At the foot of Vesuvius the country is the most fertile and best cultivated that can be found in the kingdom of Naples, that is to say, in the country of Europe most favoured of heaven.  The celebrated vine, whose wine is called Lacryma Christi, grows in this spot, and by the side of lands which have been laid waste by the lava.  One would say that nature has made a last effort in this spot, so near the Volcano, and has decked herself in her richest attire before her death.  In proportion as we ascend the mountain, we discover on turning round, Naples, and the beautiful country that surrounds it.  The rays of the sun make the sea sparkle like precious stones; but all the splendour of the creation is extinguished by degrees as we approach the land of ashes and smoke which announces the vicinity of the Volcano.  The ferruginous lava of preceding years has traced in the earth deep and sable furrows, and all around them is barren.  At a certain height not a bird is seen to fly, at another, plants become very scarce, then even the insects find nothing to subsist on in the arid soil.  At length every living thing disappears; you enter the empire of death, and the pulverised ashes alone roll beneath your uncertain feet.

     Ne griggi ne armenti
     Guida bifolco, mai guida pastore

Neither flocks nor herds does the husbandman or the shepherd ever guide to this spot.

Here dwells a hermit on the confines of life and death.  A tree, the last farewell of vegetation, grows before his door:  and it is beneath the shadow of its pale foliage that travellers are accustomed to wait the approach of night, to continue their route; for during the day, the fires of Vesuvius are only perceived like a cloud of smoke, and the lava, so bright and burning in the night, appears black before the beams of the sun.  This metamorphosis itself is a fine spectacle, which renews every evening that astonishment which the continuity of the same aspect might weaken.  The impression of this spot and its profound solitude, gave Lord Nelville more resolution to reveal the secrets of his soul; and desiring to excite the confidence of Corinne, he said to her with the most lively emotion:—­“You wish to read the inmost soul of your unhappy friend; well, I will tell you all:  I feel my wounds are about to bleed afresh; but ought we, in this desolate scene of nature, to dread so much those sufferings which Time brings in its course?”

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