|
Death, in a thousand forms,
destructive frown'd, |
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And
Woe, Despair, and Horror rag'd around. |
Æneid II. by Pitt.
The largest stream of fire seemed half a mile broad at least, and five miles long. During our return, at about three o'clock in the morning, we constantly heard the murmur and groaning of the mountain, which sometimes burst out into louder peals, throwing up huge spouts of fire, and burning stones, which, falling down again, resembled stars in our rockets. Sometimes I observed two, and at others three distinct columns of flames, and sometimes one vast one, that seemed to fill the whole crater; which burning columns, and the fiery stones, seemed to be shot 1000 feet perpendicular above the summit of the volcano.
On the 11th, at night, I observed it from a terrace, at Naples, to throw up incessantly a vast body of fire, and great stones, to a surprising height.
On the 12th, in the morning, it darkened the sun with smoke and ashes, causing a sort of an eclipse. Horrid bellowings, on this and the foregoing day, were heard at Naples, whither part of the ashes also reached.
On the 13th we saw a pillar of black smoke shoot upright to a prodigious height.
On the 15th, in the morning, the court and walls of our house in Naples were covered with ashes. In the evening a flame appeared in the mountain through the clouds.
On the 17th, the smoke appeared much diminished, fat, and greasy. And
On the 18th, the whole appearance ended, the mountain remaining perfectly quiet.
To this memorable account it cannot be amiss to add, that the first notice we have of this volcano's casting out flames, was in the reign of the Emperor Titus. At which first eruption, we are informed, that it flowed with that vehemence, that it entirely overwhelmed and destroyed the two great cities Herculaneum and Pompeia, and very much damaged Naples itself, with its stones and ashes.