VISIT TO PORTICI.
10.5
ing orisons above my head; nature was clothed
in her loveliest robes; every bosom, except my
own, seemed to beat with sympathetic gladness;
the sky was clear and unclouded, the air serene
and
“ Calm as summer evenings be;”
and even from the distant Vesuvius I could
scarcely perceive the issue of that smoke, which
gently glided along its dark flanks, after resting
awhile upon its hoary summit.
*****
*****
CHAPTER VII.
“ But time, the grave of all things, has not quench’d,
Nor e’er shall quench the glorious name of Roman,
While those great monuments of genius live,
Which years can never wither nor destroy.
All other mortal works must pass away ;
The Muse alone exults in endless youth.”
After all we had seen of Herculaneum and
Pompeii, it was natural that we should wish to
visit the museum, at Portici, the depository of
the various relics of antiquity, which were found
amongst their excavations. I have already said,
10.5
ing orisons above my head; nature was clothed
in her loveliest robes; every bosom, except my
own, seemed to beat with sympathetic gladness;
the sky was clear and unclouded, the air serene
and
“ Calm as summer evenings be;”
and even from the distant Vesuvius I could
scarcely perceive the issue of that smoke, which
gently glided along its dark flanks, after resting
awhile upon its hoary summit.
*****
*****
CHAPTER VII.
“ But time, the grave of all things, has not quench’d,
Nor e’er shall quench the glorious name of Roman,
While those great monuments of genius live,
Which years can never wither nor destroy.
All other mortal works must pass away ;
The Muse alone exults in endless youth.”
After all we had seen of Herculaneum and
Pompeii, it was natural that we should wish to
visit the museum, at Portici, the depository of
the various relics of antiquity, which were found
amongst their excavations. I have already said,