landscapes by a celebrated artist, replied, Landscapes I prefer seeing in the country itself, but I am fond of contemplating the pictures of illustrious men.' This opinion has some truth: Lord Orford preferred an interesting portrait to either landscape or historical painting. A landscape,' said he, however excellent in its distributions of wood, and water, and buildings, leaves not one trace in the memory; historical painting is perpetually false in a variety of ways, in the costume, the grouping, the portraits, and is nothing more than fabulous painting; but a real portrait is truth itself; and calls up so many collateral ideas as to fill an intelligent mind more than any other species*.?" There is also a portrait of Philip II., of Spain, "which looks the narrow minded, coldblooded tyrant that he was in reality.”

To this head also may we refer Marcello Venusti's celebratod copy of M. Angelo's Last Judgment, which would be better placed, were it transferred to the Sistine Chapel, to serve as a key to the original; for the copy exhibits much that is quite lost in the fresco itself. For instance, as regards the fresco, "time has done for Cardinal Biagio, what he in vain asked of the Pope; and it is only in this sketch that the bitter resentment of the painter is recorded, which placed him among the damned, in the gripe of a malignant demon-who is dragging him down to the bottomless pit, in a manner at once the most ferocious and degrading+.”

* Curiosities of Literature, Vol. I.

† Mathews.

Among the beautiful, the first that deserve notice are two Holy Families, by Raphael, exhibiting those peculiar graces, with which he, above every other painter, has contrived to embellish this hackneyed subject.

Titian's Danaë, a work rather luscious than lovely, is usually placed in this class; to which we may also refer two landscapes by Salvator Rosa, and some good pictures by Coreggio. This collection, in fact, generally detains the traveller less than it deserves; for, as Mathews very justly remarks, "after feasting the imagination in the galleries of Florence and Rome, in the contemplation of the very finest efforts of the pencil, it requires equal excellence to stimulate the languid attention, and satisfy the increasing fastidiousness of the taste. This is a cruel deduction from the pleasure which is expected to be derived from familiarity with excellence, and improvement in knowledge; so that, after all, it may be doubted whether we grow happier as we grow wiser; and perhaps they who are at the most pains-to see the best that is to be seen-to read the best that is to be read-and to hear the best that is to be heardare only labouring to exhaust the sources of innocent gratification, and incapacitating themselves for future enjoyment, by approaching nearer to that state which has been so truly described as a state of

Painful pre-eminence, ourselves to view
Above life's pleasures, and its comforts too!"

VESUVIUS rises with a gentle acclivity from the sea shore, about eight miles south-east of Naples. The base of the mountain is covered with towns on all sides. On the coast are Portici, Resina, Torre del Greco, Torre del Annunziata; on the inland side, Ottaiano, Somma, Massa, &c. The lower region of the mountain is thickly studded with villas and villages: the upper tract presents a scene of complete desolation, being ploughed up by streams of lava spreading in wide stripes over the surface. This region extends to the Atrio de' Cavalli, where the traveller is compelled to alight, and perform the remainder of the journey on foot. The summit of Vesuvius is a truncated cone, formed, as Addison expresses it, "by the ashes falling down the sides of it, like the sand in an hour-glass." In some places the lava breaks through this covering of ashes, forming a sort of irregular ladder, the ascent by which is easier than over the ashes themselves; which yield under the pressure of the foot to such a degree that almost every third step is lost. The guide, however, usually wears a leathern girdle for the traveller to hold by; and by this means the task is rendered sufficiently easy to be accomplished even by females.

The crater of Vesuvius varies at almost every eruption.

In the spring of 1819 it wore a most interesting appearance, and might be traversed without difficulty, though not altogether without danger. On the brink of it rose two or three peaks, from one of which, at an interval of about every five minutes, red hot stones and minerals were thrown up to a considerable height, attended with a loud rumbling noise; while, from its sides, three streams of liquid fire, seemingly of the consistence of molten lead and covered with red hot cinders, flowed gently along with a rustling sound, and produced a most imposing ef fect. Of an evening these fitful eruptions might be distinctly seen from the Villa Reale at Naples; but during the day all that was visible was a light cloud resting on the apex of the mountain-thus illustrating Tasso's description of Ætna

E poi, la notte, il ciel di fiamme alluma.

Subsequent to the eruption of 1822, the bottom of the crater sunk down to the depth of four or five hundred feet, and in 1826 it was no longer accessible without considerable risk. The sides of the crater consisted, at that period, of loose ashes and cinders, intermingled with masses of lava which were easily detached from their position, and thus rendered the descent perilous.

Vesuvius is about three thousand five hundred feet in height, and commands the sublimest prospects: here, the bold and rugged range of the Apennines; there, Naples, with its bay, its islands, and far-jutting promontories; and, between the Apennines and the sea, the whole

Campagna Felice. But the most interesting spectacle from the summit of Vesuvius is Vesuvius itself. The mountain may be said to have two summits; the truncated cone already noticed, and the Monte Somma-a long ridge separated from the cone by a deep and rugged ravine, the sides of which are covered with calcined stones. Judging from the appearance of this ravine, many are of opinion that we here see a portion of the interior of the mountain, and that, in the Monte Somma itself, we have a remnant of the original external surface, as it appeared previous to the terrible eruption of 79. "It is, indeed, probable," says Eustace," that the throes and convulsions of the mountain in that first tremendous explosion may have totally shattered its upper parts, while the vast ejection of ashes, cinders, ignited stones, and melted minerals, must have left a large void in its centre. One entire side of the mountain seems to have been consumed or scattered around on that occasion, while the other remains in Monte Somma. The cavity thus formed was filled up in part by the matter ejected in subsequent eruptions, and gradually raised into the present cone, which, however, varies its shape with every new agitation, and increases or diminishes according to the quantity of materials thrown out by the volcano." But though the cone is subject to these variations, the mountain has undergone no sensible diminution, notwithstanding that the quantity of matter ejected at different periods has been found, upon calculation, to exceed the size of Vesuvius itself. Hence the probability of the inference, that the materials affected by volcanic agency are situated at a great depth;