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

30

CLASSICAL TOUR

Ch. I.

versal destruction was arrived, and that the atoms
which formed the world were about to dissolve
their fortuitous-combination, and to plunge the
universe once more into chaos.
The last eruption took place in 1794; the
ashes, cinders, and even water, thrown from the
mountain did considerable damage to the towns
o
of Somma, Ottaiano, and ail the circumjacent
region; but the principal mischief was, as usual,
occasioned by the lava, rivers of which, as I have
already related, poured down the southern side
of the mountain. These and several other tor-
rents of similar matter, but earlier date, are seen
from the summit, and may be traced from their
source through the whole of their progress,
which generally terminates in the sea. They are
narrow at first, but expand as they advance, and
appear like so many tracks of rich black mould
just turned up by the plough. When their de-
structive effects are considered, one is surprised
to see villas placed in their windings, vineyards
waving over their borders, and towns rising in the
very middle of their channels. Ravaged and
tortured as the vicinity of Vesuvius has been for
so many ages, it must appear singular, that it has
not been abandoned by its inhabitants, and con-
signed to the genius of fire and desolation as his
own peculiar territory. But such is the richness