DIALOGUE.

(In A bookstore at Naples.)

A traveller (entering).—­Have you any work on Pompeii?

The salesman.—­Yes; we have several.  Here, for instance, is
Bulwer’s “Last Days of Pompeii.”

Traveller.—­Too thoroughly romantic.

Salesman.—­Well, here are the folios of Mazois.

Traveller.—­Too heavy.

Salesman.—­Here’s Dumas’s “Corricolo.”

Traveller.—­Too light.

Salesman.—­How would Nicolini’s magnificent work suit you?

Traveller.—­Oh! that’s too dear.

Salesman.—­Here’s Commander Aloe’s “Guide.”

Traveller.—­That’s too dry.

Salesman.—­Neither dry, nor romantic, nor light, nor heavy! 
What, then, would you have, sir?

Traveller.—­A small, portable work; accurate, conscientious, and within everybody’s reach.

Salesman.—­Ah, sir, we have nothing of that kind; besides, it is impossible to get up such a work.

The author (aside).—­Who knows?

THE

Wonders of Pompeii.

I.

THE EXHUMED CITY.

     The antique landscape—­the history of Pompeii before and after
     its destruction.—­How it was buried and exhumed.—­Winkelmann as A
     Prophet.—­The excavations in the reign of Charles III., Of Murat,
     and of Ferdinand.—­The excavations as they now are.—­Signor
     Fiorelli.—­Appearance of the ruins.—­What is and what is not found
     there.

A railroad runs from Naples to Pompeii.  Are you alone?  The trip occupies one hour, and you have just time enough to read what follows, pausing once in a while to glance at Vesuvius and the sea; the clear, bright waters hemmed in by the gentle curve of the promontories; a bluish coast that approaches and becomes green; a green coast that withdraws into the distance and becomes blue; Castellamare looming up, and Naples receding.  All these lines and colors existed too at the time when Pompeii was destroyed:  the island of Prochyta, the cities of Baiae, of Bauli, of Neapolis, and of Surrentum bore the names that they retain.  Portici was called Herculaneum; Torre dell’Annunziata was called Oplontes; Castellamare, Stabiae; Misenum and Minerva designated the two extremities