DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61277#0040
18
VINTAGE.
vine standing on ladders, that leaned against the
elms, and gathering the rich grapes; while women
and children, with their baskets half filled, here
and there reposing beneath its festoons of foliage,
completed the beauty of the picture. The coun-
try was interspersed with towns and villages, and
white and crowded dwellings, erected upon the
lavas of various eruptions; and, although the path
was in some parts rugged, bestrewn with stones
and cinders, our patient mules, being accustomed
to it, pursued their way without difficulty, and
left us at liberty to enjoy the grand and majestic
scenes around us. But, notwithstanding their
smiling appearance, I could scarcely refrain from
melancholy feelings, not altogether free from
apprehensions about the future, on reflecting,
that, beneath a soil so fertile and so richly culti-
vated, numerous edifices, gardens, villas, and
towns, had been swallowed up.
My friend participated in the mournful sen-
sations occasioned by such a train of thought.
“ We cannot but regret,” said he, “ that so
beautiful a country as Italy undoubtedly is, pos-
sessing all the advantages of a fine situation,
healthy climate, and unclouded atmosphere,
should be liable to such drawbacks and convul-
sions of nature. But experience perpetually
VINTAGE.
vine standing on ladders, that leaned against the
elms, and gathering the rich grapes; while women
and children, with their baskets half filled, here
and there reposing beneath its festoons of foliage,
completed the beauty of the picture. The coun-
try was interspersed with towns and villages, and
white and crowded dwellings, erected upon the
lavas of various eruptions; and, although the path
was in some parts rugged, bestrewn with stones
and cinders, our patient mules, being accustomed
to it, pursued their way without difficulty, and
left us at liberty to enjoy the grand and majestic
scenes around us. But, notwithstanding their
smiling appearance, I could scarcely refrain from
melancholy feelings, not altogether free from
apprehensions about the future, on reflecting,
that, beneath a soil so fertile and so richly culti-
vated, numerous edifices, gardens, villas, and
towns, had been swallowed up.
My friend participated in the mournful sen-
sations occasioned by such a train of thought.
“ We cannot but regret,” said he, “ that so
beautiful a country as Italy undoubtedly is, pos-
sessing all the advantages of a fine situation,
healthy climate, and unclouded atmosphere,
should be liable to such drawbacks and convul-
sions of nature. But experience perpetually