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

Ch. XIV.

THROUGH ITALY.

465

and as the Captain waited only for him, on the
seventeenth we set sail in the evening·.
The view of the town spread over a flat coast,
and from thence extending its villas over a fine
range of hills that advanced into the sea on the
south, all kindled by the beams of the setting
sun, engrossed my attention first: and after-
wards, as a landsman unaccustomed to such
spectacles, I felt myself still more deeply in-
terested by the management of the ship, and
observed with surprise and pleasure, the order
that reigned in all its parts, the silence that pre-
vailed amid so many men employed in so many
manoeuvres, and the rapidity and precision with
which every order was executed.
A breeze arose just sufficient to keep the vessel
steady in her course : the evening was fine, and
the full moon shone in all her brightness, till an
eclipse gradually stript her of her beams. A
total eclipse is one of the grand phenomena of
nature, and it would have been an amusing
contemplation during the night; but unfortu-
nately gathering clouds prevented our observa-
tions, and the wind freshening at the same time,
carried us on with more rapidity. Thus we
glided along the Etrurian coast, flat indeed and
marshy, but watered by many a stream still
VOL. III. Η II