ABSTRACT
I entered the city of Palermo under the impression of various sensations. It stands in a rich and romantic country, and has a commanding view of the Mediterranean sea. It is regarded as the capital of the island; and Don Carlos was crowned here in the year 1735. Nine years before, a great part of the town had been destroyed by an earthquake: many of the streets had been rebuilt: and many still remained in the mournful and dilapidated state to which that calamity had reduced them. The castle, which is also the prison, has a commanding and a solemn aspect, and frowns in the midst of the strangely mingled scene of prosperity and / devastation which the city exhibits. I took a cursory survey of the whole; but my attention was riveted on the castle, whose walls inclosed the lately blooming and animated youth whom I had come thus far to seek.
