unexpected angles of walls. The poor victim
almost envies the lot of the political martyrs,
who taste in their dungeons that solitude
which he sighs for in vain; and he registers
a tremendous vow against promiscuous
charity, which will re-act, on his return, with
terrible force, against the street-sweepers and
organ-grinders of our sea-girt isle.

As he passes along the Strada della Chiaja,
the stranger will most likely not be struck
with awe at the appearance of that street.
He will object that it is narrow and without
a foot-pavement, so that to avoid the throng
of vehicles he has continually to flatten
himself up against walls, and to burst, in an
undignified manner, into shops.

Perhaps his attention will be riveted, as
mine was, by a party of wretches coming
towards him, dressed, some in red, some in
yellow jackets, and closely chained together,
while sentinels with loaded muskets accompany
them on either side. They are convicts;
those distinguished by the red dress are
murderers. I believe that under this humane
government, executions for murder seldom, if
ever, take place—the penalty of death being
reserved for criminals of a deeper dye; such
as partisans of a constitutional monarchy,
patriots, and malefactors of that class. Here
—in no Chamber of Horrors, but in the
broad light of day—not in the similitude
of wax, but in all the horrid reality of flesh
and blood—are to be seen the Thurtells, the
Courvoisiers, the Burkes, the Rushes, the
Mannings, of Naples! What a study for the
physiognomist—from the decrepit wretch of
fourscore, to the younger ruffian of twenty,
glaring from under his shaggy brows! one
positively breathes more freely when they are
out of sight. In my younger and more
thoughtless days, I have been less moved at
seeing life taken away by the gleaming axe,
or the dismal fall of the drop, than I have
been at witnessing it prolonged at such a
price—unblessed, uncheered by friendship,
and unsolaced by hope.

Happily, there are other and less gloomy
objects to arrest attention, as one turns up the
Toledo, the principal street of the city—
narrow, dirty, and trottoirless (may I coin this
word ?) though it be. A magnificently gilt
sedan-chair, like a small Lord Mayor's coach,
is borne along gingerly by two men. Who
in the world can have chosen such a mode
of conveyance? It is a woman, as richly
decorated as the vehicle which contains her,
and bearing a new-born infant in her arms.
She is a nurse carrying her little charge
to be christened. The soldiers in red coats,
who might be taken for a party of British
troops, if they only looked a little more
uncomfortable and pinched-up in their clothes,
form a portion of the Swiss Guards—the
best paid, the best fed, and the most
martial-looking division of the Neapolitan
army. Every year, from the mountains of
Berne, the plains of Vaud, and the fastnesses
of Uri and Appenzel, crowds of volunteers
are attracted to the standard of his most
religious and gracious Majesty. Three hundred
of them came in the steamer with us from
Leghorn ; and a pretty noise they made
during the night, what with singing the
Ranz des Vaches, and dancing the national
dances over our heads.

The noise dinned into the ears by the
shouts of the open-air tradespeople and the
clattering of vehicles, and the clang of
harness, would pass the comprehension of
any one but a resident within sound of Bow
bells. I believe that a large portion of the
inhabitants of Naples actually live in vehicles
of various kinds; so great is the passion for
driving about, and for driving at a rate which
must, I think, form a serious item in the
calculations of a Neapolitan Life Assurance
Company, supposing such a blessing to
exist.

I can scarcely hear myself speak. Stop !
An additional bustle behind, and a subdued
murmur, indicates the approach of the King,
out, on one of his morning drives—the
excellent King Bomba, whom we have read of
in Gladstone, and in the Times.

See how he whisks past in his mail-phaeton,
driving a pair of blood-horses, which I should
say were of English breed. On either side of
him ride his aides-de-camp—young men of
noble family—conspicuous by their blue
uniforms and cocked hats. As far as one can
judge of the king himself, in his sitting
posture, he appears to be a man above the
average height, and with something more
than an inclination to corpulency. His
countenance is of that swarthy hue common to the
inhabitants of a warm clime; and, if it be not
blasphemous to speak in such light terms of
an anointed monarch, I should say that his
nose was of the order "snub." Do not those
features bear the impress of weakness, rather,
than cruelty ? They convey to my mind
the idea of a Louis the Thirteenth, rather
than of a Harry the Eighth. Never mind;
be he good, bad, or indifferent, one has
seen a KING; and that consideration is
generally sufficient to cheer the spirits of a
Briton.

Like many other edifices, the destination of
the Museum—to which I have at length
arrived—has undergone various changes. It
has been by turns a Riding School, an
University, the seat of the Law Courts, a
Barrack, and again an University. At length,
when the conclusion of the late war and the
expulsion of the Murat family had enabled
the Bourbons to preserve something like an
equilibrium on their unsteady throne, the
first Ferdinand by a decree converted it to
its present purpose. Uniting, under one roof,
the various antiquities and paintings scattered
over the different royal residences, and
providing for the reception of such objects as the
future excavations at Pompeii and elsewhere
might bring to light, he has laid the foundation