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                             SUMMER CRUISE
                                   IN
                           THE MEDITERRANEAN.




                             SUMMER CRUISE

                                   IN

                           THE MEDITERRANEAN

                     ON BOARD AN AMERICAN FRIGATE.

                                   BY
                           N. PARKER WILLIS.

                                LONDON:
                    T. BOSWORTH, 215, REGENT STREET.
                                 1853.




                                LONDON:
               BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS




                                PREFACE.

                 *        *        *        *        *

Of one of the most delicious episodes in a long period of foreign
travel, this volume is the imperfect and hastily written transcript.
Even at the time it was written, the author felt its experience to be a
dream—so exempt was it from the interrupting and qualifying drawbacks
of happiness in common and working life—but, now, after an interval of
many years, it seems indeed like a dream, and one so full of unmingled
pleasure, that its telling almost wants the contrast of a sadness. Of
the noble ship, whose summer cruise is described, and her kind and
hospitable officers, the recollection is as fresh and grateful now, as
when, (twenty years ago,) the author bade them farewell in the port of
Smyrna. Of the scenes he passed through, while their guest, he has a
less perfect remembrance—relying indeed on these chance memoranda, for
much that would else be forgotten. It is with a mingled sense of the
real and the unreal, therefore, that the book is offered, in a new
shape, to the Public, whose approbation has encouraged its long
existence, and the author trusts that his thanks to the surviving
officers of that ship may again reach them, and that the kind favour of
the reading Public may be again extended to this his record of what he
saw in the company of these officers, and by their generous hospitality.

    HIGHLAND TERRACE,
        _October, 1852_.




                               CONTENTS.

                 *        *        *        *        *

                               LETTER I.

    Cruise in the Frigate “United States”—Elba—Piombino—Porto
    Ferrajo—Appearance of the Bay—Naval Discipline—Visit to the
    Town Residence of Napoleon—His Employment during his
    Confinement on the Island—His sisters Eliza and Pauline—His
    Country House—Simplicity of the Inhabitants of Elba      1

                               LETTER II.

    Visit to Naples, Herculaneum, and Pompeii      7

                              LETTER III.

    Account of Vesuvius—The Hermitage—The famous Lagrima
    Christi—Difficulties of the Path—Curious Appearance of the Old
    Crater—Odd Assemblage of Travellers—The New Crater—Splendid
    Prospect—Mr. Mathias, Author of the Pursuits of Literature—The
    Archbishop of Tarento      16

                               LETTER IV.

    The Fashionable World of Naples at the Races—Brilliant Show of
    Equipages—The King and his Brother—Rank and Character of the
    Jockeys—Description of the Races—The Public Burial Ground at
    Naples—Horrid and inhuman Spectacles—The Lazzaroni—The Museum
    at Naples—Ancient Relics from Pompeii—Forks not used by the
    Ancients—The Lamp lit at the time of our Saviour—The antique
    Chair of Sallust—The Villa of Cicero—The Balbi Family—Bacchus
    on the Shoulders of a Faun—Gallery of Dians, Cupids, Joves,
    Mercuries, and Apollos, Statue of Aristides, &c.      23

                               LETTER V.

    Pæstum—Temple of Neptune—Departure from Elba—Ischia—Bay of
    Naples—The Toledo—The Young Queen—Conspiracy against the
    King—Neapolitans Visiting the Frigates—Leave the
    Bay—Castellamare      32

                               LETTER VI.

    Baiæ—Grotto of Posilipo—Tomb of Virgil—Pozzuoli—Ruins of the
    Temple of Jupiter Serapis—The Lucrine Lake—Late of Avernus,
    the Tartarus of Virgil—Temple of Proserpine—Grotto of the
    Cumæan Sybil—Nero’s villa—Cape of Misenum—Roman villas—Ruins
    of the Temple of Venus—-Cento Camerelle—The Stygian Lake—The
    Elysian Fields—Grotto del Cane—Villa of Lucullus      38

                              LETTER VII.

    Island of Sicily—Palermo—Saracenic appearance of the
    town—Cathedral—The Marina—Viceroy Leopold—Monastery of the
    Capuchins—Celebrated Catacombs—Fanciful Gardens      45

                              LETTER VIII.

    The Lunatic Asylum at Palermo      51

                               LETTER IX.

    Palermo—Fête given by Mr. Gardiner, the American Consul—Temple
    of Clitumnus—Cottage of Petrarch—Messina—Lipari
    Islands—Scylla and Charybdis      57

                               LETTER X.

    The Adriatic—Albania—Gay Costumes and Beauty of the
    Albanese—Capo d’Istria—Trieste resembles an American
    Town—Visit to the Austrian Authorities of the
    Province—Curiosity of the Inhabitants—Gentlemanly Reception by
    the Military Commandant—Visit to Vienna—Singular Notions of
    the Austrians respecting the Americans—Similarity of the
    Scenery to that of New England—Meeting with German
    Students—Frequent Sight of Soldiers and Military
    Preparation—Picturesque Scenery of Styria      63

                               LETTER XI.

    Gratz—Vienna      70

                              LETTER XII.

    Vienna—Magnificence of the Emperor’s Manège—The Young Queen of
    Hungary—The Palace—Hall of Curiosities, Jewelry, &c.—The
    Polytechnic School—Geometrical Figures described by the
    Vibrations of Musical Notes—Liberal Provision for the Public
    Institutions—Popularity of the Emperor      76

                              LETTER XIII.

    Vienna—Palaces and Gardens—Mosaic Copy of Da Vinci’s “Last
    Supper”—Collection of Warlike Antiquities; Scanderburg’s Sword,
    Montezuma’s Tomahawk, Relics of the Crusaders, Warriors in
    Armour, the Farmer of Augsburg—Room of Portraits of Celebrated
    Individuals—Gold Busts of Jupiter and Juno—The Glacis, full of
    Gardens, the General Resort of the People—Universal Spirit of
    Enjoyment—Simplicity and Confidence in the Manners of the
    Viennese—Baden      82

                              LETTER XIV.

    Vienna—The Palace of Liechstenstein      87

                               LETTER XV.

    The Palace of Schoenbrunn—Hietzing, the Summer Retreat of the
    Wealthy Viennese—Country-House of the American Consul—Specimen
    of Pure Domestic Happiness in a German Family—Splendid Village
    Ball—Substantial Fare for the Ladies—Curious Fashion of
    Cushioning the Windows—German Grief—The Upper Belvidere
    Palace—Endless Quantity of Pictures      92

                              LETTER XVI.

    Departure from Vienna—The Eil-Wagon—Motley quality of the
    passengers—Thunderstorm in the Mountains of
    Styria—Trieste—Short Beds of the Germans—Grotto of
    Adelsburgh—Curious Ball-Room in the Cavern—Nautical
    preparations for a Dance on board the “United States” swept away
    by the Bora—Its successful Termination      98

                              LETTER XVII.

    Trieste, its Extensive Commerce—Hospitality of Mr. Moore—Ruins
    of Pola—Immense Amphitheatre—Village of Pola—Coast of
    Dalmatia, of Apulia and Calabria—Otranto—Sails for the Isles
    of Greece      106

                             LETTER XVIII.

    The Ionian Isles—Lord and Lady Nugent—Corfu—Greek and English
    Soldiers—Cockneyism—The Gardens of Alcinous—English
    Officers—Albanians—Dionisio Salomos, the Greek Poet—Greek
    Ladies—Dinner with the Artillery Mess      110

                              LETTER XIX.

    Corfu—Unpopularity of British Rule—Superstition of the
    Greeks—Accuracy of the Descriptions in the Odyssey—Advantage
    of the Greek Costume—The Paxian Isles—Cape Leucas, or Sappho’s
    Leap—Bay of Navarino, Ancient Pylos—Modon—Coran’s Bay—Cape
    St. Angelo—Isle of Cythera      115

                               LETTER XX.

    The Harbour of Napoli—Tricoupi and Mavrocordato, Otho’s Cabinet
    Councillors—Colonel Gordon—King Otho—The Misses
    Armanspergs—Prince of Saxe—Miaulis, the Greek
    Admiral—Excursion to Argos, the ancient Terynthus      122

                              LETTER XXI.

    Visit from King Otho and Miaulis—Visit an English and Russian
    Frigate—Beauty of the Greek men—Lake Lerna—The Hermionicus
    Sinus—Hydra—Ægina      129

                              LETTER XXII.

    The Maid of Athens—Romance and Reality—American Benefactions
    to Greece—A Greek Wife and Scottish Husband—School of Capo
    d’Istrias—Grecian Disinterestedness—Ruins of the most Ancient
    Temple—Beauty of the Grecian Landscape—Hope for the Land of
    Epaminondas and Aristides      134

                             LETTER XXIII.

    Athens—Ruins of the Parthenon—The Acropolis—Temple of
    Theseus—The Oldest of Athenian Antiquities—Burial-Place of the
    Son of Miaulis—Reflections on Standing where Plato taught, and
    Demosthenes harangued—Bavarian Sentinel—Turkish Mosque,
    erected within the Sanctuary of the Parthenon—Wretched
    Habitations of the Modern Athenians      139

                              LETTER XXIV.

    The “Lantern of Demosthenes”—Byron’s Residence in
    Athens—Temple of Jupiter Olympus, Seven Hundred Years in
    Building—Superstitious Fancy of the Athenians respecting its
    Ruins—Hermitage of a Greek Monk—Petarches, the Antiquary and
    Poet, and his Wife, Sister to the “Maid of Athens”—Mutilation
    of a Basso Relievo by an English Officer—The Elgin Marbles—The
    Caryatides—Lord Byron’s Autograph—Attachment of the Greeks to
    Dr. Howe—The Sliding Stone—A Scene in the Rostrum of
    Demosthenes      145

                              LETTER XXV.

    The Prison of Socrates—Turkish Stirrups and Saddles—Plato’s
    Academy—The American Missionary School at Athens—The Son of
    Petarches, and Nephew of “Mrs. Black of Ægina”      150

                              LETTER XXVI.

    The Piræus—The Sacra Via—Ruins of Eleusis—Gigantic
    Medallion—Costume of the Athenian Women—The Tomb of
    Themistocles—The Temple of Minerva—Autographs      155

                             LETTER XXVII.

    Mytilene—The Tomb of Achilles—Turkish Burying Ground—Lost
    Reputation of the Scamander—Asiatic Sunsets—Visit to a Turkish
    Bey—The Castles of the Dardanelles—Turkish Bath, and its
    Consequences      160

                             LETTER XXVIII.

    A Turkish Pic-Nic on the plain of Troy—Fingers v.
    Forks—Trieste—The Boschetto—Graceful Freedom of Italian
    Manners—A Rural Fête—Fireworks—Amateur Musicians      166

                              LETTER XXIX.

    The Dardanelles—Visit from the Pacha—His Delight at hearing
    the Piano—Turkish Fountains—Caravan of Mules laden with
    Grapes—Turkish Mode of Living—Houses, Cafés, and Women—The
    Mosque and the Muezzin—American Consul of the Dardanelles,
    another “Caleb Quotem”      171

                              LETTER XXX.

    Turkish Military Life—A Visit to the Camp—Turkish
    Music—Sunsets—The Sea of Marmora      179

                              LETTER XXXI.

    Gallipoli—Aristocracy of Beards—Turkish Shopkeepers—The
    Hospitable Jew and his lovely Daughter—Unexpected
    Rencontre—Constantinople—The Bosphorus, the Seraglio, and the
    Golden Horn      184

                             LETTER XXXII.

    Constantinople—An Adventure with the Dogs of Stamboul—The
    Sultan’s Kiosk—The Bazaars—Georgians—Sweetmeats—Hindoostanee
    Fakeers—Turkish Women and their Eyes—The Jews—A Token of
    Home—The Drug Bazaar—Opium Eaters      190

                             LETTER XXXIII.

    The Sultan’s Perfumer—Etiquette of Smoking—Temptations for
    Purchasers—Exquisite Flavour of the Turkish Perfumes—The Slave
    Market of Constantinople—Slaves from various Countries, Greek,
    Circassian, Egyptian, Persian—African Female Slaves—An
    Improvisatrice—Exposure for Sale—Circassian Beauties
    prohibited to Europeans—First sight of one, eating a Pie—Shock
    to Romantic Feelings—Beautiful Arab Girl chained to the
    Floor—The Silk Merchant—A cheap Purchase      196

                             LETTER XXXIV.

    The Bosphorus—Turkish Palaces—The Black
    Sea—Buyukdere      201

                              LETTER XXXV.

    The Golden Horn and its Scenery—The Sultan’s Wives and
    Arabians—The Valley of Sweet Waters—Beauty of the Turkish
    Minarets—The Mosque of Sulymanye—Mussulmans at their
    Devotions—The Muezzin—The Bazaar of the Opium-eaters—the Mad
    House of Constantinople, and Description of its inmates—Their
    Wretched Treatment—The Hippodrome and the Mosque of Sultan
    Achmet—The Janizaries—Reflections on the Past, the Present,
    and the Future      207

                             LETTER XXXVI.

    Sultan Mahmoud at his Devotions—Comparative Splendour of Papal,
    Austrian, and Turkish Equipages—The Sultan’s Barge or
    Caïque—Description of the Sultan—Visit to a Turkish
    Lancasterian School—The Dancing Dervishes—Visit from the
    Sultan’s Cabinet—The Seraskier and the Capitan Pacha—Humble
    Origin of Turkish Dignitaries      215

                             LETTER XXXVII.

    The Grand Bazaar of Constantinople, and its infinite Variety of
    Wonders—Silent Shopkeepers—Female Curiosity—Adventure with a
    Black-Eyed Stranger—The Bezestein—The Stronghold of
    Orientalism—Picture of a Dragoman—The Kibaub-Shop—A Dinner
    without Knives, Forks, or Chair—Cistern of the Thousand and One
    Columns      223

                            LETTER XXXVIII.

    Belgrade—The Cottage of Lady Montagu—Turkish
    Cemeteries—Natural Taste of the Moslems for the Picturesque—A
    Turkish Carriage—Washerwomen Surprised—Gigantic Forest
    Trees—The Reservoir—Return to Constantinople      229

                             LETTER XXXIX.

    Scutari—Tomb of the Sultana Valide—Mosque of the Howling
    Dervishes—A Clerical Shoemaker—Visit to a Turkish
    Cemetery—Bird’s-Eye View of Stamboul and its Environs—Seraglio
    Point—The Seven Towers      234

                               LETTER XL.

    Beauties of the Bosphorus—Summer-Palace of the
    Sultan—Adventure with an old Turkish Woman—The Feast of
    Bairam—The Sultan his own Butcher—His Evil Propensities—Visit
    to the Mosques—A Formidable Dervish—Santa Sophia—Mosque of
    Sultan Achmet—Traces of Christianity      240

                              LETTER XLI.

    Unerring Detection of Foreigners—A Cargo of Odalisques—The
    Fanar, or Quarter of the Greeks—Street of the
    Booksellers—Aspect of Antiquity—Purchases—Charity for Dogs
    and Pigeons—Punishment of Canicide—A Bridal
    Procession—Turkish Female Physiognomy      245

                              LETTER XLII.

    The Perfection of Bathing—Pipes—Downy
    Cushions—Coffee—Rubbing Down—“Circular Justice,” as displayed
    in the Retribution of Boiled Lobsters—A Deluge of Suds—The
    Shampoo—Luxurious Helps to the Imagination—A Pedestrian
    Excursion—Story of an American Tar, burdened with Small
    Change—-Beauty of the Turkish Children—A Civilised
    Monster—Glimpse of Sultan Mahmoud in an Ill-Humour      251

                             LETTER XLIII.

    Punishment of Conjugal Infidelity—Drowning in the
    Bosphorus—Frequency of its occurrence accounted for—A Band of
    Wild Roumeliotes—Their Picturesque Appearance—Ali Pacha, of
    Yanina—A Turkish Funeral—Fat Widow of Sultan Selim—A Visit to
    the Sultan’s Summer Palace—A Travelling Moslem—Unexpected
    Token of Home      257

                              LETTER XLIV.

    Farewell to Constantinople—Europe and the East compared—The
    Departure—Smyrna, the great Mart for Figs—An Excursion into
    Asia Minor—Travelling Equipments—Character of the
    Hajjis—Encampment of Gipsies—A youthful Hebe—Note—Horror of
    the Turks for the “Unclean Animal”—An Anecdote      263

                              LETTER XLV.

    Natural Statue of Niobe—The Thorn of Syria and its
    Tradition—Approach to Magnesia—Hereditary Residence of the
    Family of Bey-Oglou—Character of its present Occupant—The
    Truth about Oriental Caravanserais—Comforts and Appliances they
    yield to Travellers—Figaro of the Turks—The Pilaw—Morning
    Scene at the Departure—Playful familiarity of a Solemn old
    Turk—Magnificent Prospect from Mount Sypilus      268

                              LETTER XLVI.

    The Eye of the Camel—Rocky Sepulchres—Virtue of an old
    Passport, backed by Impudence—Temple of Cybele—Palace of
    Crœsus—Ancient Church of Sardis—Return to Smyrna      274

                             LETTER XLVII.

    Smyrna—Charms of its Society—Hospitality of Foreign
    Residents—The Marina—The Casino—A narrow Escape from the
    Plague—Departure of the Frigate—High Character of the American
    Navy—A Tribute of Respect and Gratitude—The Farewell      279




                  SUMMER CRUISE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN.

                 *        *        *        *        *

                 *        *        *        *        *




                               LETTER I.


    Cruise in the Frigate “United States”—Elba—Piombino—Porto
    Ferrajo—Appearance of the Bay—Naval Discipline—Visit to the
    Town Residence of Napoleon—His Employment during his
    Confinement on the Island—His sisters Eliza and Pauline—His
    Country House—Simplicity of the Inhabitants of Elba.

I had come from Florence to join the “United States,” at the polite
invitation of the officers of the ward-room, on a cruise up the
Mediterranean. My cot was swung immediately on my arrival, but we lay
three days longer than was expected in the harbour, riding out a gale of
wind, which broke the chain cables of both ships, and drove several
merchant vessels on the rocks. We got under way on the 3rd of June, and
the next morning were off Elba, with Corsica on our quarter, and the
little island of Capreja just ahead.

The firing of guns took me just now to the deck. Three Sardinian
gun-boats had saluted the commodore’s flag in passing, and it was
returned with twelve guns. They were coming home from the affair at
Tunis. It is a fresh, charming morning, and we are beating up against a
light head-wind, all the officers on deck looking at the island with
their glasses, and discussing the character of the great man to whom
this little barren spot was a temporary empire. A bold fortification
just appears on the point, with the Tuscan flag flying from the staff.
The sides of the hills are dotted with desolate looking buildings, among
which are one or two monasteries, and in rounding the side of the
island, we have passed two or three small villages, perched below and
above on the rocks. Off to the east, we can just distinguish Piombino,
the nearest town of the Italian shore, and very beautiful it looks,
rising from the edge of the water like Venice, with a range of cloudy
hills relieving it in the rear.

Our anchor is dropped in the bay of Porto Ferrajo. As we ran lightly in
upon the last tack, the walls of the fort appeared crowded with people,
the whole town apparently assembled to see the unusual spectacle of two
ships-of-war entering their now quiet waters. A small curving bay opened
to us, and as we rounded directly under the walls of the fort, the tops
of the houses in the town behind appeared crowded with women, whose
features we could easily distinguish with a glass. By the constant
exclamations of the midshipmen, who were gazing intently from the
quarter-deck, there was among them a fair proportion of beauty, or what
looked like it in the distance. Just below the summit of the fort, upon
a terrace commanding a view of the sea, stood a handsome house, with low
windows shut with Venetian blinds and shaded with acacias, which the
pilot pointed out to us as the town residence of Napoleon. As the ship
lost her way, we came in sight of a gentle amphitheatre of hills rising
away from the cove, in a woody ravine of which stood a handsome
building, with eight windows, built by the exile as a country-house.
Twenty or thirty, as good or better, spot the hills around, ornamented
with avenues and orchards of low olive-trees. It is altogether a rural
scene, and disappoints us agreeably after the barren promise of the
outer sides of the isle.

The “Constellation” came slowly in after us, with every sail set, and
her tops crowded with men; and as she fell under the stern of the
commodore’s ship, the word was given, and her vast quantity of sail was
furled with that wonderful alacrity which so astonishes a landsman. I
have been continually surprised in the few days that I have been on
board, with the wonders of sea discipline; but for a spectacle, I have
seen nothing more imposing than the entrance of these two beautiful
frigates into the little port of Elba, and their magical management. The
anchors were dropped, the yards came down by the run, the sails
disappeared, the living swarm upon the rigging slid below, all in a
moment, and then struck up the delightful band on our quarter-deck, and
the sailors leaned on the guns, the officers on the quarter railing, and
boats from the shore, filled with ladies, lay off at different
distances, the whole scene as full of repose and enjoyment, as if we had
lain idle for a month in these glassy waters. How beautiful are the
results of order!

                 *        *        *        *        *

We had made every preparation for a pic-nic party to the country-house
of Napoleon yesterday—but it rained. At sunset, however, the clouds
crowded into vast masses, and the evening gave a glorious promise, which
was fulfilled this morning in freshness and sunshine. The commodore’s
barge took off the ladies for an excursion on horseback to the iron
mines, on the other side of the island—the midshipmen were set ashore
in various directions for a ramble, and I, tempted with the beauty of
the ravine which enclosed the villa of Napoleon, declined all
invitations with an eye to a stroll thither.

We were first set ashore at the mole to see the town. A medley crowd of
soldiers, citizens, boys, girls, and galley-slaves, received us at the
landing, and followed us up to the town-square, gazing at the officers
with undisguised curiosity. We met several gentlemen from the other ship
at the café, and taking a cicerone together, started for the
town-residence of the emperor. It is now occupied by the governor, and
stands on the fine summit of the little fortified city. We mounted by
clean, excellent pavements, getting a good-natured _buon giorno!_ from
very female head thrust from beneath the blinds of the houses. The
governor’s aide received us at the door, with his cap in his hand, and
we commenced the tour of the rooms with all the household, male and
female, following to gaze at us. Napoleon lived on the first floor. The
rooms were as small as those of a private house, and painted in the
pretty fresco common in Italy. The furniture was all changed, and the
fire-places and two busts of the emperor’s sisters (Eliza and Pauline)
were all that remained as it was. The library is a pretty room, though
very small, and opens on a terrace level with his favourite garden. The
plants and lemon-trees were planted by himself, we were told, and the
officers plucked souvenirs on all sides. The officer who accompanied us
was an old soldier of Napoleon’s and a native of Elba, and after a
little of the reluctance common to the teller of an oft-told tale, he
gave us some interesting particulars of the emperor’s residence at the
island. It appears that he employed himself, from the first day of his
arrival, in the improvement of his little territory, making roads, &c.,
and behaved quite like a man who had made up his mind to relinquish
ambition, and content himself with what was about him. Three assassins
were discovered and captured in the course of the eleven months, the
first two of whom he pardoned. The third made an attempt upon his life,
in the disguise of a beggar, at a bridge leading to his country-house,
and was condemned and executed. He was a native of the emperor’s own
birthplace in Corsica.

The second floor was occupied by his mother and Pauline. The furniture
of the chamber of the renowned beauty is very much as she left it. The
bed is small, and the mirror opposite its foot very large, and in a
mahogany frame. Small mirrors were set also into the bureau, and in the
back of a pretty cabinet of dark wood standing at the head of the bed.
It is delightful to breathe the atmosphere of a room that has been the
home of the lovely creature whose marble image by Canova thrills every
beholder with love, and is fraught with such pleasing associations. Her
sitting-room, though less interesting, made us linger and muse again. It
looks out over the sea to the west, and the prospect is beautiful. One
forgets that her history could not be written without many a blot. How
much we forgive to _beauty_! Of all the female branches of the Bonaparte
family, Pauline bore the greatest resemblance to her brother Napoleon:
but the grand and regular profile which was in him marked with the stern
air of sovereignty and despotic rule, was in her tempered with an
enchanting softness and fascinating smile. Her statue, after the Venus
de’ Medicis, is the chef d’œuvre of modern sculpture.

We went from the governor’s house to the walls of the town, loitering
along and gazing at the sea; and then rambled through the narrow streets
of the town, attracting, by the gay uniforms of the officers, the
attention and courtesies of every smooched petticoat far and near. What
the faces of the damsels of Elba might be, if washed, we could hardly
form a conjecture.

The country-house of Napoleon is three miles from the town, a little
distance from the shore, farther round into the bay. Captain Nicholson
proposed to walk to it, and send his boat across—a warmer task for the
mid-day of an Italian June than a man of less enterprise would choose
for pleasure. We reached the stone steps of the imperial casino, after a
melting and toilsome walk, hungry and thirsty, and were happy to fling
ourselves upon broken chairs in the denuded drawing-room, and wait for
an extempore dinner of twelve eggs and a bottle of wine as bitter as
criticism. A farmer and his family live in the house, and a couple of
bad busts and the fire-places, are all that remain of its old
appearance. The situation and the view, however, are superb. A little
lap of a valley opens right away from the door to the bosom of the bay,
and in the midst of the glassy basin lies the bold peninsular promontory
and fortification of Porto Ferrajo, like a castle in a loch, connected
with the body of the island by a mere rib of sand. Off beyond sleeps the
main-land of Italy, mountain and vale, like a smoothly-shaped bed of
clouds; and for the foreground of the landscape, the valleys of Elba are
just now green with fig-trees and vines, speckled here and there with
fields of golden grain, and farm-houses shaded with all the trees of
this genial climate.

We examined the place, after our frugal dinner, and found a natural path
under the edge of the hill behind, stretching away back into the valley,
and leading, after a short walk, to a small stream and a waterfall.
Across it, just above the fall, lay the trunk of an old and vigorous
fig-tree, full of green limbs, and laden with fruit half ripe. It made a
natural bridge over the stream, and as its branches shaded the rocks
below, we could easily imagine Napoleon, walking to and fro in the
smooth path, and seating himself on the broadest stone in the heat of
the summer evenings he passed on the spot. It was the only walk about
the place, and a secluded and pleasant one. The groves of firs and brush
above, and the locust and cherry-trees on the edges of the walk, are old
enough to have shaded him. We sat and talked under the influence of the
“genius of the spot,” till near sunset, and then, cutting each a
walking-stick from the shoots of the old fig-tree, returned to the boats
and reached the ship as the band struck up their exhilarating music for
the evening on the quarter-deck.

                 *        *        *        *        *

We have passed two or three days at Elba most agreeably. The weather has
been fine, and the ships have been thronged with company. The common
people of the town come on board in boat-loads, men, women, and
children, and are never satisfied with gazing and wondering. The
inhabitants speak very pure Tuscan, and are mild and simple in their
manners. They all take the ships to be bound upon a mere voyage of
pleasure; and, with the officers in their gay dresses, and the sailors
in their clean white and blue, the music morning and evening, and the
general gaiety on board, the impression is not much to be wondered at.

Yesterday, after dinner, Captain Nicholson took us ashore in his gig, to
pass an hour or two in the shade. His steward followed, with a bottle or
two of old wine, and landing near the fountain to which the boats are
sent for water, we soon found a spreading fig-tree, and, with a family
of the country people from a neighbouring cottage around us, we idled
away the hours till the cool of the evening. The simplicity of the old
man and his wife, and the wonder of himself and several labourers in his
vineyard, to whom the captain gave a glass or two of his excellent
wines, would have made a study for Wilkie. Sailors are merry companions
for a party like this. We returned over the unruffled expanse of the
bay, charmed with the beauty of the scene by sunset, and