Hester Lynch Piozzi

Excerpt from Observations and Reflections Made in the Course of a Journey Through France, Italy, and Germany, Vol. 2 of 2
The weather was quiet then, and we had no notion of passing such a horrible night; but an hour after dark, a storm came on, which was really dreadful to endure; or even look upon: the blue lightning, whose colour shewed the nature of the original minerals from which she drew her existence, shone round us in a broad expanse from time to time, and sudden darkness followed n an instant: no object then but the fiery river could be seen, till another flash discovered the waves tossing and breaking, at a height I never saw before.
Nothing sure was ever more sublime or awful than our entrance into Naples at the dead hour we arrived, when not a whisper was to be heard in the streets, and not a glimpse of light was left to guide us, except the small lap hung now and then at a high window before a favourite image of the Virgin.

Observations and Reflections Made in the Course of a Journey through France, Italy, and Germany, Vol. 2 (of 2)