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o miss any of the shows of the day。  People were talking; chattering; and greeting each other as they might do in the street。  Here and there somebody was kneeling on the pavement; unheeding the passing throng。 At several of the chapels; services were being conducted; and there was a large congregation; an ordinary church full; about each of them。  But the most of those present seemed to regard it as a spectacle only; and as a display of dress; costumes; and nationalities it was almost unsurpassed。  There are few more wonderful sights in this world than an Englishwoman in what she considers full dress。  An English dandy is also a pleasing object。 For my part; as I have hinted; I like almost as well as anything the big footmen;those in scarlet breeches and blue gold…embroidered coats。  I stood in front of one of the fine creations for some time; and contemplated him as one does the Farnese Hercules。  One likes to see to what a splendor his species can come; even if the brains have all run down into the calves of the legs。  There were also the pages; the officers of the pope's household; in costumes of the Middle Ages; the pope's Swiss guard in the showy harlequin uniform designed by Michael Angelo; the foot…soldiers in white short…clothes; which threatened to burst; and let them fly into pieces; there were fine ladies and gentlemen; loafers and loungers; from every civilized country; jabbering in all the languages; there were beggars in rags; and boors in coats so patched that there was probably none of the original material left; there were groups of peasants from the Campagna; the men in short jackets and sheepskin breeches with the wool side out; the women with gay…colored folded cloths on their heads; and coarse woolen gowns; a squad of wild…looking Spanish gypsies; burning…eyed; olive…skinned; hair long; black; crinkled; and greasy; as wild in raiment as in face; priests and friars; Zouaves in jaunty light gray and scarlet; rags and velvets; silks and serge cloths;a cosmopolitan gathering poured into the world's great place of meeting;a fine religious Vanity Fair on Sunday。

There came an impressive moment in all this confusion; a point of august solemnity。  Up to that instant; what with chanting and singing the many services; and the noise of talking and walking; there was a wild babel。  But at the stroke of the bell and the elevation of the Host; down went the muskets of the guard with one clang on the marble; the soldiers kneeled; the multitude in the nave; in the aisles; at all the chapels; kneeled; and for a minute in that vast edifice there was perfect stillness: if the whole great concourse had been swept from the earth; the spot where it lately was could not have been more silent。  And then the military order went down the line; the soldiers rose; the crowd rose; and the mass and the hum went on。

It was all over before one; and the pope was borne out again; and the vast crowd began to discharge itself。  But it was a long time before the carriages were all filled and rolled off。  I stood for a half hour watching the stream go by;the pompous soldiers; the peasants and citizens; the dazzling equipages; and jaded; exhausted women in black; who had sat or stood half a day under the dome; and could get no carriage; and the great state coaches of the cardinals; swinging high in the air; painted and gilded; with three noble footmen hanging on behind each; and a cardinal's broad face in the window。




VESUVIUS

CLIMBING A VOLCANO

Everybody who comes to Naples;that is; everybody except the lady who fell from her horse the other day at Resina and injured her shoulder; as she was mounting for the ascent;everybody; I say; goes up Vesuvius; and nearly every one writes impressions and descriptions of the performance。  If you believe the tales of travelers; it is an undertaking of great hazard; an experience of frightful emotions。 How unsafe it is; especially for ladies; I heard twenty times in Naples before I had been there a day。  Why; there was a lady thrown from her horse and nearly killed; only a week ago; and she still lay ill at the next hotel; a witness of the truth of the story。  I imagined her plunged down a precipice of lava; or pitched over the lip of the crater; and only rescued by the devotion of a gallant guide; who threatened to let go of her if she didn't pay him twenty francs instantly。  This story; which will live and grow for years in this region; a waxing and never…waning peril of the volcano; I found; subsequently; had the foundation I have mentioned above。  The lady did go to Resina in order to make the ascent of Vesuvius; mounted a horse there; fell off; being utterly unhorsewomanly; and hurt herself; but her injury had no more to do with Vesuvius than it had with the entrance of Victor Emanuel into Naples; which took place a couple of weeks after。  Well; as I was saying; it is the fashion to write descriptions of Vesuvius; and you might as well have mine; which I shall give to you in rough outline。

There came a day when the Tramontane ceased to blow down on us the cold air of the snowy Apennines; and the white cap of Vesuvius; which is; by the way; worn generally like the caps of the Neapolitans; drifted inland instead of toward the sea。  Warmer weather had come to make the bright sunshine no longer a mockery。  For some days I had been getting the gauge of the mountain。  With its white plume it is a constant quantity in the landscape: one sees it from every point of view; and we had been scarcely anywhere that volcanic remains; or signs of such action;a thin crust shaking under our feet; as at Solfatara; where blasts of sulphurous steam drove in our faces;did not remind us that the whole ground is uncertain; and undermined by the subterranean fires that have Vesuvius for a chimney。  All the coast of the bay; within recent historic periods; in different spots at different times; has risen and sunk and risen again; in simple obedience to the pulsations of the great fiery monster below。  It puffs up or sinks; like the crust of a baking apple…pie。  This region is evidently not done; and I think it not unlikely it may have to be turned over again before it is。  We had seen where Herculaneum lies under the lava and under the town of Resina; we had walked those clean and narrow streets of Pompeii; and seen the workmen picking away at the imbedded gravel; sand; and ashes which still cover nearly two thirds of the nice little; tight little Roman city; we had looked at the black gashes on the mountain…sides; where the lava streams had gushed and rolled and twisted over vineyards and villas and villages; and we decided to take a nearer look at the immediate cause of all this abnormal state of things。

In the morning when I awoke the sun was just rising behind Vesuvius; and there was a mighty display of gold and crimson in that quarter; as if the curtain was about to be lifted on a grand performance; say a ballet at San Carlo; which is the only thing the Neapolitans think worth looking at。  Straight up in the air; out of the mountain; rose a white pillar; spreading out at the top like a palm…tree; or; to compare it to something I have seen; to the Italian pines; that come so picturesquely into all these Naples pictures。  If you will believe me; that pillar of steam was like a column of fire; from the sun shining on and through it; and perhaps from the reflection of the background of crimson clouds and blue and gold sky; spread out there and hung there in royal and extravagant profusion; to make a highway and a regal gateway; through which I could just then see coming the horses and the chariot of a southern perfect day。  They said that the tree…shaped cloud was the sign of an eruption; but the hotel…keepers here are always predicting that。  The eruption is usually about two or three weeks distant; and the hotel proprietors get this information from experienced guides; who observe the action of the water in the wells; so that there can be no mistake about it。

We took carriages at nine o'clock to Resina; a drive of four miles; and one of exceeding interest; if you wish to see Naples life。  The way is round the curving bay by the sea; but so continuously built up is it; and so inclosed with high walls of villas; through the open gates of which the golden oranges gleam; that you seem never to leave the city。  The streets and quays swarm with the most vociferous; dirty; multitudinous life。  It is a drive through Rag Fair。  The tall; whitey…yellow houses fronting the water; six; seven; eight stories high; are full as beehives; people are at all the open windows; garments hang from the balconies and from poles thrust out; up every narrow; gloomy; ascending street are crowds of struggling human shapes; and you see how like herrings in a box are packed the over half a million people of Naples。  In front of the houses are the markets in the open air;fish; vegetables; carts of oranges; in the sun sit women spinning from distaffs or weaving fishing…nets; and rows of children who were never washed and never clothed but once; and whose garments have nearly wasted away; beggars; fishermen in red caps; sailors; priests; donkeys; fruit…venders; street…musicians; carriages; carts; two…wheeled break…down vehicles;the whole t

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