Memoirs Of The Freemasons Of Naples.

basalt of sufficient magnitude to form a mole and roadstead , where small vessels could seek shelter from tempests . The two streams , bending with the fall , or curvature of the land , sometimes met , aud sometimes again divided into lesser rivulets ; a convent containing three persons was surrounded ; flight became impossible , and they all perished from suffocationcaused by the

, intense heat . The road followed by the greater stream of lava was four miles in length—a distance which it traversed in three hours ; the materials rejected from the mountain appeared larger than its whole dimensions . * Thus the night passed away . The morning hour struckbut the light of day had not dawnedfor it was

, , concealed b }* the thick ancl black shower of ashes which poured doivn like rain for many miles round the city . The appearance of continual night afteeted every one , and as it often happens when men find human means unavailing , so in this instance all turned for consolation to the resources of religion . Men and women of every

age and condition , AA'ith bare feet , dishevelled hair , and ropes around their necks , as a kind of contrition , walked in processions from the city to the bridge of the Madalena , where the image of St . Januarius was worshipped , which had been set up in remembrance of a supposed miracle during some former eruption , and is represented

as commanding the volcano to cease . "When the processions arrived on the spot , that composed of the upper classes uttered the usual prayers in a low voice , while the common people shouted a hymn , composed for the occasion in the Neapolitan dialect . Meanwhile , the Cardinal Archbishop of Naples , followed by all the clergy , in their sacerdotal robes , "bearing the golden statue of the saint , and tlie pliial containinr / Jtis blood , stopjied at the bridge and , turning the sacred image towards the

mountain , invoked the mercy of God m psalms . But such mockery did not appease the wrath of the Almighty . Far better was the principle of the few that assembled in the outhouse of Michele Sciaronne ( of whom we shall speak hereafter ) ; he was a well respected citizen , and had been secretly a Freemason for some years . He collected a feiv of his friends and brethrenaud humbly prayed to

, Almighty God for pardon aucl for mercy . The calamities jpf nature , however , continued unabated . The ashes that had collected on the houses threatened to crush them b y tlieir weight ; the magistrates ordered they should be removed , and the people immediately set to Avork to clear them . The folloiA * ing AA'as the third clay since the

darkness had commenced , and even noiv the light of day could be but feebly distinguished , tho sun appearing , at his rising , pale and dim ; tlie showers of ashes were , however , less heavy , and the fire and thunder from the volcano ceased . Their Aveary and forlorn condition induced many to return to their houses ; but in the

middle of the night they ivere awakened and terrified by a fresh earthquake ; and whilst- the ground still trembled beneath them , they heard a crash as of the fall of many houses . In the morning , the summit of the mountain was found to have disappeared , and 500 acres of land covered with liquid fire—and a mole which projected

twenty-live metres into the sea . was a quarter of a mile in Avidth , and rose six metres above the Ava \* es . Thirtythree men , and four thousand two hundred animals had perished . The King and his family , together with General Acton , had escaped the danger by visiting the camp at Sessa . The theatres , law courts , and tribunals were closed , while the Junta of State alone , amidst this scene of woe , refused to suspend their cruel office . A

Memoirs Of The Freemasons Of Naples.

man who had been subject to periodical fits of insanity , named Tommaso Amato , who had forced his way to the sanctuary in the Church del Carmine upon a feast day , rushed past the friar , and uttered horrid imprecations against God and the King ; he was immediately taken prisonerand confined in the castle . Being accused and

, tried for blasphemy and treason , he was sentenced to death , although one humane judge ( the President of the Court ) , Cito , believing him insane , wished that he might be onl y placed under restraint ; but the people and the other judges demanded his execution , while they denounced him the enemy of God and the King . The King ordered ,

prayers to be said in every church , to appease the wrath of the Almighty ; and the Junta , as if roused to ferocity by their act , prepared what was called Le Gran Causa de rei di Stato ( the grand trial for political offenders ) . ( To oe continued . )

Visit To Stratford-On-Avon And Its, Vicinage.

VISIT TO STRATFORD-ON-AVON AND ITS , VICINAGE .

BY BEO . GEOEGE MAEKHAM TAVEDDELI , Author of "Shaltspere : his Times and Contemporaries , " § 'c . ( Conchtdedfrompage 224 . ) Whit-Wednesday , and such a lovely summer ' s morn that one might declare with Philip , King of France , in Shaksperian phrase —• — the glorious Sun

Stays in his course , and plays tho alchemist ; Turning , ivith splendour of his precious eye , Tho meagre cloddy earth to glittering gold . King John , act iii ., scene 1 . One last stroll to each place of interest in the town , not forgetting the quaint-looking old house in Chapel-street ,

AA'hich bears on its front the date of its erection , 1596 and ( unlike the poet ' s birthplace ) it has not been barharoAisly modernised . Many a time and oft has the gentle Willy looked upon this fine Elizabethian building ; and as a sample of those homes of our foz-efathers AA'hich are fast giving place to modern erectionsbut

, seldom improvements , it is Avorthy of the most careful preservation . As Shakspere was thirty-two years of age when this building was erected , and it is nearly opposite to where the Great House of the Cloptons stood , which the poet purchased the year following ( 1597 ) , repairing ancl altering ifc to his liking , and

changing its name to NOAV Place , and spending the evening of his life there , I could not hel p offering up a silent prayer to the Great Architect of the Universe , that this excellent specimen of one of our middle-class old English houses mi ght long be spared . Returning to my inn , I sAvallowed a hasty breakfast , settled with the hostessand taking- my portmanteau in

, my hand , left Stratford , wishing only that my stay could have been more prolonged , and that I could have had a congenial companion in my rambles , with whom I could have shared the rapture and the solemn thoughts which a visit to the scenes of Shakspere ' s childhood and the last years of his manhood Avere sure

to excite in the soul of an enthusiast like myself . A pleasant walk of little more than a mile soon brought me to the green hills of Welcombe , Avhich everybody I had talked to in the nei g hbourhood had advised me to visit . It certainly is a lovely spot , and one of the finest sites for the mansion of a nobleman or