text:  Floating on the waters which form the most lovely of all foregrounds a vast sheet of crystal a boundless mirror a tissue of purple or any other of the fanciful names which the various hues and aspects of the hour give to this renowned bay the view comprehends the city the surrounding country Posilipo on the left Vesuvius on the right and between them a region of vineyards and vegetation as poetic and luxuriant as poet or painter could desire