CHAP. XVIII.
NAPLES.
“Vedi Napoli e po mori,[1]” says a patriotic proverb of the country, in which I was now residing; for the good people flatter themselves there is nothing in the world worth seeing afterward: a farther instance of their national partiality is contained in another adage, expressive of the following sentiment: “When a Neapolitan is out of humour, he has only to open his window and look at his country, to restore his complacency.” And yet, alas! how wretchedly have these people defended that country!
[1] “See Naples and then die.”
Whatever might be the sensations with which I was affected on entering this city, produced by my conceptions of its beauty and magnificence, I could not avoid feeling rejoiced, at the circumstance of having reached in safety, this boundary of my proposed pilgrimage, and the ne plus ultra of the generality of European travellers. But it was some time before I could get comfortable accommodations. Our driver probably imagining I should not be able to see into his stratagem, took every other passenger to his destined point, before he would attend to myself, because the Largo Castello, to which I had directed him, happened to be near his own quarters; consequently, it was six o’clock before I arrived, and then I had the mortification to find the house too full to receive me. I was compelled to search for apartments elsewhere, and only with great difficulty at length succeeded, and was happy, after taking refreshment, to get into a more comfortable bed than I had met with since I left Rome.
Naples, or Napoli, was originally called Parthenope, a name said to have been given by the Phœnicians, in consequence of its delightful situation. This city is so ancient, that its original foundation is involved in the obscurity of the earliest periods. It is reported to have been founded by the Argonauts, thirteen centuries before the Christian era, and afterwards strengthened and enriched, by colonies from Rhodes, Athens, and Chalcis.
The impression I received on entering this city, was that of commercial importance, from the bustle and confusion which I heard in some of the streets through which we passed: but as all strangers are, in the first instance, forcibly struck by the beauty of its situation, and magnificent appearance, I cannot do better than quote the description given of it by a favourite author, Dr. Moore.
“Naples is supposed to be founded by the Greeks. The charming situation they have chosen, is one proof among thousands of the fine taste of that ingenious people.
“The bay is about thirty miles in circumference, and twelve in diameter; it has been named Crater, from its supposed resemblance to a bowl. This bowl is ornamented with the most beautiful foliage, with vines, with olives, mulberry and orange-trees, with hills, dales, towns, villas, and villages.