3700 feet above the level of the fea*. Puffs of fmoke, as black as can poffibly be imagined, fucceeded one another haftily, and accompanied the red-hot tranfparent and liquid lava, interrupting its fplendid brightnefs here and there by patches of the darkest hue. Within thefe puffs of fmoke, at the very moment of their emiffion from the crater, I could perceive a bright, but pale electrical fire, briskly playing about in zig-zag lines t. after a rumbling fubterraneous know, rifes perpendicularly near noife was heard in the neighbourhood of the volcano; the ufual throws of red hot ftones and fcoriæ began, and increased every inftant. I was at this time at Paufilipo, in the company of feveral of my countrymen, obferving with good telefcopes the curious phenomena in the crater of Vefuvius, which, with fuch help, we could diftinguifh as well as if we had been actually feated on the fummit of the volcano. The crater seemed much enlarged by the violence of laft night's explosions, and the little mountain no longer exifted. About nine o'clock there was a loud report, which fhook the houses of Portici and its neighbourhood to fuch a degree as to alarm their inhabitants, and drive them out into the streets; and, as I have fince feen, many windows were broken, and walls cracked, by the concuffion of the air from that explofion, though faintly heard at Naples. In an inftant a fountain of liquid tranfparent fire began to rife, and, gradually encreafing, arrived at fo amazing a height as to ftrike every one who beheld it with the moft awful astonishment. I fhall fcarcely be credited when I affure you, Sir, that, to the best of my judgment, the height of this fupendous column of fire could not be less than three times that of Vefuvius itfelf, which, as you The wind 'was S. W.; and though gentle, was fufficient to carry thefe detached clouds or puffs of fmoke out of the column of fire; and a collection of them, by degrees, formed a black and extenfive curtain (if I may be allowed the expreffion) behind it; in other parts of the ky it was perfeâaly clear, and the ftars were bright. The fiery fountain, of fo gigantic a fize, upon the dark ground above mentioned, made the most glorious contraft imaginable, and the blaze of it reflected ftrongly on the furface of the fea, which was at that time perfectly fmooth, added greatly to this fublime view. The liquid lava, mixed with ftones and fcoriæ, after having mounted, I verily believe, at the leaft ten thoufand feet, was partly directed by the wind towards Ottaiano, and partly falling almost perpendicularly, ftill red-hot and Se fu fe' or lettore, a creder lento DANTE INF. Cant. xxv. verfo 46. + I mention this circumftance to prove, that the electrical matter, so manifeft during this eruption, actually proceeded from the bowels of the volcano, and was not attracted from a great height in the air, and conducted into its crater by the vaft column of smoke. liquid, liquid, on Vefuvius, covered its whole cone, part of that of the mountain of Somma, and the valley between them. The falling matter being nearly as vivid and inflamed as that which was continually iffuing fresh from the crater, formed with it one complete body of fire, which could not be lefs than two miles and an half in breadth, and of the extraordinary height above mentioned, cafting a heat to the diftance of at least fix miles around it. The brush-wood on the mountain of Somma was foon in a blaze, which flame being of a different tint from the deep red of the matter thrown out of the volcano, and from the filvery blue of the electrical fire, ftill added to the contraft of this most extraordinary fcene. The black black cloud increasing greatly once bent towards Naples, and feemed to threaten this fair city with speedy deftruction; for it was charged with electrical matter, which kept conftantly darting about it in ftrong and bright zigzags, juft like thofe defcribed by Pliny the younger in his letter to Tacitus, and which accompanied the great eruption of Veluvius that proved fatal to his uncle *. This volcanic lightning, however, as I particularly remarked, very rarely quitted the cloud, but ufually returned to the great column of fire towards the crater of the volcano from whence it origi nally camet. Once or twice, indeed, I faw this lightning (or fe rilli, as it is called here) fall on the top of Somma, and fet fire to fome dry grafs and bushes 1. Fortunately for us, the wind increafing from the S. W. quarter, carried back the threatening cloud juft as it had reached the city, and began to occafion great alarm All public diverfions ceafed in an inftant, and the theatres being fhut, the doors of the churches were thrown open. Numerous proceffions were formed in the treets, and women and children with dishevelled heads filled the "Ab altero latere, nubes atra et horrenda, ignei fpiritus tortis vibratifque difcurfibus rupta, in longas flammarum figuras dehifcebat; fulgoribus illa et fimilés et majores." Plin. Epift. Sorrentino mentions the like obfervation, which he made during an eruption of Velavius in 1707, when the fame kind of black cloud bent over Naples; thefe are his words: "Alle ore 19. tutti i cittadini nelle ofcure "tenebre fi trovarono in mezzo delle Saëtte, delle quali, alcune vedeanfi "ufcir dalla fornace del Vefuvio, e fcorerre fino al capo di Paufilipo, d'onde "non paffando più inanzi fuor la nuvola delle ceneri, o divertirfi altronde, "indietro per l'iftefla linea tornarono a fcopiar fu la fornace, onde ufcirono: "qual moto retrogrado mai hopotuto intendere." Some time after the eruption had ceased, the air continued greatly im pregnated with electrical matter. The Duke of Cotrofiano, a Neapolitan nobleman, (who from his fuperior knowledge in experimental philofophy and mechanics, does honour to his country) told me, that having, about half an hour after the great eruption had ceafed, held a Leyden bottle, armed with a pointed wire, out of his window at Naples, it foon became confiderably charged. While the eruption was in force, its appearance was too alarming to allow ope to think of fuch experiments. 6 air air with their cries, infifting loudly upon the relics of St. Januarius being immediately oppofed to the fury of the mountain: in fhort, the populace of this great city began to display its usual extravagant mixture of riot and bigotry; and if fome speedy and well-timed precautions had not been taken, Naples would, perhaps, have been in more danger of fuffering from the irregularities of its lower clafs of inhabitants than from the angry volcano. But to return to my fubject: after the column of fire had continued in full force near half an hour, the eruption ceafed all at once, and Vefuvius remained fullen and filent. After the dazzling light of the fiery fountain*; all feemed dark and difmal except the cone of Vesuvius, which was covered with glowing cinders and fcoriæ, from under which, at times, here and there, fmall fireams of liquid lava had efcaped, and rolled down the steep fides of the volcano. This fcene put me in mind of Martial's defcription of Etna: Cuneta jacent flammis, & trifti merfa fa villa. In the parts of Naples nearest Vefuvius, whilft the eruption lafted, a mixed fmell, like that of fulphur, with the vapours of an iron-foundery, was fenfible; but nearer to the mountain that fmell was very offenfive, as I have often found it in my vifits to Vefuvius during an eruption. Thus, fir, have I endeavoured to convey to you at least a faint idea of a fcene fo glorious and fablime as, perhaps, may have never before been viewed by human eyes, at leaft in fuch perfection. I am fenfible, from the traces of them I have obferved in the volcanic ftrata, which compose the greatest part of this country, that there have been many more confiderable eruptions than the one juft defcribed: yet, moft probably, thofe very violent eruptions maft either have been attended with earthquakes, and other fuch alarming circumflances, as to make the beholders lefs attentive to the beauty of the fcenes fuch phenomena offered than to their own fafety; or clouds of fmoke and afhes, as is usually the case in all great eruptions, must have so far obfcured the volcano, as to exhibit only a confused mass of fire and fmoke. Whilft we had been enjoying the extraordinary fight of this gigantic fountain of liquid fire in perfect fafety, the unfortunate inhabitants of the other fide of the mountain of Somma, particularly at Ottaiano and Caccia-bella, were involved in that dark and footy cloud which formed fo proper a back ground to our bright picture, and were pelted with ftones and fcoriæ of lava; but I fhall prefently give you a particular defcription of their truly distressful fituations, just as I had it from many of the poor fufferers them The light diffufed by this huge column of fire was fo ftrong, that the moft minute objects could be difcerned clearly within the compafs of ten miles or more round the mountain. Mr. Morris, an English gentleman, told me, that at Sorrento, which is twelve miles from Vefuvius, he read the title page of a book by that volcanic light. felves felves, when I vifited that part of the country a few days after this eruption. Monday, Aug. 9, about nine o'clock in the morning, the fourth fever-fit of the mountain began to manifeft itself by the usual fymptoms, fuch as a fubterraneous boiling noise, violent explosions of inflamed matter from the crater of the volcano, accompanied with fmoke and afhes, which fymptoms encreased every inftant. The smoke was of two forts; the one as white as fnow, and the other as black as jet. The white, as defcribed in the former part of this journal, rolled gently mass over mafs, refembling bales of the fofteft cotton; and the black, compofed of scoria and minute afhes, fhot up with force in the midst of the white fmoke, which, from the minerals, was alfo fometimes tinged with yellow, blue, and green. Prefently fuch a tremendous mass of these accumulated clouds ftood over Vefuvius as feemed to threaten Naples again, and actually made the mountain itself appear a mole-hill. This day's eruption was fimilar to that of Thursday laft, but many degrees more violent. Some ftones, thrown near as high as thofe of laft night, fell on the mountain of Somma, and fet fire to the brush-wood with which it is covered; but there being little wind, and that wefterly, the volcanic matter rofe and fell in a more perpendicular direction, and Ottaiano did not fuffer by this day's eruption; but most of the inhabitants of the towns on the borders of Vefuvius fled to Naples, alarmed by the tremendous clouds, and the loud explosions. VOL. XXIII. We remarked, that several very large ftones, after having mounted to an immenfe height, formed a parabola, leaving behind them a trace of white fmoke that marked their courfe: fome burft in the air exactly like bombs, and others fell into the valley between Somma and Vefuvius without bursting; others again burft into a thousand pieces foon after their emiffion from the crater: they might very properly be called volcanic bombs. In the fmoke iffuing from the crater of Vefuvius, we often remarked a fudden britk and quivering motion, which feemed to communicate itself instantaneously from one cloud to another, and fometimes affected thofe that were very high in the great mafss above the volcano. Though I could not difcern any electrical fire, yet I make no doubt, but that the effect above mentioned was occafioned by it, and would have been visible in the night time. Upon the whole, this day's eruption was very alarming: until the lava broke out about two o'clock, and ran three miles between the two mountains, we were in continual apprehenfion of fome fatal event. It continued to run about three hours, during which time every other symptom of the mountain fever gradually abated, and at feven o'clock at night all was calm. It was univerfally remarked, that the air this night, for many hours after the eruption, was filled with meteors, fuch as are vulgarly called falling ftars; they fhot generally in a horizontal direction, leaving a luminous trace behind them, but which quickly disappeared. The night was remarkably fine, ftarG light, light, and without a cloud. This kind of electrical fire feemed to be harmlefs, and never to reach the ground; whereas that with which the black volcanic cloud of laft night was pregnant appeared mifchievous, like the lightning that attends a fevere thunder ftorm, as we fhould undoubtedly have experienced had the eruption continued longer, and the cloud fpread over Naples. The fame kind of lightning proved fatal to feveral people, and did great damage with in the space of many miles round Vefuvius during its great eruption of 1631, as is mentioned in one of my former letters on this fubject. During this day's eruption, the relics of St. Januarius were carried in proceffion, and expofed to the furious mountain from the bridge of the Maddalena, amidst a prodigious concourfe of people, who are at this moment well convinced, that to this ceremony alone Naples may attribute its happy escape: It was from their Sicilian majefties palace at Paufilipo that I made my obfervations on this day's eruption, and in the prefence of their majefties, who had been pleafed to fend for me in the morning, as foon as the volcano became turbulent. Tuesday, Auguft 10, Vefuvius was quiet. Wednesday, Aug. 11, about fix o'clock in the morning, the fifth and laft fever-fit of the mountain came on, and gradually encreafed. -About twelve o'clock, it was at its .height *, and very violent indeed, the explosions being louder than thofe that attended the former eruptions: we could not judge of the height of the vollies of ftones and fcoriæ, as fome rainy clouds were blended with the volcanic ones, and hid the upper part of the cone and crater of Vefuvius from our view. The fame mountains of white cotton-like clouds, piled one over another, rofe to fuch an extraordinary height, and formed fuch at coloffal mafs over Vefuvius, as cannot poffibly be defcribed, or fcarcely imagined. It may have been from a fcene of this kind, that the ancient poets took their ideas of the giants waging war with Jupiter. About five o'clock in the evening the eruption ceafed, fome rain having fallen this day, which having been greatly impregnated with the corrofive falts of the volcano, did much damage to the vines in its neighbourhood." Thurfday and Friday, Aug. 12 and 13, Vefuvius continued to fmoke confiderably, and at times flight explofions were heard, like cannon at a great diftance; but there have been no more throws from its crater, nor any ftreams of lava from its flanks, fince Wednefday lait. On Saturday, Aug. 15, I went, accompanied by Count Lamberg, the imperial minifter at this court, to vifit Ottaiano and Caccia-bella, the diftrict which had been moit feverely treated by the heavy and deftructive thower of volcanic mat * It has been remarked by the oldest people in the neighbourhood of Vefuvius, that in its eruptions the volcano is fubject to a crifis at noon and midnight, and indeed, from my own obfervation, I believe that remark to be well founded. ter |