Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 12.djvu/374

348 anteroom, which was next to our apartment, and cool, airy, and agreeable from its many balconies.

We amused ourselves with the endless variety of views, and endeavoured to sketch them, one by one, in pencil or in colours; for here the eye fell upon a plentiful harvest for the artist.

In the evening the lovely moonlight attracted us once more to the roadstead, and even after our return riveted us for some time on the balcony. The light was peculiar, the repose and loveliness of the scene were extreme.

Our first business was to examine the city, which is easy enough to survey, but difficult to know; easy, because a street a mile long from the lower to the upper gate, from the sea to the mountain, intersects it, and is itself again crossed, nearly in its middle, by another. Whatever lies on these two great lines is easily found; but in the inner streets a stranger soon loses himself, and, without a guide, will never extricate himself from their labyrinths.

Toward evening our attention was directed to the long line of carriages (of the well-known build) in which the principal persons of the neighbourhood were taking their evening drive from the city to the beach, for the sake of the fresh air, amusement, and perhaps also for intrigue.

It was full moon about two hours before midnight, and the evening was in consequence indescribably glorious. The northerly position of Palermo produces a very strange effect: as the city and shore come between the sun and the harbour, its reflection is never observed on the waves. On this account, though this was one of the brightest days, I found the sea of a deep blue colour, solemn, and oppressive; whereas, at Naples, from the time of noon it gets brighter and