CHAPTER 1.V.
Quello Ippogifo, grande e strano augello Lo porta via.
"Orlando Furioso," c.vi.

xviii.
(That hippogriff, great and marvellous bird, bears him away.) And now, accompanying this mysterious Zanoni, am I compelled to bid a short farewell to Naples.

Mount behind me,--mount on my hippogriff, reader; settle yourself at your ease.

I bought the pillion the other day of a poet who loves his comfort; it has been newly stuffed for your special accommodation.

So, so, we ascend! Look as we ride aloft,--look!--never fear, hippogriffs never stumble; and every hippogriff in Italy is warranted to carry elderly gentlemen,--look down on the gliding landscapes! There, near the ruins of the Oscan's old Atella, rises Aversa, once the stronghold of the Norman; there gleam the columns of Capua, above the Vulturnian Stream.