209 ISCHIA. Inarime, Jovis imperiis imposta Typhæo.-VIRG. THIS island, which, together with Procida, shuts in the Bay of Naples to the west, was formerly no less famed for its eruptions than Vesuvius is at present. Some allowance, perhaps, ought to be made for the exaggerated details of historians. Strabo and Pliny not only speak of earthquakes, torrents of lava, and showers of ashes and cinders, the usual accompaniments of volcanic eruptions; but they talk also of flames issuing from the yawning ground, and spreading devastation over the whole island; of boiling water inundating the fields; of mountains suddenly shooting up, and as suddenly subsiding. (Strabo, lib. v.; Plin. lib. ii.) With such accounts detailed in sober prose, no wonder that the poets should have gone a step further, and have placed Typhæus himself under the island; ascribing its agitations to his convulsive movements. Though the hot springs with which the island abounds still attest the presence of subterranean fire, no eruption has taken place since the terrible one of 1302, which swept off the greater part of the inhabitants, and well nigh made a desert of the whole island. Viewed in its present renovated state, "Inarime," as Dean Berkley observed in a letter to Pope," is an epitome of the whole earth, containing, within the compass of eighteen miles, a wonderful variety of hills, vales, rugged rocks, fruitful plains, and barren mountains, all thrown together in the most romantic confusion. The air is, even in the hottest season, constantly refreshed by cool breezes from the sea. The vales produce excellent wheat and Indian corn; but are mostly covered with vineyards, intermixed with fruit-trees. Besides the common kinds, cherries, apricots, peaches, &c., they produce oranges, limes, almonds, pomegranates, figs, watermelons, and many other fruits unknown to our climates, which lie everywhere open to the passenger. The hills are the greater part covered to the top with vines, some with chesnut-groves, and others with thickets of myrtle and lentiscus. The fields on the northern side are divided by hedge-rows of myrtle. Several fountains and rivulets add to the beauty of this landscape, which is likewise set off by the variety of some barren and naked rocks. But that which crowns the scene is a large mountain rising out of the middle of the island (once a terrible volcano, by the ancients called Mons Epopeus*); its lower parts are adorned with vines and other fruit trees; the middle affords pasture to flocks of goats and sheep; and the top is a sandy pointed rock, from which you have the finest pro * In medio elatis caput inter nubila condit The word Epopeus is now softened down into Epomeo, but the name usually applied to the mountain is that of the Monte San Niccolo. spect in the world, surveying at one view, besides several pleasant islands lying at our feet, a tract of Italy about three hundred miles in length, from the Promontory of Antium to the Cape of Palinurus: the greater part of which hath been sung by Homer and Virgil, as making a considerable portion of the travels and adventures of their heroes. The islands Caprea, Prochyta, and Parthenope, together with Caiëta, Cumæ, Monte Miseno, the habitations of Circe, the Syrens, and the Læstrigons; the Bay of Naples, the Promontory of Minerva, and the whole Campagna Felice-make but a part of this noble landscape." This coast, indeed, unites the attractions of the picturesque with the charms arising from poetic fiction and historical records. It has been well observed, that, without some such mental association, without some connexion with other regions, or retrospect to other times, the brightest exhibitions of the material world produce but a transient impression*: they are unable to inspire permanent interest, or genuine enthusiasm. How different is the feeling experienced in surveying the shores of Italy from the summit of the San Niccolo. "In contemplating a prospect thus adorned by nature, and ennobled by genius; the theatre of the most sublime and instructive fables ever invented by the human mind; we may be allowed, * Les plus belles contrées du monde, quand elles ne retracent aucun souvenir, quand elles ne portent l'empreinte d'aucun événement remarquable, sont depourvues d'intérêt, en comparaison des pays historiques.-Corinne, vol. i. as we bewilder ourselves in the mazes of classical illusion, to indulge a momentary enthusiasm*:”— Audire, et videor pios Errare per lucos, amœnæ Quos et aquæ subeunt et auræ.-HOR. Od. lib. iii. 4. Through hallowed groves I stray, where streams beneath From lucid fountains flow, and zephyrs balmy breathe.-FRANCIS. The summit of the San Niccolo is composed of a grey or whitish lava, in the midst of which the form of the crater is still distinguishable. A few hermits inhabit this solitary spot, and occupy cells cut out of the solid rock. An anchorite, indeed, could hardly select a more appropriate abode, either for the grandeur of the scene, so well fitted to inspire devotion, or the moral lessons it is no less calculated to convey. In contemplating the opposite coasts of Puteoli, Baiæ, and Misenum, and contrasting their past splendour with their present destitution, the hermit may find as much food for reflection as the classic; and nowhere will he meet with a more striking instance of the frailty of human power, and the transitory nature of worldly magnificence. The town of Ischia, from which the island takes its present name, is situated on a small inlet about two miles from the nearest point of Procida. This bay is defended by a castle perched on a precipitous rock, connected with the island by an isthmus of sand. The other principal towns are Foria, Pansa, and Casamiccio; the latter seated nearly on the top of the San Niccolo. All these towns have their medicinal waters, or hot baths, to re * Eustace. commend them. The island, which is well cultivated, produces a white wine held in considerable repute; and the beauty of the scenery, added to the advantages of medicinal springs, and a cool and healthy air, attracts a considerable number of visitants during the summer months. Such is Ischia, presenting a picture widely different from that of the ancient Inarime-" the shattered mountain tumbled of old by Jupiter on the giant monster, for ever resounding with his groans, and inflamed by his burning breath: : Quæ turbine nigro Fumantem premit Japetum, flammasque rebelli Whose load o'erwhelms The rebel giant, from whose mouth expire Such are the attractions of Naples and its vicinity: Not a grove, Citron or pine or cedar, not a grot Sea-worn and mantled with the gadding vine, But breathes enchantmentt. Not a cliff but flings Some ruined temple or fallen monument, To muse on as the bark is gliding by.-ROGERS. * Eustace. + Sannazaro calls Naples, "Un pezzo di cielo caduto in terra." |