[Page Head: BAIAE] Salerno, April 24th, 1830 {p.341} Here Morier and I are going to pass the night on our way to Paestum, and as he is gone to bed (at half-past eight) I must write. Yesterday morning Morier, St. John, Lady Isabella, and I went to Pozzuoli, embarked in a wretched boat to make the _giro_ of Baiae. Ante bonam Venerem gelidae per litora Baiae Illa natare lacu cum lampade jussit amorem, Dura natat, algentes cecidit scintilla per undas, Hinc vapor ussit aquas, quicumque natavit, amavit. Venus bade Cupid on fair Baiae's side Plunge with his torch into the glassy tide; As the boy swam the sparks of mischief flew And fell in showers upon the liquid blue; Hence all who venture on that shore to lave Emerge love-stricken from the treacherous wave. I was disappointed with the country, which is bare and uninteresting; but the line of coast, with the various bays and promontories and the circumjacent islands, is extremely agreeable, and the Bay of Baiae, with the Temple of Venus, delightful. The Temple of Mercury is also worth seeing. The Cave of the Sybil, Lake Avernus, and Temple of Apollo are not worth seeing, but as they are celebrated by Virgil they must be visited, though the embellishments of Virgil's imagination and the lapse of time have made disappointment inevitable. Nature indeed no longer presents the same aspect; for there is a mountain more (Monte Nuovo) and a wood less about the lake than in Virgil's time. We found two ridiculous parties there, one English, the other French, the latter the most numerous and chattering, and mounted on asses, so as to make a long cavalcade. There was a fat old gentleman just coming puffing out of the cave, and calling with delight to his ladies, 'Ah, mesdames, êtes-vous noires?' as they certainly were, for all one gets in the cave is a blackened face from the torches. There was another gaunt figure of the party in a fur cap, who was playing the flute-- His reedy pipe with music fills, To charm the God who loves the hills And rich Arcadian scenery. We landed from our boat in various places, but declined going down the Cento Camerelle to have a second face-blackening. All the ruins, said to be of Caesar's and Marius's Villas, Agrippina's Tomb, Caligula's Bridge, &c., may be anything; they are nothing but shapeless fragments, only on a rock I saw a bit of marble or stucco in what they call Caesar's Villa. The Stygian Lake presented no horrors, nor the Elysian Fields any delights; the former is a great round piece of water, and the latter are very common-looking vineyards. When well wooded, which in the time of the Romans it was, this coast must have been a most delicious and luxurious retreat, so sequestered and sheltered, such a calm sea, and soft breezes. Mira quies pelagi; ponunt hic lassa furorem Aequora, et insani spirant clementius Austri.