamp

sleeping r ound the fir eson the moun tains.Heslept long that n ight

,notwithstanding

the hazar d which lay upon the cast ofbattle ;andwhen at length he woke

,the host ofthe

invaderswasalr eady ma rshalled along thebank Ofthe River Salto

,which form ed their

244 NAPLES , PAST AND PRE SENT .

the fleeing Fr ench far over plain and mountain . All thisSt. Valer y lay watching indeadsilence fr om hishiding in the hollow Ofthe hills.At last the moment came

,andtheser r ied

r anksof the fr esh war r iorsr ode down upontheir un armed and unsuspecting enemies.NO tim e wasgiven to arm or form up the

tr oops. Som e perished in the water . Othersdiedstr uggling br avely against the shock of

that hor riblesurpr ise. The tr ap wasper fect.All either died or fled ; andin one brief hourConr adin

,who had thought himself the con

quer or ofhisfather ’sthr one, wasfleein g forhislife acr ossthe hills

,a fugitive devoid of

hope. Never,sur ely

,wasther esosudden or

ter rible a change offor tune.With Conr adin fled Fr eder ick of Baden

,

hisclose friend, not long befor ehisplaymate ;andthese two pr in cely ladswer e accompan iedby a few faithful followers, the last r emn an tofwhat so shor t a tim e befor e wasa noblearmy. All that n ight they sped acr ossthemoun tainsin the dir ection ofthe coast, wher ethey hoped to findsome cr aft which wouldcar ry them to Pisa

,asafe haven for them all.


Theystr uck thesea n ear Astur a in the Pontin e m arshes. On the shor e they found alittle fishing boat ; andhavingsought out themen who owned it

,they oE er edlar ge r ewar d

for the voyage up the coast. The fellowsdemur r ed that they must have pr ovisionsforthe trip ; and Con r adin , takin g a r ing fr omhisfinger

,gave it to one of them andtold

him to b uy br ead at the near est place hecould. It wasa fatal impr udence. Thesailor pledged the r ing at a taver n in exchange for br ead. The host saw the valueofthe jewel

,andtook it instantly to the lor d

ofthe castle near at hand.

Now thisnoble wasof the Fr angipanifamily

,on which honourshadbeen heaped by

the gr andfather ofthe b oy-king,thuscast up a

fugitive andin peril ofhislife in hisdomain.

The only gr atitude which honour demanded ofhim wasto let the lad passby andescape inhisown way ; b ut even thiswastoo muchfor Fr angipani. Hesaw at once that the ringmust belong to some man ofmark escapingfr om the fight, and he bade hisser van tslaunch a boat, andbr ing back the fugitivewhoever he might b e.


When F r angipan i’sboat over took the other,

Conr adin wasnot much dism ayed. He kn ewhow gr eatly the Fr an gipan i wer e indebted tohishouse

,and he did not doubt they would

show due gr atitude. The poor lad did not

know the wor ld. Fr angipan i foresaw thatno boon he could ask of Char leswould betoo gr eat if he handed him hisenemy ; andthusn otmany dayshadpassed when Conr adinandFr ederick wer e br ought into Naples

,and

car r ied thr ough the str eetswher e they hadhoped to r ide asconquer ors.E ven Char les

,bloodthirsty ashe was,

shr ank fr om taking hisprison ers’ life withoutsom e legal war r an t. Itwasso plain thatthey hadplayed no par t b ut that of gallan tgentlemen , str iking a blow for what wasinfact their r ight

,however much the Pope

might question it, or asser thistitle to bestowthe kingdom wher e he would. He convokedan assembly of jur ists

,b ut foun d only one

among the number obsequiousenough to taxConr adin or hisfollowerswith any cr im e.Thusdr iven back on hisown mur der ouswillasultim atesanction for the act he m editated

,

Char leshimself pr onounced the deathsentence on the whole number of hisprisoners.


He tur ned to the people , and avowed hehad defended hisr ight. Befor e God

,

” hesaid, “ I have ear ned death asasinn er

,b ut

not for this! Then he flung hisglove farout among the cr owd

,thuswith hislast de

fiant gestur e handing on the r ight of ven

geance andthe succession Of hisk in gdom to

those who could wr estle for it with theFr ench. The glove wascaught up ,

by a

German knight,Heinrich vonWaldb ur g

,who

did in fact convey it to Queen Constance ofAr agon , last of the Hohenstaufen blood, ofwhich bequest cam e m any consequences.Having flung down hisgauge

, Conr adin

wasr eady to depar t. He kissedhiscom r ades,took OE hisshir t

,andthen r aising hiseyesto

heaven,said aloud

,

“ JesusChr ist,Lor d of

all cr eation,k ing Of honour , if thiscup of

sor r ow may not passby me,in to Thy hands

I commend myspirit.” Then he kn elt and

laid down hishead ; b ut at the last momentear thly sor r owsr etur ned upon him

,and

star ting halfup he cr ied, Oh,m other

,what

a sor r ow I am making for you ! Havingsaid thishespoke no m or e, b ut r eceived thestr oke. Asit fell, Fr eder ick ofBaden gave


a scr eam so pitiful that all men wept. A

mom ent later he had tr avelled thesame path,andthe two ladswer e together once mor e.SO died these br ave German boys, andso

per ished the last hope of happinessfor Naples. For ifanything in history issur e, it isasclear asday that Naplesn ever after war dswasr uled by kingsso str ong and just asthose whose blood wasshed in the Mer catoon that October day. Asfor theslayer

,he

hasleft a nam e at whichmenspit. Six cen

turiesalr eady have execr ated hism emor y.

It m ay well be thatsixty mor e w ill execr ateit. Yet even while he lived he ate the br eadof tears

,and the day came when in the eu

guish of hishear t he washear d to pr ayaloud that God who had r aised him tosucha height offor tune might cast him down bygentler steps.Ther e ar e countlesstr aditionsconn ected

w ith the death of Conr adin. Mensay thatashisheadfell an eagleswooped down fr omthe sky, dipped itswing in the blood, andflew OE again acr ossthe city. An other andmor e constan t tale isthat the poor boy’smother

,when she hear d of hiscaptivity,

250 NAPLES, PAST AND PRE SE NT .

gather ed a gr eat sum of money to r ansomhim

,and came herself to r ansom him ,

b ut

wastoo late,and landed in deep mour ning

fr om her ship,andcam e in to the Chur ch of

the Carm ine,poor and mean in those days,

and gave the monksall the m oneyshehadbr ought tosing Massesfor ever for her son ’ssoul.These m ay be fables. But to passtotr uth

,it isa fact that in the year 163 1

,when

the pavem en t of the Chur ch of the Carminewasbeing lower ed

,a leaden coffin wasfound

behind the high altar . The lettersR. C. C.

wer e r oughly cut on it, andwer e interpr etedto m ean RegisCor r adini Cor pus

,

” the bodyof King Conr adin. The coffin wasopened.

It con tained the skeleton of a lad,the head

sever ed andlying on the br east. Ther e wer esom e fr agmen tsOf lin en , which tur ned to

dust imm ediately,andby theside lay aswor d

unsheathed, asbright andspecklessasif ithadb ut just com e fr om the m aker ’shands.One would give much to know that the b oykingstill slept ther e with hisswor d besidehim

,b ut when the coffin wasnext opened

, at

the wish of one of hisown fam ily in 1832,

theswor d hadgone.


The Chur ch of the Carm ine is,asI have

said alr eady,a vastly differ ent bu ilding fr om

that in to which the body ofConr adin wascarr ied. Whether the tr adition speakstr uly ofthe benefaction ofthe unhappym other or no,the fact r emainsthat a splendid r econstr uotion ofthe chur ch took place about that tim e.

The or igin of the chur ch iscurious. Ther ecordsof the monksdeclar e that towardsthemiddle oftheseven th cen tur y the herm itsof the Moun t Carmel, fleeing fr om the persecation of Sar acens

,came to Italy

,som e to

one city,some to another . A handful Of

them r ested at Naples,br inging with them an

an tique pictur e ofthe Madonna,said to have

been painted by St. Luke, and establishedthemselvesin thisspot close outside the citywalls

,near a. hospitalfor sicksailorsofwhich

in later daysthey Obta in ed the site Ther ethey built a humble chur ch

,andeither found

or excavated a gr otto under neathit,in which

they placed their pictur e. The im age b ecam e famous

,and to thisday isknown

am ongst the people as“ L a Madonna dellaGr otticella,

”or mor e commonly as L a

Br una.

” Indeed ther e wasnosim ilitude of


Our Lady ofSor r owsin allsouth Italy whichwr ought mor e wondr ousmir aclesor betterear ned her sanctity ; and when the jubileecam e r ound in the year 1500 the Neapolitanscould think of no better deed than to takeL a Br una out ofher gr otto and car r y her inpr ocession to Rom e

,which they did accor d

ingly, a ndm anywer e the m ar velswhichshewr ought upon the long jour ney thr ough the

But in Rom e L a Br un a wasnot well r e.

ceivedby theViceger en t ofGod. That intelligen t and subtle man Rodrigo Borgia wasPope

,andhisequally keenwittedson Caesar

Bor gia wasin fact, though not in name,chief

counsellor . Both had schemesfor whichmuch mon ey wasn eeded

,and that money

they looked to m ake out Of the jubilee. Theylooked about them with their pr actical clearsight

,and took note of the fact that L a

Br una wasvery active, wor king mir aclesinfact on ever y Side. Had the pr oceedsfalleninto their pocketsthiswould have been well,b ut asthey did not it wasill. Madonnasfr om other citiesmust not com e emptyingthe pocketsof the pilgrimsin that style, or


str aight towar dsthe headOf our Lo r d,which

lay back slightly r aised asif commun ingwith heaven . The ball car r ied away thecr own of thor ns

,and would cer tainly have

destr oyed the head also Of thesacr ed figur ehadit not bowedsuddenly

,asifit wer e alive

,

andlet theshot go by. But the m ir acle didnot end ther e. The ball

,though having

str uck nothing b ut the light tr acer y of thecr own ofthor ns

,waschecked in m id- air

,hung

ther e for an instan t, andthen dr opped w ithinthe altar r ails.Thisver ystr iking m ir acle isfamousyet in

Naples. Br an tom e r ecor dsit,b ut in his

car elesswaysetsdown the wonder ashavinghappened in the daysof Lautr ec

,and attri

butesit to a statue of the Madonna. KingAlfonso when he took the city m ade a car eful exam ination Of the neck of the figur e, todiscover whether ther e wer e notsom e hiddenm echan ism ,

b ut found none, andbecam e convin cedthat hum an agency had naught to do

Fr om ever y point Of view thischur ch Ofthe Carmin e isto me the m ost in ter esting OfallNaples

,not by r eason of itsar chitectur e

,


though even that , asIsuspect andguess, wasbeautiful befor e the hideousbar occo passionr uined it. E ver y nook andcor ner of it hasb een filled with vulgar andunm ean ing or nam en t

,so that the Old gr aceful outlinesar e

lost for ever . But it isfor the aboundingr ichnessOf itslife

,both past andpr esent, that

I visit it again and again . Standing in thepoor est quar ter of the city

,withinsight ofthe

swarm ing population which cr owdsthestr eetsandalleysar ound the Por ta Nolan a and the

cien t r ooker ieswhich abut upon the Chur chof St. E ligio, endear ed to the people by them ir aclesof which I have just spoken

,ther e is

no feast orsaints’ day on which the popolanedo not visit it in thousands. I go tosee it initsE aster glory. The wide vestibule ispackedwithwom en of the people

,vilely dir ty and

inside the chur ch one can scar cely movethr ough the swarming cr owd

,sur ging this

way and that,now pr essing forwar dsto the

altar r ails,wher e a pr iest ischanting in a

loud monotone, now cluster ing thick aboutthe im age Of the Madonn a

,holding on her

kneesthe lifelessbleeding body of the Chr ist.The wom en pr essfor war d

,kissing her r obe

NAPLE S, PAST AND PRESENT.

with passion andholding up the babiesto dothe like. The chairsar e packed with men

star ing vacantly befor e them,asif they

wonder ed what hadbr ought them ther e,and

over the fever ish bustle of the thr ong the

fin e gr ave figur e Of Conr adin r isescar ved insnowy m ar ble.The sanctity of thisgr eat and an cient

chur ch,itspropinquity to the Mer cato andto

the teem ing populationsof the Old alleysofthe city

,hasm ade it in all agesa centr al

poin t of that tu r bulen t hot life which fillsthe histor y ofNapleswith talesOfblood andter r or . The associationsof the place ar e infin ite

,andwould in themselvesfill a por tly

volum e wer e they all set down with the detail which their r ich in ter est demands. One

tale ther e iswhich must be told in full,for

itstr agedy istoo gr eat to be for gotten,andhasindeedr ung r ound all the wor ld.

I n the year 1647, when E ngland wasconvulsedby civil war , Napleshadlain for n eara cen tur y and a half beneath the Spanishyoke

,gover ned by vicer oys, some good,

otherssatur ated with the gr eed andcovetousnesswhich have m ade the name Of Pr oconsul


Nobody who hasvisited Naplesin thesumm er

,and noted the ab ounding plen ty of

the fr uitstallsat ever y cor ner of the ancientstr eets— the r uddy gr apes

,the vast pilesof

blacken ing figs, the imm ense water m elons,Slicedso asto show their black seedsandtheir br imm ing juice

,so cool and tempting

when the August sun bur nsdown upon thehouses

,— nobody who hasseen how the Nea

politansfeed on fr uit thr oughout thescor ching dogdayscan doubt that to tax it must b edanger ous. If the risk wasnotself- evident

,

ther e wasexample of it to be found in them emor y ofmen then living. Not fifty yearsbefor e the sam e expedien t had r esulted inriot. A pr udent gover nor would havebeenwar ned ; the mor e so asthe people wer e alr eady oppr essed andsullen

,r estlessand in

dign ant under the unending exactionsof

the fr am ersof the taxes, anddivided by thememor y of m any bitter outr agesfr om thenoblesOf native bir th whoshould have beentheir natur al leadersandpr otecto rs. Napleswasfull of asullen

,danger oustemper ; b ut

those who wer e r esponsible for thesafety ofthe city hadnotwit enough to understand itsstate.


The g abelle on fr uit wasimposedear ly inthe year ; andon many daysofspr ing evenbefor e the bur den Of the tax wasfelt, cr owdsr an beside the Vicer oy’scoach demandingangr ily that the duty should b e r epealed.

Asthe warm daysdr ew on,the angry temper

r ose. E ver y m arket day whipped it up tofever heat andset the people thinking of

their miser ies. It issa id— andthe thing ispr obable enough— that m any daysbefor e theactual outbr eak of r evolt a rising wasbeingplann ed bysever al agen ts

,of whom one was

a Car melite monk. The dayselected for itscomm en cement wascar efully chosen insucha m anner astosecur e the patr onage andpr otection of the m ost popular Madonna of the

cr owded city ; b ut befor e it came an acciden t

It wasthe custom in those daysto hold a

kind of popular gam e in the Piazza delMercato

,a few daysbefor e the Festival of the

Madonna ofthe Carmine. The r aggedpopulation chose a captain

,under whom they at

tacked andstormed a wooden castle r ear edin the centr e ofthe piazza. I n thisyear thelot of the people had fallen on Tommaso


An ello, who in their contr acted andmusicaldialect wasknown asMas’an iello

,

”a n ative

ofAmalfi, by or igin, if not by bir th

,dr iven

per hapsinto the city by fear of the constantincursionsOf the Tu rks

,which went n ear to

depopulate the coastsfr om Saler no to Castellamm ar e. By one accoun t Mas’aniello wasthirsting to r evenge an insult oE er ed to hiswife by one ofthe collectors. Other wr itersasser t that chance alone thr ust him in to thefor emost position in what followed.

On Sunday the 7th of July the Mer catowasseething with life. Out ofall the r ooker iesar ound the Por ta Nolana

,and behind

the Chur ch ofSan t’ E ligio, the people pour edout in tent on fr olic. Festivity wasin theair— that joyousn esswhich in souther n Italyisver y apt to sm ear itself with blood er e

n ight. The wom en cr owded in and out of

the chur ches. The bellschim ed. Fr om all

the townsandvillageson either side ofNa

plesthe peasant wom en hadbr ought in theirfr u it

,andthe thirsty people bought it gr eed

ily. Among the cr owdMas’aniello andhisarmy Of r agamuflinswer e going up anddownarm ed with can es when suddenly ther e

262 NAPL E S, PAST AND PRE SE NT.

OE withdifficulty in a boat while Mas’aniello,

r euniting hisfor ces,led them against the

Oflice ofthe Gabelle in the Mer cato,wr ecked

it,andbur nt the books.By thistime all the tur bulence ofthe city

wasar oused ; itssuppr essed passionshadfound a r allying point

,and fr om ever y quar

ter ther e pour ed for th an army,r agged and

danger ous,car r ying for the most par t no

other weaponsthan sticksandstones, b utr oaring with a single voice for the abolitionofthe gabelle. Mas’an ielloseized r apidly onthese r aw levies

,or der ed them in to bands

,

andsent them in variousdir ectionsthr oughthe city with or dersto br eak down thestallsof the collectorswher ever they found them ;while he himself

,at the head of a m ighty

cr owd,mar ched up to the Toledo and down

that famousstr eet towar dsthe palace Of the

That feeble r uler hadcome out upon thebalcony of hispalace to behold the sight.Asfar ashe couldsee ther estr etched a for estof angry m en andwom en

,asight m ost ter r i

b le and m enacing in the eyesof any r uler .

The Span iar d’sinclination would have been


tosoothe andquiet them with pikes; b ut hehad not men enoughat hiscommand

,andso

tried cooing at them,pr ofessing hisMedi

atewillingnessto do everything they wished.

It isun cer tain what the r esult ofthisaecommodating policy m ight have been if only thepeople could have hear d him or would havewaited to attend to the w r itten m essageshesent them out. Unluckily neither wordsn ornoteswer e heeded. The m ob br oke into thepalace andswarmed up the stairs,sweepingaway the guar ds. The Vicer oy, impelled bypr udence

,slipped out down thesecr etstair

,

and en ter ing a pr ivate coach,attempted to

passthr ough the m ob towar dsthe Casteldell’Uovo. Hiscar riage had not tr avelledfar befor e he met a cr owd which r ecognisedhim and thr eatened to dr ag him out ofhiscar r iage. A few handfulsOf goldscatter edin the air Open ed a lan e thr ough the denser anksOf the r ioters, andthe Vicer oy, takingadvan tage ofthemom en tar ydiversion ,slippedinto the Chur ch ofSan Luigi and took r efugether e. Meantime the m ob went on to sackhispalace.It must appear passing str ange that no


eE or t wasm ade by the Span ish soldier y inNaplesto defend the authori ty of the Vicer oy. Ther e wasa gar rison in each of thethr ee castles, andin the length andb r eadth ofNaplesthere must have been a suflicientnumber ofwell- disposed personsto fur nishvaluable accessionsofstr ength to any centr albody of tr ained soldier y. But whether itwasthat the str ength Of the gar rison hadbeen so far dr ain ed OE for the warsin Tuscany andelsewher e that the r emnan t possessedno fighting power , or whether , asseemsalsopossible

,the ver y suddennessof the r evolt

had par alysed the r egular tr oops,rin

asall soldiersdo a conflict with an undisciplinedandar den t enemy in thestr eetsOf agr eat city— whichever r eason may be thetr ue one

,the fact r emainsthat throughout

the ten daysOf thisr evolt the mob wasnotattacked, and itsdisposition to excesswasr estr ain ed by little else than by itsown

moder ation,which by all accountswascon

spicuousandwonder ful.If

,however , the Vicer oy took nostepsto

r epr essthe rising by for ce Of arms,it isnot

to besupposed that he lay idle in the Chur ch


fact, he wasno other than the Ar chbishop of

Naples, Cardinal Ascanio Filam arin o,a man

destined to play a consider able par t in thecom ing tr oubles.Perseustook in thesituation at a glance

,

and being unluckily unpr ovided with a

Gor gon ’shead with which to tur n the monster in tostone

,he saw no other way Of sav

ing the r hetor ical Andr om eda discantingeloquently on the r oof than by tr anslatingsom e ofhispr omisesinto actions. Takinghisstan d

,ther efor e

,on the stepsof the

chur ch,he sent up wor d thr ough the gr id

that the Vicer oy must instantly make out anor der for the abolition Of the gabelle andsend it down to him . The Vicer oy sent itwithout delay, andthe Cardinal, who appearsto have been one of the ver y few men of

m ark in Naplespossessing any cr edit withthe mob

,pr oduced an instan t sensation by

waving the paper in the air . With asingular good judgm ent he allowed no one toseeit on thatspot

,b ut getting intohiscoach,still

waving the docum ent high abovehishead,he

dr ew OE the people fr om the chur ch, andsoopened a way for the escape of the Vicer oy.


It wasperhapshoped that the r emission ofthe duty on fr uit would qu iet the city ; b utgr eater pur poseswer e alr eady takingshapein the mindsof those who led the people.The Span ish tyr anny had bitten deep in totheir hear ts

,and the ver y pr omptitude of

their successmade them hope the mom enthad ar rived to end m any things. The Conven t OfSan Lor enzo in the Str ada Tr ibunaliwasan armour y well stor ed with pikesandhar quebusses. The cr owd

,led by a Sicilian

who hadplayed a for em ost par t in a r evoltupon hisnative island

,attacked the conven t

,

and fier ce fighting took place between thecitizensandthesm all body ofdefenderswhohad thr own themselvesin to the conven t.The Sicilian wasshot in the for ehead

,b ut the

attackscontinued,anda day or two later the

arsenal becam e unten able,and wassur r en

der ed with the cannon andm un itionswhichit

The night of Sunday wasfull of ter r or .

Thr oughout the hoursof dar knessmobsr aged thr ough the city ; and the excellentDon Gabr iele, after va inly endeavouring tosleep

,tellsusthat he got up andlooked out


to see what they wer e doing. Theygoing by in gangs

,br andishing tor cheswhich

flar ed anddr ippedw ith pitch. Forstandar dsthey bor e a loafstuck on the poin t Of a pikein der ision of itstinysize

,the r esult of the

gabelle on flou r . Of opposition fr om theguardiansofor der ther e wasnone at all

,and

had the mob elected to bur n the city to thegr ound it isnot clear what for ce could haver estr ained them The str ange thing wasthat the r agamuffinsmade so little use of

their Oppor tun ities. It wasasif alr eady,in

these first m omentsof the insur r ection,the

r ule of the leaderswasr espected. Mas’an iello wasbusy thr oughout the n ight in theMer cato and the piazza of the Carmine

,or

ganising, dir ecting, and r estr ain ing. Hemust have hadsome r ar e quality ofcommand

,

som espark Of that divin e faculty for swaying m en which isr ecogn ised and honou r edinstinctively in mom entsof sharp cr isis.Other wise it could not have happened thatthe m ob

,unbr idled and passionate, would

have gone thr ough thestr eetsby n ight chanting Viva

,viva il r e di Spagna

,and ah

staining fr om gr ossoutr agesasthey did.

270 NAPLES , PAST AND PRE SE NT.

dancershader ected a platform for their ezhib ition

,andon thisthr onesat the fisherman ’s

b oy, in tr ousersandshir t, both tor n anddir ty,

gir ded with a r ustysword, anddeliver ing hisor derslike a conquer or

,calm andconfident in

the knowledge of hisstr ength. The businesswhich chiefly occupied hism ind wasthediscovery of fr esh armsandmun itions. E ar lyin the day, by the secr et help of a woman

,

the r iotershaddiscover ed five cann on hiddenin the city. Powder they also found

,flooded

by the Span iards,b ut n ot beyond the possi

b ility of being dr ied. Mean tim e most ofthepr isonswer e flung open. Hour by hour thefor cesmuster ing in the Carm in e incr eased

,and

alr eady bandswer e told OE to destr oy thehousesandpr oper ty ofthose nobleswho werehated by the people.AS for the Vicer oy

,hesaw no r esour ce b ut

in sending m essagesOf peace. For thispur pose he r eleased fr om pr ison the DukeOf Maddalon i

,head of the Car afa fam ily

,

who had incur r ed the displeasur e of theCr own

,anddespatched him to the Mer cato

,

with instr uctionsto use hisinfluence in

any way which seem ed to him most likely


todisperse the people to their hom es. But,as

Don Gabr iele r emarksquaintly,the people Ob

stin ately r efused to taste the per fect liquor outofthiscarsE e

,esteem ing it indeed r ank poi

son. Nor wastheir r efusal mer ely passive.On the contr ar y

,they hun ted the Duke

thr ough the piazza till he fled for hislife totheshelter ofthe Car m ine

,convinced that he

wassent to play them false anddelude themwith wor thlesspr omises

,in place of the r es

tor ation ofthe privilegesbestowed on Naplesby the gr eat E mper or Char lesthe Fifth

,which

char ter they wer e r esolved to Obtain and r e

establish.

I t isqu ite clear that the noblesofNapleshadno r eal sympathy with the mob in themost r easonable oftheir gr ievances. Hadanyone among them come forwar d to suppor t andto r estr ain them

,the issue of the r evolt m ight

have been ver y diE er ent. Indeed, the par tplayed by the noblesr ankled in the m indsofthe citizensfor m any a year ; andwhen

,in

the next cen tur y,the noblesthemselves

sought to or gan ise a r ising,an Oldman who

hadbeen out with Mas’an iello cast it in theirteeth and called upon the people to go totheir hom es

,which they did.


.

But finding that the r ioterswould havenaught tosay to nobles

,the Cardin almlam a

r ino went himself to the Mer cato. He wasr eceived w ith defer ence

,if not with enthusi

asm. The Cardinal wasa cunningstatesman .

Like askilful hunter,

” saysDon Gabr iele,

who islost in admir ation of hiswisdom,he

knew wellhow to whistle the b ir dsinto hisnet. A chur chman tr ain ed at Rom e wasscar cely likely to be baffled by the r oughsincerity of fishermen andfr uitsellers

,ignor

ant Of all the n icetieswhich salve the conscience ofdiplomatists. The Cardinalspokeasone ofthemselves

,asa father to hisdear

and faithful childr en . Hesympathised withtheir complain ts. He admitted their gr ievances

,even exagger ating them . He com

m ended their cour age, and assur ed them of

entir e successif only they would be guidedby hisadvice. Heshowed no hor r or at thestemtaken by the rioters, watching bandstoldOE to destr oy houses, or er ect for tificationswithout r emonstr ance. All hiseE or tswer eexer ted to gain dom in ion over Mas’an iello andhisfollowers. TO thisend he took up hisquar tersin the Carm ine, and adm itted the

274 NAPLE S, PAST AND PRE SENT .

Gabr iele issur e it could not have been theCardinal

,b ut he doesnot tell uswho it was.

Per hapssom e enemy ofthe wor thy Car din al,designing to filchhiscr edit while heslept,posted the mu r der ersin the very Chur ch ofthe Carmine, without the knowledge Ofeitherthe good Fathersor their excellent Ar chbishop ! Ther e at any r ate they wer e, andinthe m or n ing Mas’an iello

,going in to the

chur ch,wasgr eeted by asalvo ofballs, ever y

one ofwhich,by a m ir acle natur allyset down

to the cr edit of the Madonna della Carm in e,flewpasthim harmlessly. The people, havingwr eaked summ ar y vengeance on the wouldb e mur der ers

,wer e un r easonable enough to

suspect the Car dinal of complicity in thecr ime. But that good man had abundantevidence that it wasnotso

,andMas’aniello,

yielding to r ever ence again , publicly declar edhiscontr ition for the unwor thy suspicion hehadformed. Wher eupon the Car dinal, whowastoo gr eat to har bour r esentment, moun tedthe steeple of the Carm ine and blessed thecr owd. Butstill the identity of the personage isnot r evealed. Don Gabri ele iscontemptuousOfhisfolly in thinking to kill the

A GRE AT CHURCH.

hydr a by a pr ematur e and badly devisedattack. When the personage tr ied next hisschem e wasbetter laid.Mean tim e all went on wheels. An audience with the Vicer oy wasappoin ted

,and

Mas’an iello, having with gr eat difficulty beenpersuaded to ar r ay himselfin garm en tsofsilver cloth

,which splendour he consider ed

quite unsuited to hishumble or igin,moun ted

a r ichly caparisoned steed and r ode towar dsthe palace at the head Of an innumer ablecr owd of people. What a change Ofstatewasther e ! On Sunday m or ning thisfellowwasamong the basest of a gr eat city, not

even a fish-seller,b ut the r agged attendan t

who pr ovided scr apsof paper in which towr ap up the fish. On Wednesday

,clothed

like an emper or and followed by a cr owdwhich ador ed him ,

he r ode in tr iumph to

m eet the Vicer oy Of the pr oudest monar chyon ear th. Sur ely n ever

,save in the wild

fantasy of E aster n fair y tales,hasfor tun e

tur ned her wheelso swiftly, or given m or elightly whatshe caught no lessr apidly away.

Mas’aniello cast himself humbly at thefeet Of the V icer oy who r aised him in the


sight of all the people and embr aced himwith tearsofaE ection . Don Gabr iele m akesno r efer ence to Judasat thispoint, which isOdd

,seeing how well equipped he waswith

apt r efer encesto Scriptur e. The cr owdr oar ed with pleasur e at the gr eat man ’scondescension

,m akingsuch a noise that no one

of the gr aciouswor dsused by the Duk e ofAr coscould be hear d. On this— and the

fact wasnoted asastr iking pr oof ofthe easewith which the people could beswayed byone they tr usted— Mas’an iello tur ned towardsthem andlaidhisfinger on hislip. Instantlythe r oarsceased, andall the vast cr owdstoodasmute ascar ven statues. He waved hishand

,in sign that they should go, andasif

by m agic the wide piazza,cr owded tosuffoca

tion only a moment pr eviously,stood bar e

andempty. The Vicer oy oE er edhim a r ichjewel

,b ut he r efused it

,declar ing that itwas

hisset pur pose to go back to hislowlystation and indeed, having Obtained decr eeswhich confirm ed the ordinancesof the pr evionsday, Mas’an iello r etur ned to thePiazza del Mer cato, dOE edhissplendid r ai

m ent, andput on once m or e the r agshe had

NAPLE S, PAS T AND PRE SE NT.

—ther e wasnothing mor e the matter withthe lad than a day’sr est withsom e peace ofmind would have r epair ed. But fate gavehim the oppor tunity for neither ; and indeed,if one calculatesthe possibilitiesbefor e him

,

thestr ength Of the for ceswhich he had Of

fended,and the tr eacher ousnatur e of the

popula r favour whichwashisonlystr ength,

one may well ask whether fate,kinder to

m ankind than they ever r ealise,didnotshow

char ity andlove when she gave him death asthe meed Of hisunselfish service to the

It iscer tain that er e the week wasoverMas’aniello began toshowsignsof unsettledbr ain

,infirm ity of temper

,extr avagance of

manner . The people b egan to be impatien tofhim

,tur n ing r apidly asever

whoser ve them best.Amor di padr one, e vin o di fiasco,L aser a ebuono e la mattina eguasto.

”

The people wer eMas’an iello’s padr one,

andlike the wine in the flask, their favourwassweet at night b ut sour inTher e isn o n eed to tell the histor y Of thenext two daysin full, or to dr ag out the Oh


scur e conspir acy which culminated on theTuesday mor ning. The poor ladknew wellwhat wasinstor e for him ,

andthe knowledgemay have completed hism ental agitation.

The Feast ofthe Madonn a del Carmin e cam eat last

,andMas’an iello went ear ly to the

chur ch to await the Car dinal. When hesaw the gr eat man com ing he r an to meethim and br oke out

,

“ E m in ence and Lor d, Isee alr eady that my people ar e abandon ing meandbetr aying me. Now for my consolationI beg that ther e m ay be public pr ocessionto thismost holy Lady Of the Carm ine

,

headed by the Vicer oy,and I desir e that

your E m inence will also join it.” The Cardinal embr aced the agitated lad

,andpr aised

hisdevotion,assur ing him that all should

happen ashe wished.

The Massbegan . The chur ch waspackedwith peopleso close that one could scar celybr eathe. I n the face of thisvast cr owdMas’aniello mounted in to the pulpit

,and in

bur n ing wordsr epr oached the people fortheir inclination to deser t him

,r em inding

them Of all that he hadachieved,not for him

self,b ut for them . Then tur n ing on hispast


life,withsome passionate r em embr ance ofthe

holy char acter ofthe day on which hespoke,

he laid bar e hissins,calling loudly on the

people to do the like,confessing them humbly

befor e God. Then ashispassion and delirium incr eased

,he lost con tr ol utter ly of

himself,str ipped OE hisclothes

,and thr eat

ened to dash himself down fr om the pulpit onthe floor of the chur ch. By sheer for ce hewasr estr ained

,andbeing led away in to the

cloister ofthe Convent,lean ed out ofan Open

window which looked towar dsthesea,seek

ing to cool hishead with the fr esh br eezethat blew fr om Capr i or fr om Ischia.

But for the second tim e the mur der erswer e hidden in the Car m in e. I n the cloisterthey lurked waiting for the or der of theVicer oy. The or der ar rived. The mu r der erscam e out openly andwent along the cor ridor ,calling “ Signor Mas’an iello.” The ladhear dthem

,andwent towar dsthemsaying, What

isit,my people ? on which theyshot him,

and he fell,cr ying Ah

,tr aitorsand un

just ! ”Such wasthe end ofMas’an iello, a deathwhich at the m om en t it occur r ed seemsto


tempt ; wher easMas’aniello isher oic,stainedby no unwor thy action , and bear ing himselfr ight nobly in a crisisaswondr ousasany inthe whole histor v ofm an .

APPE NDIX.

Page 9. THE stor y of the F r ench knightswhom isunderstood the war n ingshotsfr om Ischia istoldin Br antOme

’sL ife ofB r egut, NO. 37 of the ViesdesHomm esI llustr es.” Concer ning V ittor ia Colonna

ther e is, of course, a consider able liter atur e. A

pleasant and r eadable accoun t ofher life iscontainedin A Decade of I ta lia n Women , by T. A. Tr ollope

(Chapman andHall,

Page 10. The tale ofGianni di P rocida isNovellan ofthe flfthday ofthe Decamer on .

Page 12. The comm on tale about the or igin of the

Sicilian Vespersisthat Giann i di Pr ocida , who issometimesspoken of ashavingsuffer ed in hisownfam ily fr om the lustful dealingsof the F r enchsoldiar y , andsom etimesonly assym pathising with theislandersin their in toler able wr ongs, wen t thr oughthe island in disguise, beating a dr um and caper ingup to whomsoever he m et. I fit wer e a F r enchman ,

hescr eam edsome mad jest in hiscar ; if a Sicilian ,

he whisper ed some information about the pr ojectedr ising, whichwasto take place at thesignal of theVesper bell r inging in Palermo. But for thistalether e isnohistor icalauthor ity . P r ocidahadcer tainlysome connection withthe r evolt ; b utso far ascan b ediscover ed

,the actual outbreak wasun pr em editated.

and the nam e ofthe Sicilian V espersisapplied to the

284 APPE NDIX.

massacr e by no wr iter ear lier than the latter par t ofthe fifteen cen tu r y. The gr ea t au thor ity on thissubject isofcourseAmar i, L a Guer r a del Vesp r o S icilia no .

P age 15. Vir gil the enchanter . See note on p. 88.

P age 33 . I t isimpossible to givesepa r a te r efer

encesto all the author itieswhichI have consulted inw r iting thischapter . The wor k which I have foundm ost valuable— incom pa r an so— isthe Camp a n ienofBeloch, whichoutstr ipsboth in lear ning and in

judgm ent all wor kskn own to m e upon thePhlegr aeanF ields. I t m ay b esaid, Once for all, thatwithhar dlyone exception ,

the best wor ksupon the r egion of

Naplesar e by Germans. E nglishschola rship doesnot appear to advantage. I f a man w ill not r eadGerman ,

he m ay seek information usefully fr om

Other useful wor ksar e — Phillips, J Vesuvias(Oxfor d, Daub eny , C. G. B .

,A Descr ip tion

of Volca noes(L ondon ,L ogan L obley, Moun t

Vesuvius(L ondon , to whichshould b e addedthe Physical Noticesof the Bay of Naples, byP r ofessor For bes, in Br ewster ’sE din b ur ghJou r nalofScience, vol. x. All these wor kstr eat ofthe Phlegr aean F ields, aswell asofV esuvius.Page 39. The tr eatise ofCapaccio w ill b efound in

the collection Ofchr onicleswhichbearsthe n am e Of

Gr aavius, b ut was, in fact, com pleted after the deathof that gr eatschola r by Peter Burm an n . The col

lection isan honour to L eyden ,wher e it waspub

lishedfullhalfa centur y befor eMur ator i commencedhiswor k.

Page 41 . Thisgossip about the Gr otta del Cane is

286 APPE NDIX.

told on the author ity of Ger vasiusof Tilbur y. I t

wasa widely cr edited tale, andwill b e foun d also inMar in Sanudo , Vitedei Dogi , p. 232 of the fine new

edition ofMur ator i, n ow (1901) being issued underthe dir ection ofGiosueCa r ducci, an enter pr ise which

deser vesthe more pr aise since it emanatesfr om no

gr eat city. b ut fr om the pr in ting house of ScipioneL api at Cittadi Castello, on the upper valley of the

Page 104. The tr aditionsofQueen Joanna aswellset out by Signor Am alfi in L a Regina Giovanna

nella Tr adizione (Naples, a little wor k which.

thoughno other existsupon the subject, the Br itishMuseum disclaim to pur chase. Mr . Nutt pr ocur edm e a copy, thoughw ithsome dimculty . The book isn ot ascomplete asit m ight b e ; it contains, for ex

ample, no r efer ence to the tr aditionsof the Queen at

P age 114. For an account ofSan Lion ar do , aswellasfor thesubsequen t tale of theTor r etta ,seeNapoliNob ilissimaP age 129. Niccolo Pesce. See Nap . Nob .

Schiller ’sballad , Der Taucher ,” will of course b e

found in any collection ofhiswor ks.P age 137 . The best book on the Hohenstaufen is

V on Raumer , Geechichte der Hohenstaufen , a ver y

APPE NDIX. 287

fine and in terestingwor k. F r eder ick loved m or e than

him and hisgr andfa ther , King Roger , as i due Sul

Page 154. Upon the vexed question wher e Palmopolisstood, or if it stood anywher e at all, Beloch

seemsa little wilful, ar guingstoutly tha t there never

wassucha city. But.” saysMr . Hodgkin ,

“ in theface ofL ivy’e clear statem ent (viii. 22)asto thesituation ofthe two cities, andthe r ecor d in the Tr ium phalFasti of the victo r y of Pub liliusover the SamnitesPalmopolitanei, thisseemstoo bold a str oke ofhistor icalscepticism . Italy andHer Invaders. Vol.

4. 13880 53

P age 191 . Upon the chur chesofNaplesther e ar e

two wor kswhichsu r passall others— namely Documen ti per lastor ia , le a r ti e le industr ie, by P r inceGaetan o Filangier i, a m onum en t ofvast lear n ing ; andDenkma eler der Kunst desMittela ltersin Un ter I talien

,by H. W. Schulz, whose wor k formsthe basis

of almost ever y guide- book published on Souther nI taly.

Page 194. Thistale of the gr acelessDuke ofCalabr ia isin Giann one, Stor ia dt' Napoli, lib . xxii. adin it.

P age 199. Those who desir e m or e inform ation on

the ever yday life ofNapleswilldo well to seek it inKellner

’swor k,AlltdglichesausNeapel, the ten th

volum e of the well- kn own ser ies, Kennst du dasL aud, ” whichissold ever ywher e in Italy.

P age 216. The account of thisstorm isin book v.

APPENDIX.

epist. 5 ofPetr a r ch’sletters. Thestorm m ay , or maynot, b e the one whichdestr oyed Am alfi . I kn ow ofno evidence poin ting either way ,save the im pr oba b ility that two tempestsshould have w r oughtsuchdev

Nude.

Page 223 . Any histor y ofNapleswillgive the factsofthestr uggle between F r eder ick the Second and I nnocen t. See especially von B '

a’

umer or Giann one.

Page227. L a Colonna della V ica r ia . Signor Am alfi

quotesfr om Volter o, Dizionan ’

o filosofieo , e. v. Ban

quer oute,”the following passage L e négocian t

fallito pouvait danscer tainesvillesd’I talie gardertoussesbienset fr ustr er sescr éancies, pour va qu ’il

s’assit lsder r ier enusur unepier r e en presence de touslesmar chands. C

’était une der ivation douce de l’an

cien pr over be r omain , Solver e a ut in acr e, au t in cute.

payer de son ar gen t ou desa peau (Tr adiziom'

ed

P age 23 1 . The factsabout the descent ofthe Tur ksupon Otr an to in 1480will b e foun dsta ted br iefly in all

the histor ies. But they ar e sumciently cu r ioustomake it wor thwhile to consult the adm ir able anddetailed repor t m ade to L udovic Sfor za. IlMor o , by thecomm issa r y whoser ved him in hiscapacity asDukeofBa r i. Asr uler of the chief Apulian coast town , I!Mor o wasof course painfully anxiousfor exact in

form ation about the pr oceedingsof the Tu r ks. Ther epor t will b e found in volum e vi. of the A r chivioStor ico , published by the Societadi Stor ia Patr ia ,

”

ofNaples.

INDE X.

Agnano , L ake, 41, 124

Agr ippin a, E mpr ess, her murder , 73 etseq.

Alcala, Duke of, 122

Alfonso ofAr agon , fi rst king ofthat name, . 165.253

Second king of that name, 112, 114, 168 vetseq., 206, 23 1

Amalfl, 92

Angelo ,Monte San t’ , 8

An icetus, 78, 74

Anjou , Char les, King. See “ Char les.”Anjou , House of, 12.

Anna , Palazzo di Donna,Ar agon , House of, 12, 25, 137, 144, 155, 169, 192, 206

Arcos, Duke of, 257 etseq.

Augustus, E mper or , 91

Aver nus, L ake of, 60.61, 68

Baia ,

Bar b ar a ,Mon te, itslegend ,Bar bar ossa , Corsair ,Bauli,Belochquoted ,Bembo , P ietr o , epitaphon Sannazzar o ,Bisignano , P r ince of,P r incessof, her escape, 174

Boccaccio , 195. 196, 213

Bolgar o , Restituta , 10

Br antome quoted , 12, 254

B r eislak quoted. 284 (App.)

INDE X. 291

194, 287 (App.)Alfonso , Duke of. See Alfonso ofAr agon.

”

Cam or r a, The,Campagna Felice,

Cam pan a ,Monte,Campanella , Punta di,

Cane, Gr otta del,Capaccio quoted,Capr i,

Capuana, Por ts,Capuano, Castel,Car accioli, F r ancesco,Carm ine, Chu r chof,

Carm ine,Madonna del,Casam icciola,Castellammar e,Castles. See E lm o ,

” Uovo,”etc.

Chiais, Rivier a di, 15, 108, 109, 123

Churches:Carm ine, see above,Cathedr al,Cosil Nuovo,San ta Cater ina a Fo rmello

Santa Chiar a ,San Domen icoMaggior e,San L ionar do ,San L or enzo

Cigliano ,Mon te,Colonna, Vittor ia,Cones, Capo di,Con r adin , 198, 237- 250, 256, 289 (App .)Coppola,Mon te, fam ily of, 172

Cuma , 65, 72, 154, 285 (App.)

Decuman waysin Naples.Dr agot, Corsair , 9, (App.)

188, 229

19, 29

60

8, 123

41-3 , 284 (App.)

8, 29, 108

91, 229, 230

105, 160, 226, 230

121

250, 253 , 270 ccseq.

251

8. 61

10, 128 , 200

194- 8, 214

202, 203

115- 18, 125, 165, 174, 175

213 , 215, 219, 257

60

9am y 283 (APPJ

INDE X.

E lmo, St , Castle, 16, 25 , 26, 99, 154

E pomeo,Mon te di, 7, 94

Faito,Mon te, 8

Fer dinand ofAr agon , King, 113 , 114, 156 , 166, 168- 174

F iammetta (P r incessMar ie ofAnjou), 7, 213 , 214

F ilamar ino , Ca rdinalAscan io , 266 etseq.

Folklor e. See Madonn as, ” Niccolo Pesce,” Rufolo ,Sor r en to ,

” V ico ,” Virgil,” etc.

F r angipani betr aysCon r adin , 246

F r eder ick the Second , E m per o r , 140, 141

hisstr uggle with the P apacy , 223 , 224- 225, 287 (App.)F r eder ick ofBaden , com r ade ofCon r adin , 244, 247, 248

Fucin i, Renato , quoted , 221, 288 App.)

Gar gano ,Mon te,Gar ibaldi,Gennar o , San , .

hism ir acle,Giotto ,

hisresidence in Naples,Giovanna , Queen . Tr aditionsof,Gr illo ,Mon te,Guicciardin i quoted,

H.

Helen a , Queen , wife ofManfr ed , 142 , l49, 150, 151

Hodgkin , T. , quoted 287 (App.)

I .

2, 7, 9, 12,so, 95 , 94, 129, 157, 299

L akes:Agnano,Aver nus,L ucr ine,

199, 197

23 5. 286 (App - l0 m

Par then ope,Pesce, Niccolo , L egendsof,Petr ar chvisitsPhlegr e an Fields,

at San L or en zo ,Phlegm an Fields,

author itieson ,P iedigr otta,P izzofalcone,

P liny quoted ,Pom peii,

itsplan ,Posilipo ,

how fo rm ed,itscaver ns,descr ibed,

Pozzuoli,itstr ade andfall,Ser apeon ,

Gr eek or igin ,P rocida , Giann i,

Giovann i,

Rober t, King, 193 , 194, 199, 214, 216

Saler no , City ,

Saler n o , P r ince of, hisescapeSannazzar o ,San Sever ino , fam ily of,

Schulz, H. W. quoted,Sejanus, Gr otto of,

Ser apis, Tem ple ofSever o , San , Chapelof,S icilian Vespers, 12, 13 , 143 , 152

how it floatson thesea, 13!

Sir en"The, s l O 0 o

O 2, 6

129, 999 (App .)

599 285 (App' 11 m! I”

212

14, 37, 59

8 4 (App- l40

19, 147, 154,79

21, 71

211

15, 91

99

38. 85. 05

78 of 999 .

4, 37, 49

52, 59

57

64, 99

14. 283 (App .)

INDE X. 295

Solfatar a, The,Somma ,Monte,Sor r ento ,

S tr uscio , L u ,Styx,

Toledo (V ia Roma),Tontoli, don Gabr iele, quoted,Tor r e dell’ Annunziata ,

Tor r e delGr eco,Tor r etta , la ,

Tr ibunali, S tr ada di,Tuoni, Gr otta dei, legend of,

U.

Ulysses, 6

Uovo , Castel dell’ 16, 26, 97, 99, 102, 109

itscaver ns, 130

itsname, 153

besieged, 157, 197, 263

Vasto,Mar chesa del,Vesuvius,

held '

1n check b y Virgil,b y San Gennar o ,er uptionsof79 A. D.

1707

author itieson ,V ia Rom a (see Toledo)V icar ia , L a ,

V ico E quense,Virgil

founder ofCasteldell’Uovohisenchan tments,legend ofhistomb,

Vir gilio , Scoglio diVittor ia , Piazza di,

28, 178, 182, 184, 262

265 etseq.

3

33

122, 125

185, 207, 211, 236, 267

85

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