Eustace, John Cretwode: A classical tour through Italy An. MDCCCII (Vol. 3): 3. ed., rev. and enl (London: J. Mawman, 1815)

26

CLASSICAL TOUR

Ch. I.

towns and townlike villages. It loses itself in the
immensity of the sea on one side, and on the other
is bordered by the Apennines, forming a semi-
circular frame of various tints and bold outline.
I own I do not admire views taken from very
elevated points; they indeed give a very good
geographical idea of a country ; but they destroy
all the illusions of rural beauty, reduce hills and
vales to the same level", and confound all the
graceful swells and hollows of an undulated sur-
face, into general flatness and uniformity.
The most interesting object seen from the
summit of Vesuvius is the mountain itself, torn to
pieces by a series of convulsions, and strewed
with its own ruins. Vesuvius may be said to
have two summits; the cone which I have de-
scribed, and separated from it by a deep valley,
a ridge called Monte Somma from a town that
stands on its side. The distance between these
two summits in a strait line, may be nearly two
thousand feet. The ridge on the side towards
the cone presents a steep rugged barren preci-
pice ; on the other side, it shelves gently towards
the plain, and is covered with verdure and vil-
lages. The valley or deep dell that winds be-
tween these eminences is a desolate hollow, form-
ed entirely of calcined stones, cinders, and ashes,
and it resembles a vast subterraneous forge, the