Another walk, hardly beyond the city, will conduct us to Capo di Monte, a royal palace, in a delightful situation, but which I believe has never been finished. A pretty high range of sand hills extends, but in a descending line, from the Camaldoli to this place, and hereabouts it is covered with gardens and vineyards, and exhibits the most delightful views of Vesuvius and the bay of Naples, and as the hill is very much broken in its form, it offers also the advantage of continual variety in the accompaniments and position of the scene. Sometimes we find delightful little recesses in the ravines, home scenes, with little or nothing of the distance, but most inviting retreats from the heat of the day. Cultivation however covers every part so closely, that few of these are admitted, and besides, they are supposed to be unhealthy, and the present luxury would be too dearly paid for in a tertian fever. I was offered a suite of five rooms, opening on to a terrace, and commanding one of the best points of view, for fifty ducats per annum; there was also a kitchen, and one or two other rooms behind. The sand is in most places, where the hill has been cut into, firm enough to maintain a perpendicular face. It has just that degree of tenacity which is most favourable to the operations of the miner, and accordingly, we here find the extensive catacombs of San Gennaro. We might include in this walk the immense _royal workhouse_ (Albergo Reale de’ Poveri), intended to contain all the poor of the kingdom of Naples. If completed, the length would have been 2,370 palms, but at present the front is only 1,560, and the number of poor is about 800. They were to be taught everything, and since they were found unequal to the lowest offices in society, an attempt was to be made to fit them in their old age for the higher ones. LETTER XLIV. NEIGHBOURHOOD OF NAPLES. _Naples, 10th October, 1817._