A Cabinet Secret

The city itself, climbing a hillside almost at the water’s edge, was painted pale pink at sunset, and even the old Vesuvius, from the top of which a thin column of black smoke seemed a little less gloomy than usual. Because of heaven, the sky was a mass of golden and raspberry-colored, and this was reflected in the calm waters of the bay until the whole world turned into a real radiance. The evening could hardly be desired. And yet this is not the city, mountain or sunset that we must make,...