Naples.--Portici.--The King’s Pagliaro and Garden.--Description of
that pleasant spot.
Naples, July 8th, 1782.
The sea-breezes restore me to life. I set the heat of mid-day at
defiance, and do not believe in the horrors of the sirocco. I passed
yesterday at Portici, with Lady H. The morning, refreshing and pleasant,
invited us at an early hour into the open air. We drove, in an uncovered
chaise, to the royal Bosquetto: no other unroyal carriage except Sir
W.’s being allowed to enter its alleys, we breathed a fresh air,
untainted by dust or garlick. Every now and then, amidst wild bushes of
ilex and myrtle, one finds a graceful antique statue, sometimes a
fountain, and often a rude knoll, where the rabbits sit undisturbed,
contemplating the blue glittering bay.
The walls of this shady inclosure are lined with Peruvian aloes, whose
white blossoms, scented like those of the magnolia, form the most
magnificent clusters. They are plants to salute respectfully as one
passes by; such is their size and dignity. In the midst of the thickets
stands the King’s Pagliaro, in a small garden, with hedges of luxuriant
jasmine, whose branches are suffered to flaunt as much as nature
pleases.
The morning sun darted his first rays on their flowers just as I entered
this pleasant spot. The hut looks as if erected in the days of fairy
pastoral life; its neatness is quite delightful. Bright tiles compose
the floor; straw, nicely platted, covers the walls. In the middle of the
room you see a table spread with a beautiful Persian carpet; at one end,
four niches with mattresses of silk, where the King and his favourites
repose after dinner; at the other, a white marble basin. Mount a little
staircase, and you find yourself in another apartment, formed by the
roof, which being entirely composed of glistening straw, casts that
comfortable yellow glow I admire. From the windows you look into the
garden, not flourished over with parterres, but divided into plats of
fragrant herbs and flowers, with here and there a little marble table,
or basin of the purest water.
These sequestered inclosures are cultivated with the greatest care, and
so frequently watered, that I observed lettuces, and a variety of other
vegetables, as fresh as in our green England.