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WIDENER
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Ital. 2015.8.5


HARVARD COLLEGE
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THE
HERMIT IN ITALY.





THE
HERMIT IN ITALY,
OR
Author of
OBSERVATIONS
ON THE
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS
OF
ITALY;
BEING A CONTINUATION
OF THE
SKETCHES OF FRENCH MANNERS,
BY
M. DE JOUY,
"L'Hermite en Prison," "L'Hermite de la
Chaussée d'Antin," &c.
IN THREE VOLS.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR GEO. B. WHITTAKER,
AVE MARIA LANE.
1825.


Ital, 2015, 8.5
MARYARD COLLEGE LIBRARY
THE GIFT OF
FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY
#Xef 20 1939
(3
LONDON
PRINTED BY COX AND BAYLIS, GREAT QUEEN STREET.


ADVERTISEMENT.
IN offering these volumes to English
readers, the translator feels it his duty
to state, that he has taken very consider-
able liberties with the original text. In
any other work, except a book of tra-
vels, such a liberty would be inexcus-
able; in the present case there are
reasons which not only excuse it, but
even render it necessary. Since the
period when the Hermit was in Italy,
a 3


vi
many important changes have taken
place in the political relations of that
country; and it has been thought pro-
per to omit some passages and insert
others relating to such changes. The
translator has likewise been very free
with several other portions of the French
work, abridging whatever appeared too
diffuse, and adding to such notices as
were obscure from their brevity; but
in no case, he trusts, so as to injure
or impair its value. Having resided
a long time in Italy, and being fa-
miliar with all the scenes and objects
spoken of by the Hermit, he has en-
1


vii
deavoured, whenever it appeared re-
quisite, to supply any deficiency, and
to correct any mistakes.





THE
Doble to
HERMIT IN ITALY.
N° I.
DEPARTURE FROM PARIS.
Amans, heureux amans, voulez-vous voyager?
Que ce soit aux rives prochaines.
-
LA FONTAINE.
ITALY!-what a strange journey! what a
delightful anticipation for him whose heart
swells with the recollections of Latium,—
whose imagination once more revives the
enamelled meads, the laughing hills, and the
refreshing groves of that old Ausonia, which
has never lived for him but in the description
of her poets, the charm, and sometimes the
despair of his youthful days.
VOL. I.
B


2
DEPARTURE FROM PARIS.
I quit Paris in the month of October, in a
Vélocifère; the driver dashes briskly along
the muddy streets of the capital; the horn of
the conducteur calls the good people of Paris
to gaze at the flying vehicle, which retains its
speed until we arrive at the barrière of Cha-
renton, when the horses relapse into their
habitual pace: their quiet movement suits
the repose which the lungs of the conducteur
require after his exertions on the horn, and
every thing subsides into the tranquillity of
those lumbering vehicles which are usually
called Diligences.
There are five companions in the carriage;
young, good-natured, most of them soldiers,
and, like myself, bound for the Alps. Not a
woman amongst us. We notice this with a
chagrin which soon dissipates our mirth; but
after the first salutations are over, we talk,
sing, or sleep.
The renewed trot, and the shrill note of
the horn, tell us that we are entering into a
village or town. Such are the instructions of
It is scarcely necessary to inform the reader, that this is
one of the names given to the improved French Diligence.


DEPARTURE FROM PARIS.
3
our terrestrial Phaeton. Throw dust-the
proverb runs-into the eyes of the world;
but here it is-din the ears with noise, and
let those be deaf who can.
At Essonne, a placard, fixed on the gate of
the burial-ground, announces the sale of the
turf which covers the field of repose. How
many souls, seen in the microscope of Pytha-
goras, does the scythe of the auctioneer gather
in anew! Not one of us thought of raising
the bidding, for it appeared perfectly just that
the inhabitant of this place should rest in the
peaceable enjoyment of a sod of which his
ancestors have nourished the roots.
A little further on, and we arrive at a
larger town. The horses are spurred on by
the sound of the horn and the cracking of the
whip to a more rapid pace; and our diligence,
rivalling the Post itself, outstrips all other
vehicles, or comes up with them at Fontaine-
bleau. I observe and admire the wide, regu-
lar, and neat streets of this town, situated
upon a rising ground. We pass, on our left,
the palace founded by Louis VII., under whom
the French poets arose, at the time the Trou-
vères, or Troubadours, appeared in Provence.
B 2


4
DEPARTURE FROM PARIS.
Finished by Francis I., who made it a resi-
dence worthy of kings, it was in this palace
that Henry III. saw the light; here also,
thirty years ago, might be seen the bloody
stains of the murderer of Christina of Sweden.
This palace, which had fallen into ruins dur-
ing the revolution, was repaired under the
intermediate government.
Nemours we passed through at night. This
town is built on the ruins of Grex, men
tioned by Cæsar. It is the native place of
Hédalin the lawyer, who afterwards turned
ecclesiastic, and became Abbé d'Aubignac.
He was the author of Zénobia, which has long
since fallen into the river Lethe, whose pre-
siding deity possesses a library more extensive
than all the libraries of the civilized world
united.
We arrive at Montargis too late in the even-
ing to make any observations. One of my tra-
velling companions recalled to my recollec-
tion the celebrity which a Madame Guyon,
who was born at Montargis in 1648, obtain-
ed throughout Europe. Left a widow in
early youth, and devoted to spiritual things,
she gave up her wealth to her children, and


DEPARTURE FROM PARIS.
5
set about disseminating her tenets. She put
Bossuet in opposition to Fénélon, and took
pleasure in denominating him her son. Con-
fined, afterwards set at liberty through the
interest of Madame de Maintenon, who aban-
doned her, as soon as she saw her doctrines
making their way at Saint Cyr: conducted
to Vincennes and to the Bastille, she left it
but to terminate her eventful career at Blois,
where she died in 1717.
As we drew near Cone, we were awakened
by the noise of a quarrel betwixt the con-
ducteur and the postilion, who, after nearly
overturning us, placed his whole defence in
three or four oaths, that far exceeded in ex-
pressiveness those of Vert-Vert. We discerned
the Loire running from the Vivarais in exten-
sive circuits, enriching and fertilizing the
most beautiful provinces of France, which it
too often desolates by its inundations.
Cone, which suffered so much in the civil
wars of the sixteenth century, is a small town
of which the cutlery begins to acquire fame,
though far inferior to the more finished
manufactures of Moulins.
We continue to have the Loire within
B 3


6
DEPARTURE FROM PARIS.
view, and already behold, in the tracts which it
waters, the countrymen carrying long sharp-
ened poles, with which they goad their oxen,
as the Roman labourers did in the time of
Virgil, completing slowly the laborious fur-
rows. This sight carried me back to the happy
era of the Bucolics, and I already beheld
in imagination those Italian plains embel-
lished by the richest cultivation; and the end
of my journey was thereby brought nearer to
me.
We pass through La Charité, which the
Protestants mastered, in the sixteenth cen-
tury; surmounting the walls by means of well-
ropes, with which some of the inhabitants
drew them out of the fosse. Already I think
I can hear the joiner of Nevers-not the
sound of his plane, but the ingenious notes of
his lyre.
All hail, Master Adam! Art never made
thee a poet.* Thy light mallet kept pace
with the movement of thy verses, and yet
never beat out their good sense. Thy works,†
*Poeta nascitur, non fit.
+ Le Rabot, Les Chevilles, Le Vilebrequin.


DEPARTURE FROM PARIS.
7
"The Plane," "The Pegs," "The Gimlet,"
will for ever associate thy glorious surname of
Virgil with the plane. In thy hands, and
under thy pen, even pegs have become the
materials of poetry.
Nevers, although rather dull and ill-paved,
contains in its narrow and crooked streets
some pretty females. The hotel de l'Image
was graced with one of them, whose smiling
face, combined with the hour of supper, pro-
mised to make our stay pleasant, and yet both
of them could not prevent us from visiting
the theatre.
Adieu, master Adam! adieu, Jacques de
Marigny whilst your works entertain the
tenants of the chimney-corner, we roll on,
each in a corner of the coach; we advance
towards other climes, and already the dusky
town of Moulins offers to our view its steeples
and its edifices. Clouds of smoke rise above
the forges lighted by the cutlers. Some of
the streets are wide, and some of the build-
ings regular; but before they can be reached,
one must pass several narrow, winding, mi-
serable lanes, entirely paved with pebbles.
Moulins, so called on account of a number of
8
!
B 4


8
DEPARTURE FROM PARIS.
mills that stood near it in former times, and
heretofore famous for its seven elections, gave
birth within its walls to Jean de Lingendes, a
sentimental poet; Gilbert Gaulium, who com-
posed an Iphigenia before Racine, and pub-
lished a translation from the Greek of the
Loves of Ismenia and Ismenias. This town
even gave birth to a sophist, named Claude
Bérigard; and to Nicholas Delarue, first phy-
sician of the Queen de Medicis. These gen-
tlemen, without belonging to any of the seven
electoral chambers of the town, nevertheless
flourished in their time. As to the modern
great men of Moulins, we refer to Palissot
for the catalogue.
The women who sell knives are sure to
present themselves punctually, on the arrival
of the coaches, box in hand, which they open
with great show, and whose wonderful con-
tents they most eloquently describe. Whether
you buy or not, they at least teach you the
perfection, excellence, and fine quality of their
wares. I pleased myself, however, in observ-
ing the straw bonnets, with deep brims in
front and behind, of the elegant cutlers, or
else their black mantles, descending below
the waist.


DEPARTURE FROM PARIS.
9
Whilst they were putting to the horses, the
young man, who had reminded me at Mon-
targis of the history of Madame Guyon, pro-
posed that we should visit the tomb of Phi-
lip II., Duke of Montmorency, beheaded at Tou-
louse during the ministry of Cardinal Riche-
lieu. "It appears to me," said he, in walking
along the Rue de Paris, "that this is your
first journey to Lyons."-"Yes, Sir."—"Then
you are not acquainted with the very recent
history of the Lucretia of Moulins?"-" No,
Sir."-" In that case, you will do well to en-
rich your memorandum-book with it. We have
here an inn-keeper, Madame Painpart, whose
virtue is highly respected throughout the Bour-
bonnais. Remark, that you are now exactly
opposite her inn, and you can see her giving
her orders to her household." I saw before
me a stout and well-made young brunette,
whose exterior reminded me of the heroine of
Domremy. "Image to yourself," continued
he, "that one of the customers at her table,
drunk with love and wine, having one night
introduced himself to her chamber, began to
aci, in the most audacious manner, the part
of Tarquin; Madame Painpart seizes a flam-
B 5


10
DEPARTURE FROM PARIS.
beau, sets fire to her curtains, and, in the
midst of a cloud of smoke and flame, gives
the insolent traveller a vigorous blow with
her hand, who escapes in the midst of the
uproar. Was it not perfectly right to deno-
minate Madame Painpart the Lucretia of
Moulins?" In the mean time we came in
front of the Lyceum, and obtained permis-
sion to enter the chapel in which is placed
the monument that Girardon * raised to the
Duke of Montmorency. The tomb is of black
and the figures of white marble. The
Fate, Hercules reclined on a lion's skin, and
Fame, are highly esteemed, and appeared to
me to possess great beauty. I remarked on one
of the figures, the traces of a sharp instrument.
When I testified my surprise at this, my com-
plaisant companion informed me how the
monument had been preserved at the com-
mencement of the revolution, from the fury
of the Marseillese army. "But," said he to
me, "time presses; we can chat as well
while we are walking. A townsman of Mou-
lins," he continued, "preserved this object
* Born at Troyes in 1627, died 1698.


DEPARTURE FROM PARIS.
11
of art by a happy presence of mind. Its
destruction was resolved upon already the
marble was flying into shivers beneath the
hatchet, when he advances, and exclaims,
Do you
'What are you about, citizens?
not know that Montmorency was a good
patriot; that he was condemned to death
only for having conspired against the tyrant
Louis XIII.?' As soon as he pronounced
these words, the monument, but for its weight,
would have been borne in triumph."
Not desiring to remain behind-hand in in-
formation with my conversing friend, "It
was thus," I said to him, "that, at Paris,
the magnificent pavement of the Invalides
was preserved; the destroyers were given
to understand that there the Lilies were in
their proper place, since the worthy republi-
cans could trample them under foot."
We reached the coach in the midst of a
hedge-row of the women offering cutlery, and
set off in the direction of La Palisse.
The sight of the mountains of La Marche
and of L'Auvergne prepares the eye for that
of the Alps. The vallies begin to appear;
and the mountains, crowned with forests of
B 6


12
DEPARTURE FROM PARIS.
brown pine, flanked by rocks of granite,
already rise to the clouds. The ploughed
lands are of a reddish hue; the numerous
hogs are covered with black hair. The wo-
men, as pretty as those of Nevers, with their
white teeth, spin flax with the spindle. We
pass over a bridge built of the granite of the
country.
The numerous crosses set up in the dif-
ferent districts that we visit, are multiplied on
the road to Rouanne, an ancient town of the
lower Forez. It is built on the Loire, which
here begins to be navigable for boats. Rou-
anne is the ancient Rodanna of Ptolemy, who
mentions it as one of the chief places of the
Regusi, a people of Celtic or Lyonnese Gaul.
This place contains nothing remarkable; the
paved road continues to be as bad as it was
in the Bourbonnais.
During three hours, in the morning, we
were ascending and descending the road cut
through rocks and woods.
We had felt, at Rouanne, a gentle breath-
ing of autumn; but at the Tarare the frost,
which whitened the tops of the pines, the
oaks, and the birch-trees, as well as the


DEPARTURE FROM PARIS.
13
banks of the torrent, chilled us in the car-
riage, and obliged us to seek for warmth by
threading on foot the winding paths which
shorten the road and gratify curiosity. The
lover of savage scenery here begins to taste
the pleasures which he anticipates from
the Alps. He perceives, by turns, the moun-
tain-tops bare or wooded, variegated with
cascades and precipices. He hears the roar-
ing of the waters which roll beneath his feet;
and the cry of the crow, or the buzzard, as
they wing along the "midway air." Whether
he descend or ascend, he experiences the dif-
ficulty of an uncertain step over pebbles, in
the mud, or rolling sands, and is often obliged
to catch hold of the branches to prevent him-
self from falling.
We followed different paths in descending
the Tarare. One of our comrades left us for
two hours; we thought he had lost his way,
and made the mountains echo with our cries,
till at last we found him again on the road in
which all the by-paths terminate. He gave
us an amusing account of a peasant who had
taken fright and fled precipitately from his
fur cap, moustaches, and long military cloak.
1


14
DEPARTURE FROM PARIS.
After quitting the mountain, we saw before
us and upon each side, others-which looked
like children of the Alps-bound to the parent
chain by a few scattered links. The greater
part of these smaller mountains are under
some degree of cultivation, for as yet the
level spots are extremely rare.
On a sudden we arrived at the Breuneg,
and discovered from its top other heights
covered with dark pines, and vallies spotted
with grey hamlets. The general aspect of
the country was diversified by the numerous
peculiarities of wild and romantic scenery.
I stood, spite of myself, for some time in con-
templation, and was only roused by the ap-
proach of the Diligence, which fortunately
had taken a longer circuit. After having
made five leagues on foot, we found the three
hours repose in the carriage before we arrived
at Lyons, very acceptable.


No II.
LYONS.
Ludus animo debet aliquando dari,
Ad cogitandum melior, ut redeat tibi.
PHÆDRUS.
It would be a difficult attempt to describe
the feelings of a man who beholds for the first
time a chain of lofty mountains. Their hoary
tops, as if to testify the old age of the world,
glitter in the horizon like a circle of light.
Placed by nature to mark out the boundaries
of empires, they defy the power of time,
though they cannot triumph over the ambi-
tion of man. The sight of them opens a
vast field for meditation: and yet, I know
not how it is, that something sad and gloomy
weighs down the wings of imagination. Re-
suming my seat in the carriage, still I did not
withdraw my eyes from the summits of the
Alps. It was almost painful to turn for a
H


16
LYONS.
moment to some ruins of Roman antiquity
which bordered the road-the dumb relics
which an idle curiosity still venerates upon
the soil of the Gauls, as if they proved any
thing else than the melancholy truth, that our
ancestors were once the slaves of the imperial
republic. Night had cast her shadows over the
plain when we passed, as we entered the town,
under the threatening precipices of Pierre-
Scise, which was crumbling before the labours
of the miner, and had already obstructed part
of the road with its fragments. My only busi-
ness for that night was to take care of my lug-
gage, and secure apartments at the Hotel
du Parc.
If we were to form an idea of a town from
the excellence of its inus, I confess that I
should have remained a fortnight at Lyons, on
account of the comfortable character of the
Hôtel du Parc. Besides, the evening I passed
there was no way useless to me as an observer,
and an unexpected visit I received induced
me to remain for two days longer. M. de
Thiard, one of those respectable deputies who
sit on the left side of the French Chamber,
had been sent into a disgraceful exile by


LYONS.
17
Napoleon, and was then residing at a beautiful
estate in the vicinity. Happy are they whose
imprisonment and exile are of such a sort. It
was his nephew, M. de Truchy, who came to
pay me a visit. I had known him at Paris,
and seeing my name in the list of passengers,
he followed me to the hotel. As my letters
were for Italy only, his visit was an agreeable
and unlooked-for incident, and yet I could not
be persuaded to sup with some of his rela-
tions, and compelled him to remain with me,
and enjoy the curious and amusing conversa-
tion of a table d'hôte.
Whilst we were talking, I heard a knock at
the door, and on opening it, a female of a
certain age, with a mysterious air, solicited a
moment's private conversation. I told her to
speak-when she delivered to me a note with
my address, and after requesting payment for
her mission, she departed. What that note
contained the reader may hereafter learn,
but at present he had better not indulge in
conjecture, for fear of being deceived.
Considerably fatigued, I was very glad to
defer for one day my visit to the curiosities of
Lyons. The servant came to me at ten to say


18
LYONS.
that supper was ready. At first the company
was rather silent, but it afterwards became
more conversible. There was at table the
wife of an actor of the theatre of the Célestins.
She began by demanding greater haste in the
supper, as her husband, who was to play
George Dandin in the farce, was in the habit
of finding her at home before him. This con-
jugal exactness pleased me the more, when
at a quarter before eleven I saw her quit the
table before the dessert, and leave the room.
A minute or two afterwards a young trades-
man did the same, and excused himself on the
ground that a later return home would alarm
his family. This twofold instance of punctu-
ality gave me, I confess, a very high opinion
of the morals of Lyons, notwithstanding the
letter I had received.
The next day I set out with M. de Truchy
to perambulate the town. Lyons is about half
way between a capital and a provincial town.
Its situation at the junction of the Saone,
which here espouses its quiet current with
the angry waters of the Rhone, is delightful;
yet, after all, it is but a poor place. The
streets are narrow, crooked, and paved with


LYONS.
19
small sharp stones. In 1811, the disasters of
its too memorable siege were not yet effaced,
nor are they entirely so at the present day.
Here the genius of trade reigns supreme; the
greater part of a population of 120,000 per-
sons, subsists from the various manufactures
which are carried on here.
In walking along the quays, which no one
should omit visiting, we have the imposing
view of a large and rapid river, splendid
hotels, and ranks of lofty houses. These
quays, part of which are planted with trees,
form the most interesting promenade of the
city. There is another promenade open to
the public on the Place des Terreaux, in front
of the Hotel de Ville. The pavements of the
quays are broad, though those of the streets
are generally narrow, and hardly admit of
two persons abreast.
We visited the Museum, where Révoil, one
of the most eminent painters of the Lyonese
school, was then engaged on his picture-the
Interview of Francis I. and Charles V. One
of the librarians of the town gave me some
curious information on the antiquity of the
city of Lyons. It was founded by Lucius


20
LYONS.
Numatius Plaucus (in the year 712 of Rome,
forty-one years before the Christian era,) on
the hill Lugdun, at present called Fourvières.
Though founded by a Roman colony, it took its
name from the Gaulish word Lugdun, which
signifies-hill of the raven. Its earliest inha-
bitants were Romans, and the remains of Ro-
man buildings and monuments are still to be
met with. Sixty tribes of the Gauls erected a
temple here to the glory of Augustus. The
Emperor Claudius, son of Drusus, and nephew
of Tiberius, was born at Lyons, and his birth
confers no honour on the capital of Celtic
Gaul.
Charlatans and mountebanks are numerous
in the streets and barracks of Lyons. I saw a
woman, who for three halfpence exhibited
herself with a long beard on her chin, which
she offered to the examination of the curious.
There was no appearance of trick about it,
and she screamed with pain when any part of
the beard was smartly pulled.
It was on the 29th of October that I left
Lyons, in a diligence, for Turin. There are
no Vélocifères on this part of the route. It re-
quires four days and a half to make this jour-


LYONS.
21
ney. Thus we do not sleep at night in the
inn; so much the worse for us, say the inn-
keepers, as the beds are prepared; so much
the better for them, for we are obliged to pay
for both supper and beds. Yet even this might
pass, if the supper were good and the sheets
clean; but when I saw the napkins at table,
I felt no desire to try the sheets on the beds
which had been got ready for us.
At Bourgoin the women wear a small round
straw hat, trimmed in the Lyonese way. They
have corsets of red, and short petticoats of
blue, or else the colours are reversed. This
spruce dress, however, does not give a better
shape to the leg of those who ought to con-
ceal it.
Our way was constantly up-hill, for the road
to Turin runs along a succession of ascents
disposed in the form of amphitheatres. Al-
ready we began to catch a glimpse of the
mountain tops-the vallies enlarged into more
distinct forms-the torrents tumbled with a
dashing noise. We were approaching the
frontiers of old France. Here and there, on
the edges of the precipices, we saw the cot-
tages hanging as it were in the air. The


22
LYONS.
river Dhire hollows out the vallies in the
bosom of the mountains which separate
France from Savoy.
Arriving at the base of the Bugey the road
narrows itself, and winds amongst the nu- .
merous and iron-bound rocks.
We are
startled by the waters dashing from those
vast reservoirs which time has collected and
replenished in the Alps. Grey rocks, sprinkled
with chestnut trees and alpine plants, are
thrown into the shape of immense walls. The
road becomes still more narrow and difficult,
and is crossed by the foaming streams of the
cascades, which leap along to bury themselves
in the dark gulphs on our right. And yet
these horrible places are inhabited. We meet
with human beings-but pale,,livid, and appa-
rently half-famished. Children-mendicants
in tatters-drag themselves slowly along the
road, and solicit our compassion. One young
girl was guarding two white she-goats,
which she quitted at the approach of our car-
riage. The poor thing, only half covered
with patches, and yellow in the face, screamed
out in the most dolorous whine for almıs.
Marmontel was certainly much luckier than


LYONS.
23
we were, in his passage over the Alps: we
could not find any trace of his innocent and
beautiful shepherdess.
Our course was very slow amongst this
immense assemblage of matter, which seemed
the brute remnants of the original elements of
the globe. The road is cut along the slopes
of the mountains, and though high above the
abysses which murmured from below, yet
even far higher up we saw the rocks, covered
with brushwood and pines, and watered by
the torrents, rear their peaks into the skies.
The alarm of the traveller, as he looks down
into the chasms beneath, is somewhat quieted
by the palisades, which are built on the edge
of the road. Sometimes this protection is
omitted, and then the skittishness of the
horses, the relaxing of the reins, the meeting
with other carriages, withdraw the eyes of
the traveller from the romantic views around
him, to the contemplation of immediate dan-
ger.
In one place, the rocks form a half-vault
over the road; the upper parts, humid with
the dropping of mists and dews, seem ready
to separate, and threaten to overwhelm the


24
LYONS.
passenger in their ruins. At another place
the cries of large grey birds re-echo through
the crevices; the eagle wheels round, and
soars above the loftiest heights into the re-
gions of the sun. The birds of prey, suspended
in the air, fix upon their victims, and drop
suddenly upon them with the rapidity and
straightness of an arrow. It is like toiling
through the ruins of a perished world. This
vast solitude, whose heights alone are illumi-
nated by the sun's beams, is broken by no
other sounds than the tumbling of waterfalls
and the screams of animals as savage as their
haunts. The contemplation of such a spec-
tacle excites a mixed feeling of dread and
wonder, which chills and at the same time
expands the soul. Scarcely do we escape
from one mountain, when we are obliged to
toil up another still more steep and difficult.
And thus, during the four days travelling from
Lyons to Turin, do they succeed each other.
From the Tarare to Mont-Cenis is one conti-
nual march from steep to steep. The Alps be-
gin on the Mediterranean side, near Monaco,
between Genoa and Nice; they end at the Gulf
of Carnero, which forms part of that of Venice.


LYONS.
25
On reaching Mont Châles, the frightful, and
yet not unpleasing appearance of the moun-
tains, assumes a more decided character.
The rocks, threatening and enormous, look
like portions of the world, listening to the
roar of the torrents, which seem by their
thunders to proclaim the grandeur and an-
tiquity of these proud rivals of the clouds.
Through this terrific and imposing chaos, we
catch glimpses of cottages, surrounded by
patches of cultivated ground. Low hedges
enclose a sort of miserable orchard, and every
thing wears the look of wretchedness and
poverty. The mountain streams work their
way through the black and charred rocks, and
leave a gaping chasm, the edges of which are
bordered with a few scattered and stunted
trees. At one glance, we behold snow, ste-
rility, and verdure. This dramatic prospect
awakens reflection, melancholy, and even
sadness. I do not blush to say, that my
feelings led me into a train of romantic senti-
mentality, and descending from the carriage,
separated from my companions, I repeated
"the one loved name" to the rugged soli-
tudes, and could scarcely refrain from tears.
VOL I.
с


26
LYONS.
But, after all, what is there in these moun-
tains, but the same chaos of ruin which the
moral and physical world every where pre-
sents? A few years, perhaps a few days, and
I myself shall be no more.
We arrive next at the foot of the Echelles,
in the department of Montblanc. This moun-
tain was so named, because, in former times,
the path-cut through a hollow which it was
necessary to pass-presented nothing but a
series of steps, like the ladder of a mill. This
rude, but laboriously constructed passage,
was probably the work of the Romans. In
1670, Charles Emmanuel II. Duke of Savoy,
made, at the side of this Roman work, a road
which was passable, though with much diffi-
culty, to beasts of burthen and carriages. The
industry and genius of the people, have so
improved and facilitated this route, that the
heaviest laden vehicles pass over the Echelles
with comparative ease. The general width is
about that of one carriage and a half, but in
some places, two may pass without fear: near
the middle of this road, and over the old
passage of the cavern, which is no longer
travelled, is the following inscription :


LYONS.
27
CAROLUS EMMANUEL II.
Sabaudæ dux, Pedem. princ. Cypri rex,
Publicâ felicitate partâ, singulorum commodis intentus,
Breviorem securioremque viam regiam,
A naturâ occultam, Romanis intentatam, cæteris desperatam,
Dejectis scopulorum repagulis, æquatâ montium iniquitate,
Quæ corvicibus imminebant, pedibus præcipitia substernens,
Æternis populorum commerciis patefecit.
Anno M.D.C.LXX.
2
During the times of the revolution this in-
scription was partially defaced: but in the
printed papers which women on the spot
distribute to travellers for a trifle, it is
preserved as given above. These papers
contain the inscription, a translation, and
various extracts from the volumes of Coyer,
Richard, Lalande, and other writers on
this pass of the Echelles, to which they give
the name of Thermopylæ. The inscription
itself is the production of the Abbé St. Réal.
The reader will not withhold his praise from
Emmanuel II. With less power, and fewer re-
sources than the Romans, he has outstripped
them in the extent and usefulness of his work.
But he, in his turn, has been excelled by my
countrymen. It is our engineers who have
c 2


28
LYONS.
thrown open to the world the free passage of
the Alps.
In order to mount this long and steep
ascent, it was necessary that several pair of
oxen should be yoked to the diligence. The
rocks on each side are more than a hundred
feet high, and form a kind of gloomy echoing
street. The slightest noise reverberates with
a hollow sound through the passage. There
the sun never comes to cheer the traveller,
and the chill air comes upon him at every
turn with a rushing force, which sometimes
nearly overwhelms him. Now and then, whilst
we were toiling through this gulph, the
sound of blasting rocks burst upon us from
a distance, with a thousand echos, and then
rolled away like the dying murmurs of thun-
der. The silence is often broken by the
hammering of the labourers who are at work
upon the road. It is the labour of a year to
make eight or nine hundred feet.
After passing over the most difficult of
these mountain routes, we approached a small
house, with a scanty enclosure, and a wood
to the right. The Savoyards were beating


LYONS.
29
down the fruit from the scattered trees which
surround their solitary cabins. Small cars on
low wheels, and drawn by famished oxen,
covered the road; and a half-ruined mill, in
a cleft of the mountain, and turned by the
waters of a cascade, added a little to the hu-
manity of the place.


No III.
⠀⠀ CHAMBÉRI.
Quanto più siamo uomini dabbene; tanto più ci costa il sos-
pettar gli altri di non essere tali.
GUICCIARDINI.
AMIDST the murmurs of streams, torrents,
and cascades, and with the distant view of a
region whose animation foretels the proximity
of a town, we enter into the ancient capital
of Savoy. Chambéri is the chief town of the
department of Montblanc, and contains a
population of from ten to twelve thousand
inhabitants. What is there to be seen in
Chambéri? Nothing: unless we consider it
the ancient capital of the Allobrogi. Had not
Rousseau dated some of his letters from this
place-had not the name of Chambéri been
written so often in his Confessions-it could
not now have excited the least portion of that
interest which every traveller feels in enter-
11


CHAMBÉRI.
31
ing within its walls. Perhaps, however, the
poverty-the laborious, simple, and religious
habits of the people are not without their
effect. In all other respects Chambéri pre-
sents a view sufficiently unpleasant: streets
narrow, winding, rugged, and in moist sea-
sous filled with a black mud; houses covered
with slate, ill built, old windows glazed in
leaden frames; contracted squares; a few old
galleries of stone, whose low vaults protect
the quidnuncs, and passengers from the
rain-these are the leading features of Cham-
béri. The theatre has nothing remarkable
about it except its size, which exactly suits
the very small number of persons who form
its audience. The public fountains are suffi-
ciently numerous, though, considering the
abundance of water running down from the
mountains, and the dirtiness of the streets, a
more copious supply of that cleansing fluid
might be expected. The promenades are not
without beauty; one may walk round the
town through rows of pleasant trees. There
are in this walk the ancient palace of the
Dukes of Savoy, which in the course of a few
years will cease to exist, except in ruins.


32
CHAMBÉRI.
In this town we passed the night, and as
the comedians had departed a few days before
our arrival, I occupied myself at home by.
examining the turnspit of the inn where we
stopped. The mechanism of this instrument,
though not complicated, deserves the atten-
tion of every traveller. I do not recollect
ever having seen any of the same kind in
France. It is a kind of Chinese parasol, or
rather a widened cone, fixed in the chimney
at the height of six feet and inverted, which
is turned by the force of the ascending smoke.
It communicates its motion to the other parts
of the machine, so that without any other
aid or spring the different meats are roasted
alike.
At Chambéri, the females have for a long
time adopted the French fashions, which they
imitate with as much taste and elegance as
the poverty of the country will permit. Ex-
cept amongst the lower classes, the French
language is generally spoken. The middle
and lower orders are as virtuous as any in
Europe. It is at Chambéri that we first meet
with the cultivation of silk, which forms so
large a source of the riches of Piedmont. As


CHAMBÉRI.
33
to the manners of the place, why should I
attempt to make any observations, when I
appear under no other character than that of
a traveller in the diligence? I might have
wished to reside for a few days amongst the
amiable Savoyards, but the conducteur sum-
moned me at daybreak.
At Lyons my earlier companions in the
diligence had left me, and at Chambéri a new
passenger, who had come from Geneva, took
his seat. I observed considerable inquietude
in his looks, when the gendarmes asked for
our passports. The rest of the passengers
having fallen asleep, I was led, by a move-
ment of curiosity, to ascertain who this new
traveller was, and why he had been alarmed
at the approach of the gendarmes. His face
was that of a man of forty, with an expression
of sadness, but not disagreeable: his shifting
eyes and frequent sighs excited an indescrib-
able interest in my bosom. I ventured to put
some questions to him about two or three
persons whom I had known at Geneva, which
appeared to embarrass him. Every few mi-
nutes he gave way to deep sighs, and could
scarcely repress his nervous and almost con-
c 5


34
CHAMBÉRI.
:
vulsive emotions. This redoubled my curio-
sity but as I dared not attempt again to
gratify it, I resigned myself to a thousand
conjectures. On arriving at Aiguebelle, the
key to the Maurienne, the mysterious stranger
said to me, "Here it was that the French,
together with the Spaniards, under the com-
mand of Don Phillip, Duke of Parma, beat the
Sardinian troops in 1742.". He then relapsed
into his former inflexible silence.
On the adjacent heights may still be seen
old castles flanked with ruined towers, and
the remains of battlements, which have not
been inhabited for a century, and about the
tops of which the crows and rooks wing their
flight-now the only possessors of these de-
serted edifices. At short distances we meet
with dilapidated chapels, originally built for
the accommodation of travellers. On Sundays
and festivals the priests still frequent them,
and celebrate the sacred rites of the Catholic
religion.
Just before we arrived at Saint-Michel three
of us descended from the carriage, with the
idea of taking a better survey of the country.
We had scarcely put foot to earth before a


CHAMBÉRI.
35
tempest assaulted us of the most alarming
kind. The wind bursting through the cran.
nies of the mountain, flung clouds of dust and
sand into our faces the whole atmosphere
was so agitated, that we could not keep our
footing, and even the horses themselves with
difficulty preserved themselves from falling.
Over head, the light snow from the moun-
tains was whirled off into clouds that almost
hid the skies from our sight. It was only
by firmly holding each other, and by keeping
under the sides of the rocks, that we could
make the slightest way against the whirlwind.
In the pine forest, a thousand feet above us,
we heard the loud cracking and uprooting of
the trees, branches of which falling from the
precipices, kept us in a state of constant
apprehension. This storm lasted for nearly
half an hour, when the wind grew calmer';
the diligence was once more put in order,
we remounted, and arrived at Saint-Michel.
After a short stay at this place, and a slight
examination of its peculiarities, we resumed
our route, and passed on to Chambre, a rudely
built village, no otherwise remarkable than
for the contrast it presents to the meadows,


36
CHAMBÉRI.
covered with willows, mulberry trees, and
pleasant gardens, in the midst of which it is
situated. It is between Saint-Michel and the
adjacent mountains that the picturesqueness of
Savoy is most strikingly exhibited. We passed
through St. Jean de Maurienne, the ancient
capital of the country. It is as poorly built as
any of the contiguous villages, and is only
remarkable for the deformities and goitres of
the inhabitants.
The next day, before the sun rose, we saw
in the distance, in the bosom of this moun-
tainous and irregular solitude, something
which resembled a column of fiery sparks,
and sought in vain to conjecture the cause.
It is one of the tricks of the imagination to
exaggerate and mystify whatever it meets
with in strange and out-of-the-way places.
What disturbed us so much, was nothing more
than the flames of a furnace in the heart of a
defile not far from us. Still further on we
passed a cascade, which poured down its
frozen waters from a height of nearly fifteen
hundred feet.
The silence of these mountains is rarely
disturbed by any sounds except those of the


CHAMBÉRI.
37
mules and horses, whose tinklings announce
the approach of meeting carriages. When-
ever these warnings are heard, the ascending
vehicle is obliged to move aside into the first
convenient station, in order that the other
may have room to pass.
We pursued the new road, cut along the
side of the mountains, with their summits
high above us on one side, and a deep gulf
below us on the other. The road itself was
as easy as a plain. To have constructed this
prodigious work, it was necessary to divide
immense rocks-to divert the course of large
and rapid waterfalls, or build strong bridges
over them to cut away and smooth down
the ruggedness of the mountain,-in short, to
work marvels; all of which was done by the
French engineers.
In some places the path is so narrow and
so frightful, that without palisades and stakes,
a single blast of wind might precipitate the
traveller into the abyss below. The aspect
of these steep mountains-of their strange,
gigantic and monstrous varieties-induced
me and two of my companions to quit the
diligence in one of the difficult passages.


38
CHAMBÉRI.
We enjoyed the imposing spectacle in all its
details. Without thinking of it, we wandered
away from the diligence into one of the paths
which diverge from the main route. The
trampling of the horses and the clacking of
the whips could no longer be heard, and we
had reached the end of the path. Any fur-
ther progress was forbidden by rocks covered
with snow. Nothing else remained for us but
to clamber over the rocks, by laying hold of
the thorny bushes which grew out from them,
and in this way we reached their tops.
Around us all was solitude and silence: not
one living animal was to be seen. We then
set out again, and descended from the middle
of the mountain where the road ran—from
rock to rock-from hill to hill-through trees
and brushwood-over dashing streams-
through drifts of snow and of sand-down to
the torrent at the bottom of the precipice.
We were obliged to traverse for more than
half its perpendicular height the wood of
Bramant, formerly the dangerous route of
travellers.
Whither to go? what direction to follow?
Shall we cross the torrent? Cross it we must,


CHAMBÉRI.
39
or re-ascend the mountain, nearly two thou-
sand feet, before we can regain the road.
There was no fear of not ultimately finding
the road again, but the diligence would have
been gone on for more than three hours.
Nothing was left for us but to attempt the
torrent, which fortunately had not more than
three feet depth. On the other side we found
a path, and soon we reached the main road.
The diligence had passed through Modane, a
small village which we had left upon the
right, and had descended by a circuit into the
plain to Termigone. It cost us nearly as much
difficulty to reach this place, as it already had
to seek our direction. After all, this sort of
adventure is not one of the least amusing
parts of travelling. It gives a fillip and a
turn to the conversation, after getting back
to the carriage. Once more in our seats, we
descended swiftly to Lanslebourg, situated at
the foot of Mont Cenis, where we arrived at
seven in the evening. The inn of the Golden
Sun is kept by an old lady, who during the
campaigns in Italy is said to have been in the
good graces of nearly all the French generals,
and even of its illustrious leader. She was
**


40
CHAMBÉRI.
not so old as she appeared to be, and I scarce-
ly ever saw an uglier woman. Of her amours
she made no mystery, and related all their
episodes with a frankness which would not
have much pleased their heroes. The mys-
terious stranger listened to her shameless
avowals with a compassionate smile, and we
all gladly turned our attention to a wretched
dinner, which nothing but a ravenous appe-
tite could have found endurable.


No IV.
MONT-CENIS.
Garganum mugire nemus, aut mare Tuscum.
HOR.
LONG before daybreak we were roused from
our beds, and found the morning, though it
was only in the month of October, excessive-
ly cold. It is always so on the north side of
the higher Alps. The winter sun rarely
penetrates there with its lukewarm rays, and
the wind, in all seasons, comes there with a
chilliness which it gathers from the glaciers
before it descends into the vallies. I could
scarcely imagine in what way we were to
escape through the mountains which enclosed
us on every side. How were we to pass over
those lofty ridges, whose peaks were more
than two thousand feet in height? Their
snowy tops glittered like immense suns, whilst


42
MONT-CENIS.
their bases were wrapped in a dark gloom,
here and there illumined by a straggling ray
of light.
If I enter here in greater detail upon a pass,
which our countrymen in the days of their
glory have so often marched through, it is
because no traveller has hitherto given an
exact notion of Mont-Cenis. Perhaps this
arises from the different impressions which
grand objects make at the first view upon
different minds, or perhaps, travellers are so
anxious to reach Tuscany, Rome, or Naples,
that they entirely neglect Upper Italy. It is
too much the nature of man to send, as one
may say, his imagination in advance, and to
lose the enjoyment of the present, in the
anxiety to grasp at the future. My travelling
companions were an uninteresting set of per-
sons, who looked upon their journey as a
fatiguing business, and were eager to arrive
at their destinations. One was bound for
Florence, where he expected a situation in
the Tax Office; another, for Genoa, where
he meant to apply for employment in the
Excise ;-two military men, who had been
on a furlough in consequence of their
2


MONT-CENIS.
34
wounds, were in terror lest they should ar-
rive at their regiments too late for proceed-
ing with them to join the grand army. The
mysterious person of whom I have already
spoken, and whose laconic answers filled me
with despair, made up, with me, the comple-
ment of our vehicle. After passing over
several smaller mountains, we arrived at a
defile, through which we beheld Mont-
Cenis, whose summit rose through the clouds
which hung around its sides. This was the
last that remained to be passed before our
arrival at Turin. The beautiful road which
has since been made for heavy carriages did
not at that time exist. Ours had been taken
to pieces at Lanslebourg, where we were
furnished with about twenty mules, to trans-
port us, our baggage, and the pieces of the
diligence. Each mule was hung round by
five or six tinkling bells: the noise of our
caravan may be easily fancied. It was neces-
sary for us to pass the mountain by a rugged
path, often running between two abysses of
such depth, that the slightest false step of the
mule was sure to dash both animal and rider
into pieces. Such accidents, however, rarely
*


44
MONT-CENIS.
happen. They place their cautious feet in
almost the very same tracks which their pre-
decessors have trodden for ages. The traveller
need not hold the bridle, except to steady
himself in the saddle. It might be fatal if he
attempted to direct the mule, who is much
better acquainted than he is with the path.
Equally dangerous would it be, if he suffered
his terrors to agitate him, when in turning a
sharp angle, he sees the head of the beast
over one precipice, and his hinder feet just on
the edge of another.
We endeavoured by gaiety to dissipate
alarm; marching along in files, we made the
mountains echo with our songs. The water-
falls, the woods, defiles and vallies, repeated
the cadences. It is surprising that no in-
stances should have occurred of robbers hav-
ing taken advantage of these passes, rendered
so favourable to their purposes by the obscu-
rity of the defiles, and the embarrassments
of the traveller. Our march extended into
the night, when we were in the middle of the
perilous career.
In returning from Italy, it is the custom to
ramasser, that is, to descend the mountain on


MONT-CENIS.
45
a sledge. Two persons place themselves on
one of these vehicles, drawn by a single mule,
with a guide who steers it with a staff.
The sledge glides over the frozen snow with
great rapidity. Some prefer to be carried
over in a sort of litter. This last mode of con-
veyance costs each person about twenty-four
francs; with a sledge the traveller pays
twelve francs; with the mules, the expense
is paid by the conducteur, and is charged in
the fare. It is said that about six francs
each is allowed for this expense.
In proportion as we ascended, the severity
of the cold increased, to a degree almost
intolerable. These wild regions, surrounded
by eternal snows, are subject to cold blasts,
sudden storms, and frequent avalanches.
The latter happen generally in the months of
May and June, when the snow begins to
melt they are dangerous, not only to indi-
viduals, but likewise to whole villages. The
whirlwinds are less rare, and take place in the
winter months. They sweep away the snows
from the summits, and sometimes blind the
traveller. They fill up the gulphs and make
them level with the contiguous heights, so
&


46
MONT-CENIS.
that the unwary traveller often loses his life
by mistaking the route. On the top of the
mountain a cannon has been placed, for
the purpose of indicating to travellers the
approach of these fearful storms, and to en-
able them to gain the shelter of the stations
which have been constructed in different
parts of the road.
When the blasts are over,
the persons who occupy the canteens wander
about in search of any unfortunate travellers
who may have lost their way. On Mount
St. Bernard, this benevolent duty is per-
formed by sagacious dogs, who are trained
up to this duty.
Formerly, it was necessary in travelling
this road to pass through a long grotto: but
that gloomy and difficult passage was aban-
doned for another route, at the distance of a
few hundred paces. The old road has since.
been resumed, and the subterraneous passage
greatly enlarged, in order to avoid the sudden
wind-storms to which the new one was sub-
ject. We continued to ascend for an hour
and a half to the summit of Mont-Cenis,
and the whole party stopped at the Great
Cross. By using the word summit, I do not


MONT-CENIS.
47
wish to lead the reader into any mistake: it
is a summit only in relation to the point of
our departure, that is to say, it is the highest
part of the whole road. Still it is not more
than half way up the mountain, whose sides,
peak, and needles, ascend to a height nearly
equal to that which we had already mounted.
Some travellers and scholars have asserted
that it was by Mont-Cenis that Hannibal
entered Italy. This is one of the obscurities
of history which can never be cleared up.
If however it were true, that from the height
of the Alps the Carthaginian soldiers beheld
the beautiful plains of Italy, all the probabili-
ties would be in favour of Mount-Viso, the
only one of all the Alps, from Col-de-Tende
to the Venetian Alps, which affords a practi-
cable place whence Italy, that is to say Pied-
mont, could be discerned. At every other
place it is impossible to march along the
rugged steep outside. Within the mountains
it is less difficult to follow the course of the
vallies, which, though considerably above
the level of the sea, are nevertheless shut out
from any extensive prospect by the lofty ledges
which surround them.
#


48
MONT-CENIS.
After a short stay we passed on.
I do not
envy the people of the Grand-Cross their
habitation. They consist of a family, and are
condemned for nine or ten months of the year
to live in the midst of frost, snow, and ice.
Although much higher than any parts of
France or Italy, yet they lose sight of the sun
two or three hours earlier each day. Still,
though surrounded by ice, they may, in cer-
tain parts of Mont-Cenis behold flowers and
butterflies in all seasons. Spots of verdure
hedged round with snow are not unfrequent,
and the lake on one of the platforms of the
mountain remains unfrozen for half the year.
Those who wish to learn any thing of the na-
tural history of Mont-Cenis should read the
erudite works of Messrs. Saussure, Lalande,
and Bourrit. It is my office, in this voyage of
pleasure, to describe only the gay or senti-
mental impressions to which reflection some-
times imparts a moral value.
The plain which covers the summit of
Mont-Cenis, is nearly three quarters of a
league in length. Here it was that, in the
conception of his gigantic plans, Napoleon
resolved to construct a town, and the trium-


MONT-CENIS.
49
phal arch, which he afterwards decreed to
the "Grand Army," when victory began to
be treacherous. In 1809, Prince Borghese,
Governor General of the Departments beyond
the Alps, came with great pomp and cere-
mony, accompanied by all his court, to lay
the first stone of those vast barracks, which
were only recently terminated. It is on the
plain of Mont-Cenis, that we find the hospice
of those excellent monks, who have so gene-
rously devoted their lives to humanity, and
the exercise of all the offices of hospitality.
They live there happy in the consciousness of
bestowing happiness upon others; they ac-
cept no remuneration from the travellers,
whom they have treated like brothers; under
the inspection of their worthy chief, Dubois,
they divide their time between study, the
exercise of the kindest duties, and the prac-
tice of a religion, which, as they practise it,
is without a spark of fanaticism.
At the extremity of the plain, we commence
our descent of the southern side of the moun-
tain. The north winds begin to lose their
privilege of chilling the powers of the earth
VOL. I.
D


50
MONT-CENIS.
1
and animal life. We contrive to sit upon our
saddles with less constraint; our tongues
move with greater freedom, and we pour
forth our songs with greater glee. But we
are still compelled to make our downward
path through the mountain mists-above
which, the snowy crested Mont-Cenis glit-
ters in the bright sun. At night, we beheld
in the distance a shifting glimmer of lights,
which seemed every moment to approach us
more nearly. This is one of the practices of
the people of this district, which combines a
beneficial result with an interested motive,
Every night, the inhabitants of the Novalèse,
carrying lighted torches, wait for the arrival
not only of caravans, but likewise of solitary
travellers as they descend Mont-Cenis, and,
for the sake of two or three francs, illuminate
their route into the town.
Novalèse is a sombre Piedmontese town,
situated in a narrow defile. Having nothing
more agreeable to do, we ate, drank, and
slept there. The bread here is singular. It
is shaped like a ring, slender, crisp, and
pleasant to the taste. It is called gressini,


MONT-CENIS.
51
and Buonaparte was so fond of it, that he
ordered it to be sent to him regularly from
Turin.
In the course of our next day's travel, before
we arrived at Suze, we were struck by the
view of the fortification of Brunette, which
occupies the height of an isolated mountain.
This fortress, which appears quite impreg-
nable, was taken in an assault by the French.
The capture of this place appears miracu-
lous, and almost exceeds the power of the
imagination.
Suze is the first town in Piedmont, and
lies nearly at the base of Mont-Cenis. It is
said to have been originally founded by a Ro-
man colony, which established itself there
when Augustus caused a passage into Dau-
phiné to be opened. This colony probably
intended to carry on an intercourse of trade
with the Gauls, for, as to any incentive to
settling there, it is difficult to conceive it.
The town is ill-built, irregular, and badly
paved. The remains are still to be seen there
of a triumphal arch, raised by the founders
in honour of the Emperor Augustus.
•
D 2


52
MONT-CENIS.
From Suze to Turin, is just forty miles.
About half-way, we bid adieu to the moun-
tains, and enter upon the country of plains,
where a softer air announces the mildness of
the climate. We meet with young Piedmon-
tese girls, in short petticoats, and round felt
hats, ornamented with black plumes. The
vines are here "married to the elms;" mul-
berry trees border the roads; the meadows
are still green and smiling, although the
mowers are cutting the last sproutings of the
season.
Rivoli, built on a small hill, is a pleasure-
house of the king of Sardinia. This country
seat does not possess the same cast of beauty
with those royal residences which are to be
met with in the vicinity of Paris. A long,
wide, and beautiful road, planted with trees,
leads from Rivoli to Turin, a distance of eight
miles, with a gentle descent all the way. The
plains upon the left are diversified, fertile,
and watered by a great number of canals,
into which the waters of the river Doire
disperse themselves. This plain stretches
into Lombardy, and terminates at the gulf of


MONT-CENIS.
53
Venice. It was under the influence of all
those delightful feelings which the prospect of
a beautiful and civilized country excites, that
we entered Turin by the gate of Suze, and
the rue de la Doire, which is incontestably
the finest street in Europe.


No V.
TURIN.
Bei marmori, pomposi Epitafi, ma se tu le schiudi, vi trovi
vermi e fetore.
FOSCOLO, Lettere di Jacopo Ortis.
WHAT the novelist has said of sepulchral
monuments, may be justly said of society at
large, and perhaps with more severe justice
of Italy, than of the rest of Europe. That
art of pleasing by the aid of hypocrisy, which
under the name of politeness regards the ex-
ternal conduct only, is the principal cause of
our being so easily and largely seduced, in
this fruitful age of illusions. We enter into
the world with the most benevolent dispo-
sitions; we feel a willingness to love all
whom we meet; but as soon as we begin to
know our species, we must either hate or
despise them. The truly wise man contents
himself with pitying them; and certainly, he
has no slight task to achieve, if he weeps


TURIN.
55
over all their imperfections. The author,
whose name is affixed to the motto of this
chapter, enjoyed in his country a great repu-
tation at the time of which I am writing.
He lived at Milan when I visited Italy for the
first time. With a single phrase has he vividly
described the fortunes of that ancient coun-
try, when he calls it "the eternal domain of
victory." In vain have poetry and the arts
lavished their enchantments under a sky, after
that of Greece, the purest and most beauti-
ful of Europe ;-political slavery has never
ceased to bind down the generous-minded
people who inhabit it; and that land, from
which marched forth the legions which
subdued the world, has no longer the poor
freedom of a choice of masters. Italy! O
Italy!
At the bureau of Diligences, my fellow
travellers separated with as much indiffer-
ence as they had met. After having drank,
laughed, sung and slept together, we quitted
each other without saying-farewell. Thus
is it with travelling friendships; if the same
persons never meet again, they fall in with
others, and in this fugitive world, perhaps,


56
TURIN
this ought to satisfy its inhabitants. As I was
leaving the office, the traveller of whom I
spoke approached to my side, and said to
me in a low tone of voice, "Until now I have
been unwilling to address you, but in a few
days you shall know me; I shall alight at
the Hotel de Londres, in the square of
St. Charles; make no attempt to visit me
until I send to you," I gave him my promise,
and the stranger went his way.
My first business was to find a lodging, and
turning to a cabassino, the name which, in
Piedmont, is given to the commissionaires,*
I requested his assistance. It would not have
been discreet to suffer him to lead me to the
Hotel de Londres, though I knew it to be the
best in Turin. My guide, after taking posses-
sion of the luggage, took me through narrow
streets to the hotel of "the Good Woman,"
so called from its having the sign of a woman
without a head. Unwilling to set about de-
livering my letters of recommendation, on the
first day of my arrival, I took the opportunity
of employing the afternoon in visiting the
* These terms can scarcely be rendered into English, ex-
cept by a paraphrase.
1


TURIN.
57
1
different quarters of the city, and of prome-
nading under the beautiful arcades of the
Place du Chateau, and the Rue de Pô.
Perhaps there is no town in the world to be
compared to Turin for the perfect regularity
of its streets. It is built on the plain which
stretches out at the foot of a delicious hill,
near the base of which runs the river Po.
Turin, in the time of Cæsar, was called
Colonia Julia; but its inhabitants had already
borne the name of Taurini, whence Augustus
gave the city the name of Augusta Taurino-
rem. It is believed, although no author has
furnished any authentic documents on the
subject, that the name Taurini was derived
from the beauty of the bulls (tauri) which
this part of Italy furnished the Romans for
their bull-fights. About twenty years since,
there was still to be seen a brazen bull (which
the inhabitants regarded with the greatest
veneration) on the top of a tower in the Rue
de la Doire. The French destroyed the tower,
in consequence of its encroaching too far into
the street, and the bull was stowed away in
one of the lower rooms of the Academy.
This famous bull sometimes indulged in loud
D 5


58
TURIN.
bellowings, which arose from the wind blow-
ing through it.
Subjected at first to the Romans, Turin
was ravaged in succession by the Goths, Huns,
and Herculi. It was afterwards in the power
of the Bourguignons ;-the Lombards seized
it in their turn;-in the sixteenth century it
fell into the hands of the French, again in
the seventeenth, and was likewise besieged
by them in the eighteenth, under the com-
mand of the famous Catinat, after he had
gained the great battle of Staffarde. On the
3d of July 1798, the French, by permission of
the King of Sardinia, occupied the citadel:—
Suwarrow made himself master of it the fol-
lowing year, after an obstinate combat be-
tween the city and the citadel, which are close
to each other. I saw, in the Lascaris palace,
cannon balls sticking in the walls in the midst
of mirrors, pictures, and hangings. At length
in 1802, Piedmont having been annexed to
France, it was divided into departments, and
by a decree of 1807 erected into the general
government of the departments beyond the
Alps. Turin was the capital city. This go-
vernment comprehended, besides Piedmont,


TURIN.
59
the state of Genoa, and, a short time after-
wards, the two grand duchies of Parma and
Placentia were added to it.
But to quit the tone of history; after loung-
ing about for two or three hours, I entered
into the Café du Rondeau, near the gate of
the Pô, where I encountered a little hunch-
back whom I had known at Paris at the be-
ginning of the Revolution. I shall not men-
tion his name, but all who have been at Paris
will immediately recollect him. Never was
there a man more droll, gay, witty and lively
than this little fellow. He was almost with-
out education, but it was impossible to have
received from nature a better heart or a more
correct judgment. His deformity did not
prevent his being received with welcome by
the other sex, and no one was more gallant
than he. When I met him he was in com-
pany with a large fine woman of Volpian, (a
Piedmontese town,) who went by the name of
La Volpiana. After having conversed with
him a short time, I was afraid of disarranging
his tête-à-tête, and went out. Thanks, how-
ever, to his counsels, I was under no sort of
embarrassment as to the disposition of the


60
TURIN.
rest of the day. I learnt from him that there
was an excellent French restaurateur named
Dufour, in the Place du Chateau; that not
far distant there was a good reading room;
and that in the evening La Donna Soldato,
an opera of Pavesi, was to be performed in
the Carignano theatre, in which the famous
prima donna Gafforini was to sing. First I
went to Dufour, and from the manner in
which every thing was served, and the num-
ber of French at the table, I might have fan-
cied myself at Paris. A Piedmontese noble-
man, the Count de S-, was pointed out to
me as being a regular frequenter of the house.
Two officers of the 7th regiment of hussars,
then stationed at Turin, aware of my recent
arrival from Paris, entered into conversation,
and told me who he was, in answer to my
questions relating to this strange and severe-
looking man. For nearly ten years the Count
de S has spoken to no one. With the
point of his knife he indicates what he wishes
to be served with. He frequently rides on
horseback, and frequents theatres and public
walks; but nothing has ever been able to
force him into a breach of the oath of eternal


TURIN.
61
+
silence which he swore at the age of twenty.
At that age he had the misfortune to commit
some indiscretion that occasioned a duel, in
which his most intimate friend fell, and he
resolved from that moment never to utter
another word, and no effort, no persuasion
has been able to break his resolution.
Finding myself opposite the entrance of the
Carignano theatre, I went in by a paltry door,
and from an adjoining desk bought a ticket for
the first circle, for which I paid only twenty
sous. I mounted the staircase-marched
along the lobby—and sought in vain for some
one to open a door. I ascended another pair
of stairs, but still no one was to be met with.
At last I returned to the entrance-door, and
tried to make the ticket-seller comprehend
that I wished to go into a box. He answered
in a jargon as barbarous as it was unintelli-
gible, and ended by putting into my hands a
key, for which I was obliged to pay four
francs. This was equally incomprehensible
to me, until a gentleman in very good French
explained the nature of my embarrassment.
The ticket which I had first bought admitted
to the pit only, or for such boxes as might


62
TURIN.
contain any one of my acquaintance. With
respect to the key, it belonged to a box which
became my own for the four francs. The
number of the box, and the side of the theatre,
whether left or right, was engraved on it.
This was very vexatious, as one of my princi-
pal objects was to enter into conversation
with some one, and now I found myself alone
in the first circle, separated from the rest of
the audience, who, as the boxes gradually
filled, cast their eyes towards my solitary so-
journ. Happily the extreme darkness of the
house relieved me from any severe scrutiny.
This darkness enables those who wish it, to
come without any parade of dress, and thus,
with the low price of the tickets, it is in the
power of families not wealthy to enjoy the
amusement of the theatre at a moderate ex-
pense. This mode of passing one's time is
agreeable as well as economical, for during
the whole evening, visits were made and re-
ceived in the boxes. Some persons even turn
their boxes into a source of profit, by sending
the key to some café, and if in the course of
the season they can dispose of it twenty or
thirty times, they are enabled to enjoy the


TURIN.
63
performances gratis for the rest of that period.
The silk curtains before the boxes, and the
draperies of red, blue, green and yellow above
them in each tier, produce an agreeable
effect, and give a more pleasant appearance
to the house than the French theatres have.
I was already acquainted with La Donna
Soldato by reputation, and also with Gaffo-
rini, for whom the opera had been composed.
Both greatly exceeded my expectations. The
contr'alto voices have a prodigious charm with
them, and besides, no Italian actress that I
had seen (with the exception of Madame
Pasta) played or sang with so much expres-
sion as Gafforini. It was said that her ex-
pression was so remarkable, that the Viceroy
of Italy, immediately after his marriage with
the Princess of Bavaria, prohibited Gafforini
from singing at Milan, Che vuoi la bella Rosa,
which she introduced into almost all her parts.
This actress had also another sort of reputa-
tion, but I cannot say whether it was deserved
or not, notwithstanding the information of
my witty hunchback, who was a kind of scan-
dalous chronicle for the north of Italy.
After the first act of La Donna Soldato, I


64
TURIN
was surprised to see the curtain rise for a
grand serious ballet, in which for the first
time I witnessed what are called i Signori
groteschi; among whom was the famous Cala-
brese, who, though a little on the wane, was
still a prodigy of agility and strength. These
grotesque dancers, male and female, flung
themselves into all sorts of positions, and eli-
cited the most frantic expressions of joy from
the spectators. Imagine a group of males
and females in constant and violent motion;
one feat of strength succeeding another;
pirouettes, leaps, bounds, and turnings, with-
out the slightest grace, but so rapid that the
eye cannot follow them, and some notion may
be gathered of Italian grotesque dancing.
It has been well described by saying, that it is
going up like a feather and falling like lead.
To my mind it is nothing else than the prin-
ciples of the romantic applied to dancing: one
may discover between these fearful contor-
tions and the graceful movements of Vestris
and Albert, the same difference which there
is between the romances of Lesage and the
wild creations of the Viscomte D'Arlincourt.
After the ballet the opera was renewed, and


TURIN.
65
then followed another comic ballet, in which
the grotesque dancers exhibited a new set of
performances quite as surprising as the for-
mer. After the whole was over, I returned
to my hotel, and set down on paper my first
impressions of Turin, little supposing that I
should ever commit those impressions to the
confidence of the public.


No VI.
――
THE PIEDMONTESE.
Carpamus dulcia, nostrum est
Quod vivis, cinis, et manes et fabula fies.
PERSIUS, Sat. V.
I HAD already been eight days in Turin,
when I received a letter from my unknown
travelling companion, whom I had nearly
forgotten, in the midst of the dissipations of
the town. "To-morrow, the 2d of Decem-
ber, be on the boulevard Borghese, opposite
the cannon foundry, at two o'clock, and you
will not have to wait for me long." This
letter was without signature, but I easily
divined whence it proceeded, and took care
not to fail being at the place and time it ap-
pointed. For nearly half an hour I walked
up and down the boulevard, remarking that
J


THE PIEDMONTESE.
67
nearly every one who passed was dressed in
black, and that many wore crape. Perhaps
there is no city where the fête des morts is
more religiously observed than in Turin. At
length I perceived the stranger approach,
enveloped in a large cloak. "Sir," said he,
as he met me, "long misery has taught me
but too well how to judge, from the human
physiognomy, the most secret feelings of the
human heart. I saw to what a pitch I was
an object of curiosity to you, and I will not
conceal from you my pleasure at having ex-
cited it. I am now come to satisfy it.
I am
the Count de Vivalda, my family, rich and
highly respected, is one of the most ancient
in Milan. In early youth I dissipated nearly
all my fortune, since which I have visited all
the courts of Europe. In another hour I shall
quit Turin.
The slightest indiscretion on
your part with respect to what I am about to
tell you will cost perhaps your life. I am
going to rejoin my friends, and impart to
them the means I have employed in order to
ensure to us an honourable asylum in Ame-
rica. Our wealth is at present immense. I
have shared with the brave Meino the honour


68
THE PIEDMONTESE,
of commanding the heroes of Narzoli, whom
your crowned brigand, Napoleon, has pur-
sued with his soldiery, as if they were nothing
better than robbers. Take this ring, and should
you ever be arrested by them during your
stay in Italy, the sight of this will procure you
good treatment and respect from our bands.”
I could not dissemble my surprise and horror.
-"Calm yourself: I am not here to exercise
any of my professional functions, and unless
you entertain the same prejudices with the
greater part of mankind against our noble
pursuit, you will see that few others admit
of so many fine opportunities for the display
of virtue. There is no enterprize so hazar-
dous as to prevent us from undertaking it.
Two years since, for instance, General Menou,
governor of Turin, set on foot an incredibly
active pursuit against us. Meino and I dis-
guised ourselves as staff officers of the French
army; by the information we received from
within the city, we made ourselves masters of
the pass-word; at midnight, under pretence of
an urgent order, we entered into the general's
chamber, and, when alone with him, we made
ourselves known, and addressed him thus:


THE PIEDMONTESE.
69
'Whilst you are endeavouring to capture us,
you yourself are our prisoner: put an end,
therefore, to these useless pursuits, for if we
return here again, it will not be merely for
the purpose of giving you 'good counsel.'
We then withdrew, and before day-break
had regained the mountains, where our quar-
ter-general was established. When the beau-
tiful Madame Meino was captured and taken
to Alexandria, her husband, alone, and in the
dress of a gendarme, presented himself before
the general, wearing in his button-hole the
cross of an officer of the legion of honour-
which very cross he had torn from the breast
of Salicetti, that infamous Italian who sold
Naples to the French. Meino signified to the
general, that he allowed him three days,
within which he demanded that his wife
should be restored to him. The second after-
wards, Madame Meino was free. Had it not
been so, on the third day, General D-
would have ceased to live, and I myself would
have remained at Alexandria, to redeem the
pledge of my friend. Do not believe that we
feel any pleasure in shedding human blood;
we rarely kill any one, and only when com-
-
展
​


70
THE PIEDMONTESE.
pelled to do it. Our band is subjected to the
severest discipline; we never carry off women,
or suffer any assault to be made on their
modesty. If you wish to hear it, these are
our ordinary occupations. There are in Italy
a considerable number of rich proprietors, of
whose persons we get possession, and take
them to some safe place, where every possible
care is taken of them. They are kept there
as hostages. The duration of their captivity
depends entirely upon themselves. We fix
upon a ransom for them, always in proportion
to their fortunes. They appoint a period
within which this ransom ought to be paid,
and write to their families, indicating the spot
where the money ought to be deposited. We
take upon ourselves the trouble and responsi-
bility of delivering the letters, and keep the
writers as hostages. The punishment of death
is immediate, if any declaration of the capture
be made to the public authorities; but when
the money is paid, our guests are reconducted,
with their eyes bandaged, to a short distance
from their own habitation. Thenceforward
they are safe, for we never attack the same
person twice. But," continued Vivalda,


THE PIEDMONTESE.
71
"there is no company so good, that we are
not sometimes obliged to quit it: farewell,
Sir-I require no oath from you, for I need
none: you were curious-know how to be
discreet, and do not part with the ring I have
given you; it is a better safeguard than all
the passports in the world." With these words
he disappeared.
"Humph!" I exclaimed to myself, "this
Count Vivalda is indeed a strange fellow, and
this is a lesson to me not to be too attentive
hereafter to mysterious travellers." Neverthe-
less, I was not sorry to have learnt these
details. I could scarcely reconcile the per-
suasive manners of the Count with his pro-
fession. I have since been informed, that he,
Meino, and the rest of the troop, after having
fought several times successfully against the
gendarmerie, were finally made prisoners in
a farm-house, whither they had fled, and
which it was necessary to set on fire in order
to capture them. Meino was a young man of
twenty-four, remarkably handsome. They
were conducted to Turin, covered with
wounds. The Court of Assizes condemned
them to death, and they were executed at the


72
THE PIEDMONTESE.
ordinary place of execution-in the quarter
of the Jews, near the post-office. The cross
of Salicetti passed from the button-hole of
Meino to that of the lieutenant-colonel of the
gendarmerie of Alexandria, who had led the
force which captured them. After this last
event I considered myself absolved from all
obligation to secrecy.
When my interview with Vivalda was over,
I returned to my lodgings to change my dress
for a suit of black, as I hold it extremely
ridiculous not to conform to the usages of the
country where we are. I then walked under
the arcades of the rue de Pô, and as I saw the
crowd of pedestrians directing their steps
beyond the city, I followed them mechanically.
The Prince of Borghese passed in an elegant
curricle with two beautiful grey horses. On
every face I noticed an appearance of unusual
abstraction: at length, after a quarter of an
hour's walk in the midst of a crowd which
increased every moment, I arrived at the
Cemetery, where around a square court were
the monuments beneath which lie the vaults
of the principal families of Piedmont. We
stopped near a mound where the earth was


THE PIEDMONTESE.
73
yet quite fresh, and on which had been thrown
handfuls of flowers. I was told that in this
spot a young and lovely girl of eighteen had
been interred the preceding day. Reduced
to the last stage of misery, with no alternative
but death or pollution, she had found her
refuge in the arms of death.
Evening was coming on when I returned
to the city, after having followed for some
time the outer boulevards, which, since the
French have demolished the ramparts, form
round Turin a beautiful promenade. The
churches were crowded-and the ranks of
kneeling devotees reached even to the steps
before the doors. I was more than ever alive
to melancholy impressions, when happily I
fell in with the witty hunchback, on the stair-
case of the restaurateur. "Stop," said be.
"If you wish to have a little quiet chat, let us
dine together in a private cabinet; for as every
body knows me, we shall be interrupted every
moment.' I assented; and no sooner had
the waiters beheld my little friend than his
name flew from mouth to mouth, and the
master instantly came up to ask what he
29
VOL. I.
E


74
THE PIEDMONTESE.
should serve us with. The whole house
appeared to be at his disposal.
66 Well, now," said he, as soon as we were
alone, "tell me, how do you like Turin ?"—
"Why, indeed, very well; I have been intro-
duced into several families, and kindly re-
ceived in all. The society pleases me ex.
tremely. I have been to Court-and this very
morning, although I am no dancer, I received
an invitation to a ball there for Monday next."
-"You will meet some delightful people, and
a great many fine women:-for my part I
shall not go; and you may guess the cause.
They have often taken me for M. de B-
the husband of one of the prettiest ladies
about the court. His figure is just about as
elegant as mine!"-"It strikes me," I re-
plied, "from what I have observed, that
society in Turin is chiefly made up of the
ancient noblesse and the French."-"It is
just so; the citizens live amongst themselves :
visit the rich banker Nigra, you will find old
dark desks, such as a broker's clerk in Paris
would despise. In Turin there is neither
luxury nor bankruptcy amongst the traders.
?
1
1


THE PIEDMONTESE.
75
You will see a crowd of men called advocates.
This is a title which all those who are neither
nobles nor artizans assume to themselves.
To me all classes are alike, whether nobles or
artizans, because, as I only came into the
country with the French on their first inva-
sion, I have since done all the good in my
power to every order of society. One thing,
however, in this country, is most distressing-
the idleness of the young. The sons of the
better families pass their lives on the benches
in front of some café, or in playing a game
called Barziga. The girls are brought up
with great severity; they never go into the
world until they are married, when they may
either continue prudent or choose a gallant,
although the husbands are as jealous as Sici-
lians. However, take it all in all, you will
not find in any other city in Italy so much
morality as in Turin. The Piedmontese under
the ancient kings of Sardinia were most hap-
pily governed; it was in truth a paternal
government: the meanest peasant who came
to Turin, might enter the palace freely and
speak to the monarch, who did whatever act
of justice was required of him. There was
E 2


76
THE PIEDMONTESE.
no such thing as an administration; and so
completely unknown was the custom of pay-
ing the public officers, that they had no fixed
remuneration, and lived upon what was called
épices (fees)."—" But how happened it," I
asked, "that so large a part of the noblesse
was attached to the French government, and
filled so many situations of chamberlains,
equerries, &c., to the Emperor or the Prince?"
"What would you have? This country is
the residence of a court-it must have a court.
Here they commonly love the very person of
the prince, who being an Italian, is more fit
for governing the country, although he affects
never to speak a word of Italian. Amongst
the nobility there are many I might cite who
did not accept the places which they held,
only until after they had written to Cagliari
for the permission of the King of Sardinia. I
doubt whether their attachment to France
was very sincere; and it must be admitted
that it is awkward enough for them to see
a Frenchman, who came as it were without
shoes, in the suite of General Menou, now
rolling about in his carriage, and looking
down upon them from the loftiness of his


THE PIEDMONTESE.
77
insolence. You will meet all the world on
Monday evening; for, as I hear, there is to be
a grand ball and supper."-"When Napo-
leon arrived here, how was he received?"—
"Like a man who knows what he is about.
He flattered the vanity of the country: said
that the Piedmontese soldiers and those of
Brittany were the best in the army. When
he entered into the opera, which you have not
been able to see, because they do not play
there except during the Carnival-he said,
'I find only one fault here, and that is, this
theatre is not at Paris.' At night the interior
of the house was converted into a ball-room,
as it has since been on the occasion of the
arrival of the Prince and Princess Borghèse;
and lighted up by thousands of wax-lights, it
offered the most magnificent coup d'œil which
can be imagined. Napoleon had the policy
to open the ball with a Montferrine, one of
the dances of the country. I will relate to
you an anecdote of this ball. A Miss Alessi,
who was dancing before Napoleon, by acci-
dent trod upon his foot: he retired back a
few steps, and said to her, Ah! Miss, you
compel me to retreat.'-'It is for the first
E 3


78
THE PIEDMONTESE.
time then,' she replied. The whole evening
every one was praising her presence of mind,
but I never knew why it was thought neces-
sary to remark the next day, that she appeared
to be greatly fatigued with the ball."
At length we had finished our dinner, and
for the first time since my residence at Turin,
I found a cup of good coffee, because it had
been made expressly for my hunchback
friend. When I was about to ask for the bill,
he observed, "We will divide the expense,
but allow me to ask for the bill myself, as it
will be much more reasonable if they think it
is for me." I was indeed astonished at the
trifle we were called on to pay for an excel-
lent dinner; and it would be highly ungrate-
ful in me, if I did not here give just praise to
the excellent white truffles of Piedmont, in-
comparably superior to those of which Peri-
gord so highly vaunts.
Before we separated, a rendezvous was
fixed upon for that day week, at six o'clock
in the morning, to make two little excursions
extra muros-one to the church of the Su-
perga, and the other to visit the country
palace of Stupinis.


NO VII.
TURIN.
Marmore templum
Tum Phoebo et Trivia solido de
Instituam
Alma, viros.
-Lectosque sacrabo
VIRG. En. vi.
I SHOULD Scarcely be excused if I did not
say something of Turin itself. The city, which
is delightful as a whole, is not always so very
agreeable in detail. The streets are generally
dirty, and paved with small, round, and often
sharp pebbles, which are very disagreeable to
Parisian feet; and the women have rarely a
handsome foot. Previous to the arrival of
the French, there was not a single establish-
ment of public baths. At night the city is
gloomy, because the shops are closed at an
early hour; and as there is no patrol to inter-
fere with the personal freedom of thieves,
E 4


80
TURIN.
they have a fair field for gathering a rich
harvest from the purses of solitary pedestrians.
The stiletto, however, has fallen into disuse
since the severe laws of the French. A
Frenchman, after several others, was assassi-
nated, but for a reason which deserves to be
mentioned, since it shews how very irritable
even an assassin may be on questions of eti-
quette. Every one knows that in Italy, per-
sons of any distinction must be addressed in
the third person. A Frenchman was one
day asked by a passer-by some insignificant
question; and wishing to shew what progress
he had made in Italian, he answered in that
language, but in the second person; he in a
moment received a blow with a poniard,
accompanied by these words: "I will teach
you hereafter to address me with lei."* Under
such a master one could hardly fail to make
the most rapid progress,
In the summer it is the custom to give sere-
nades, and people remain somewhat late in the
streets. The guitar-player Anelli was at this
time all the fashion. On Sundays the palace
gardens were the public promenades, and the
* The third person of the personal pronoun.


TURIN,
81
toilettes of the ladies scarcely yielded in elegance
to those which are to be seen in the Allée du
Printems, in the gardens of the Tuileries. In
the evening it is the practice to appear in
carriages, either in the beautiful rides of the
Valentin, an abandoned palace, or on the road
of Mont Callier, one of the pleasure-houses of
the King of Sardinia, about half a league
from Turin, then used as a military hospital.
The once beautiful palace of La Venerie was
almost wholly demolished; nothing remained
except the magnificent stables, which were
incomparably superior to those of Rambouil-
let. I had visited most of these places near the
city, and through the kindness of the secre-
tary of Prince Borghèse, to whom I had been
introduced by my witty hunchback, I was
allowed to visit the grand palace. The prince
resided in the Chablais palace, contiguous to
the grand palace of the King. This was used
only on the great levee days. The furniture,
though strikingly rich, was outshone by the
unrivalled beauty of the inlaid floors. They
were divided into compartments, most skil-
fully wrought in precious wood, and in some
parts encrusted with ivory. I admired for at
E 5


82
TURIN.
long time the pictures which adorned the
vast galleries, particularly the interior gallery
of the King, ornamented with some of the
most valuable productions of Rembrandt, and
a small saloon, which contained an unique
collection of miniatures. But I ought not to
pass over the dressing-room and private
chapel of the queen. On the ledge where
she rested when engaged in asking blessings
from the King of kings, the artist had wrought
with ivory and mother of pearl a view of the
gate of the Pô, with a great number of halt,
blind, and young children begging alms of a
great lady, in shewing her that heaven where
she was to find her reward. Thus even in
her prayers the queen could not forget, that
the way to make them effectual was to be
ever ready to succour the afflicted. The Hall
of the Guards is also remarkable for its extent,
and surpasses that of the Saloon of Hercules
at Versailles. There is also at Turin, besides
many other private palaces, that of Aoste,
situated in the middle of the Great Square.
The staircase is worthy the admiration of all
travellers, and the imitation of all architects.
This palace was occupied by the tribunals,


TURIN
83
by which justice was about as well adminis-
tered as in most other Christian countries.
When a man is rich and powerful, when his
dinners are good, his advocate eloquent, and
the right on his side, it is seldom that he loses
his cause.
I expected the day of the ball with the
greatest impatience, knowing that I should
see all the élite of society assembled together.
I hired a carriage for the evening, and having
prepared my toilette with the necessary care,
arrived before nine at the palace, where all
was splendour and magnificenee. The ladies
were all seated in arm chairs, and the gentle-
men standing behind them. The gentlemen
never sit except in the card saloons, and they
never lay aside their swords and hats, except
to dance. Before midnight I recognized all
the wisdom of the advice which Marshal
Richelieu gave to courtiers-" Speak ill of no
one; ask for all the vacant places; and above
all, sit down whenever you find an opportu-
nity." The ladies were remarkably elegant
in their dress, and some of them beautiful in
their persons. At nine o'clock an usher an-
nounced the entrée of the Prince, who made
E 6


84
TURIN.
the complete circuit of the room, saying a
few words to each lady, and then opened the
ball with the partner he had previously indi-
cated. Country dances, waltzes, Montferrines,
Anglaises, and the ancient Perigourdine,
diversified the evening's amusements, and
nothing could be gayer or more animated
than they were. Supper was in the same
style of elegance and taste; but more than
once did I vent my spleen upon the absurd
etiquette which obliged the gentlemen to
stand all the time, with the chapeau under
the arm, and the sword by the side. The
ball was over at five, and I rushed to my
hotel, in order to put on my usual dress—and
then proceeded to the residence of my little
friend, having pretty successfully, but not
very easily, resisted the arguments in favour
of a short sleep.
I found him completely dressed. "Well,"
said he, "how did you get through the
night?"
"Favourably-though not without
a little fatigue."-" Rest yourself an hour or
two on that sofa, and I will waken you at
day-break." I consented very willingly, and
laid in a sort of doze, haunted by the recol-
-


TURIN.
85
::
lection of the airs I had heard at the ball, and
which still sounded in my ears, in spite of all
my efforts.
At length we set out for the Superga.
Arriving at the old bridge, near which the
French government have since erected a most
superb new one, he said, "Do you observe that
small church which they are now demolish-
ing?"-"Yes."-"Three months ago, all the
women in Turin maintained that it was wholly
impossible to tear it down."-"And why?"-----
"Because the statue of the Virgin, which it
contained, would interpose to prevent its
ruin." Getting into a boat, we floated down
the river as far as the Madonna di Pilon, a
small neat church, built on the river. Having
landed, we left on our right the road which
leads to Chieri, a little republic, which re-
mained for a long time independent. Five of
the most ancient families of Turin date their
origin from this town; and as their names
begin with the letter B, they are called the
five B of Chieri. After having passed along
the banks of the Pô for some time, we began
to ascend, and for no slight distance, as the
Superga is elevated 2100 feet above the bed


}
----
86
of the river. For many centuries an image
of the Virgin, placed on this height, was
highly venerated throughout the country.
When, at the beginning of the 18th century,
Turin was besieged by the French, and the
reigning monarch, Charles III., made a vow
to erect a magnificent church, dedicated to
the mother of our Saviour, if the French
would raise the siege : they did raise it, thanks
to the prayers of Charles III., and perhaps,
also, thanks to the wise operations of Prince
Eugene. Formerly the Superga was cele-
brated for its seminary, whence so many
bishops issued to the world, and whence,
amongst others, issued the Archbishop of
Milan. It occupied us two hours in ascend-
ing to the summit of the mountain. We had
a letter of recommendation for the excellent
Abbé Avogadro, keeper of the church, the
monastery, and the tombs,-the only one of
the ancient canons who still remained. He
received us with a singular degree of atten-
tion, shewed us every thing worth notice,
and offered us liqueurs-alas! in his own way.
After having read our letter, which was from
one of the most considerable persons of Turin,
TURIN.


TURIN.
87
he invited us to breakfast, and in accepting,
I fear that we obliged him to commit a sin,
although it will surely be regarded as a very
venial one. I think that in the largeness of
his hospitality, the Abbé Avogadro went a
little too far. He had left us about half an
hour, to attend to the preparations for break-
fast, when we heard the cries of a dog: we
did not at first pay much attention, until the
Abbé came running in, in the greatest con-
sternation, and told us that his dog had eaten
up the omelette, made of all the eggs they
had, and for which he had just beaten him
most severely. Our breakfast consisted of
macaroni, water, nuts; although there is no
place where the air creates a keener appetite
than on the summit of the Superga. The
church forms a cross, on the middle of which
is raised a dome, the ascent to which consists
of three hundred and forty-three steps. The
dome is constructed, on a narrower scale, of
the same proportions of St. Peter's at Rome.
In one of the side chapels is a Virgin in wax,
which existed before the church itself. Twenty
years were employed in the erection of this
edifice, which cost fourteen millions of francs.


88
TURIN
From the top of the Superga, we enjoyed one
of the most beautiful views that can be ima-
gined. On one side, the whole chain of the
Alps, which rise up like gigantic ramparts at
a distance of twenty leagues, and join, along
the horizon, with the Swiss mountains and
the Tyrolese Alps. On the other side, the
Apennines stretch away to the south; and
between the two chains are seen the vast and
rich plains of Piedmont and Lombardy. In
clear weather, with the aid of a telescope, the
dome of Milan is visible, though at the dis-
tance of twenty leagues.
The church of the Superga encloses in its
crypt the tombs of the Sardinian kings, who
have died since the foundation of the church.
During the Piedmontese revolution these
tombs were profaned by the fury of a savage
multitude, as the tombs of the French mo-
narchs were at St. Denis; and it is only to the
French army that Piedmont is indebted for
their preservation. The General Grouchy
was then commanding at Turin, and he made
a shew of employing a salutary force, imposed
on the most violent, and saved from devasta-
tion these religious monuments. Ten years


TURIN
89
have not been able to efface the recollection
of this kindness from the memory of the
Piedmontese.
The subterraneous church is divided into
three spacious vaults, where, by a singular
mixture of the ensigns of power and the
remains of the dead, we observe as ornaments
death's heads sculptured in marble, and
covered with a crown. The middle vault is
destined for the remains of the last king. On
the left are the tombs of the reigning branch
of the house of Carignano. As yet they
amount to no more than two. The last depo
sited is the body of the grandmother of the
present Prince Carignano. "There," said
the Abbé, "there lies the corpse of the most
virtuous and most beautiful female that Pied-
mont ever could boast of. Two months
before she was attacked by her last and fatal
malady, the Princess of Carignano came to
visit these tombs. Perceiving a ray of the
sun piercing through the vent-holes into this
asylum of death, "Here," said she, "I wish
my coffin to be placed." Whilst the Abbé
was relating this anecdote, a new ray burst
through upon the polished marble pavement,


90
TURIN.
and produced an effect upon our feelings
hardly to be described. We thanked the Abbé
for his attentions; we could not avoid smiling
at the sight of the dog which had such an
unconquerable fondness for omelettes, and
descended the mountain to the Madonna di
Pilon. Our route lay along the banks of the
Pô to Turin. On the left, the hills were
covered with beautiful country seats, which
the Piedmontese call vigne. The two most
delightful are the Vigna della Regina and the
Vigna di Chablais. We arrived at Turin rather
too late for our projected expedition to Stu-
pinis, and we agreed to sleep away our
fatigues, and to meet again the next morning
for that purpose.


N° VIII.
MY FAREWELL OF TURIN.
Lo scriver semplice e naturale m'è sempre piacuto, parendomi
ch'egli esprima il concetto più breve, e vivo, e chiaro, che il
compilato con molt' arte.
DAVANZATI.
I AM delighted at being able to support my
opinions by the authority of the translator of
Tacitus, one of the greatest writers that Flo-
rence ever produced, although he never was
member of the Della Crusca academy. Strong
in such authority, I shall continue to indulge,
without art and without method, the caprices
of memory, drawing from books only when
necessary to fill up those gaps which no one
is more quick to perceive than myself. I
ought, for instance, to say something of the
state of arts in Piedmont; of the Academy of
Turin, so ably directed by the learned, re-


92
MY FAREWELL of TURIN.
spectable, and modest Count di Balbi;-of
Mlle. di Saluces, surnamed the Muse of
Piedmont ;-nor should I omit to say, that
the celebrated mathematician Lagrange was
a native of Turin. But I hasten on without
delay, like those cultivators who dig up the
surface of the soil without going to its
bottom.
The morning after our pilgrimage to the
Superga, I was still asleep when my compa-
nion entered the chamber; it was already
nine o'clock, and a carriage was waiting for
us at the gate of the city. "Before we set
out," said he, "I mean that you shall take
your chocolate in the rue St. Thérèse, with
Imoda Dalmazzo." We entered into a large
wainscotted room, the walls of which were
quite blackened by time, and sat down on
joint-stools over a cup of most savoury choco-
late, in which we dipped our pieces of the
bread called Gressini. We were almost alone,
for the Italians take a cup of plain coffee
only in the morning, which they call black
coffee, and in which there is about as much
to eat as to drink. We found there an in-
habitant of Alexandria, whom I had already


MY FAREWELL OF TURIN.
93
met several times. He soon began to turn
the conversation to the subject of women-a
subject disagreeable to no one, and particu-
larly to my little friend. Whilst the scandal
was flying about between my two companions,
three or four females entered the place, each
of them attended by two or three cavaliers,
and the noise of their conversation made the
roof echo again, for nothing is more sonorous
than the voice of the Piedmontese women of
the middle class, unless it be the voice of
women of the highest class. I remarked
once more how much the gaiety of the women
was contrasted with the serious and even
gloomy appearance of the men; and I am of
opinion that national differences are more
strongly marked amongst men than amongst
women. After an hour of sufficiently amusing
conversation, it appeared to us time for raising
the siege, and we set out for Stupinis. The
road which leads to it is charming; on both
sides the meadows are watered by large
ditches, covered with trees and filled with
running water; for the art of irrigation is no
where carried to a greater extent than in
Piedmont. Coming to a place where the


94
MY FAREWELL OF TURIN.
road branched off, my companion pointed out
to me an abandoned cottage. "Observe,"
said he, "that modern ruin, with which a very
singular fact is connected, and which proves
all the barbarism of our laws. About six
years since, a robbery of some magnitude
was committed at Turin. Two daring rob-
bers, and who had not until that time passed
for robbers, introduced themselves into the
house of a wealthy individual, through the
means of a false key. They were arrested,
tried, and condemned to ten years of hard
labour. They are now employed in digging
the earth about the fortifications of Alexan-
dria, nor can any thing be more just; but at
the time of their trial, the false key being
seized, it was ascertained to be the fabrication
of a poor devil of a locksmith, who in making
it after a model, thought he was engaged in
honest labour for honest persons. Implicated
in their guilt, he was condemned to five years
of hard labour. When he had finished his
time, he applied for work, and was repulsed
on all sides. Most of the mayors objected to
his establishing himself in their districts. Not
knowing what to do with himself, he built


MY FAREWELL OF TURIN.
95
the cottage you observe on the borders of two
townships, in the hope that each of the two
mayors would consider him as a resident in
the district of his neighbour. There he lived
as well as he could, upon the little he gained
by shoeing horses and mending carriages;
but he was constantly in fear about his
wretched residence. At last the poor devil
was so miserable that he regretted the gallies,
and without resources, without any place of
repose, he forged another false key, broke
into a house, pretended that his object was
robbery, and did in fact get possession of
some unimportant articles, and made no
effort to conceal himself from the researches
of justice. He was arrested, brought before
the Court of Assizes, where he was regarded
as a convict for the second time.
He con-
fessed very frankly the crime and its motives,
and was condemned for two months' impri-
sonment; his punishment will expire in about
two months, and I have been told that on his
liberation the government will oblige some
one of the mayors to receive him in his dis-
trict. Can you imagine a situation more
deserving of pity and of interest ?"—"No,"


96
MY FAREWELL OF TURIN.
said I to him; "but since the administration
of justice is left to man, he must have his
faults; his nature is not the less divine."
In the mean time, we were travelling the
beautiful road which passes through the forest
of Stupinis. We crossed the Sangone, a quiet
stream in summer; but when the snows ac-
cumulate in winter, it swells into a mountain
torrent. Through a long avenue we caught
the first view of one of the most elegant
palaces that ever was seen. The Kings of
Sardinia never inhabited it, except when it
was used as a hunting seat at the festival of
St. Hubert. A golden stag on the summit
of the dome proclaims its uses.
It is a mag-
nificent pile of building, and presents all
kinds of architectural beauty. The courts,
stables, servants' lodges, wings, are very ele-
gant; and Stupinis is in reality an enchanting
residence.
Beneath the dome is a vast rotunda, orna-
mented with some fine frescoes; in the middle
of its elevation is a tier of galleries, which
communicate with the first story. The
ground floor, which is warmed by means of
twelve fire-places, opens on one side to the


MY FAREWELL OF TURIN.
97
park, on the other into the court, and leads
to the principal apartments. In the absence
of the governor, the Marquis de Luzerne, we
were conducted by the keeper over the rooms,
gardens, and galleries.
"I will tell you an anecdote," said my com-
panion, "of which this palace was the scene,
during the stay of Buonaparte here, whilst on
his way to Milan to be crowned King of Italy:
but
you shall not hear it until we come to the
very room where it took place."
""
He knew the turns and windings of Stupinis
as well as if he had been its architect; and
making me ascend a small staircase at the
end of a gallery in the left angle of the palace,
he led me first into a long corridor, on both
sides of which was a range of small apart-
ments. We entered one of them, where I saw
portraits of several of the Popes, and sitting
down, he began: "This room was occupied
by the pretty Madame, attached to the
household of the Empress Josephine. Napo-
leon, who had a pass-key, entered her cham-
ber one morning about two o'clock: the
lady, however, was not alone, but in company
with an aide-de-camp of the Emperor. He
VOL. I.
F


98
MY FAREWELL OF TURIN.
had just time to escape under the bed, as
Napoleon came in. After setting down his
dark lantern, he lighted the candles, and per-
ceiving some embarrassment on the part of
the lady, he began to search, and found cer-
tain articles of dress which could not belong
to a lady's toilette. 'Aha!' says the Emperor,
'there is a man here! Whoever you are,
Sir, I command you to come forth.' It would
not do to disobey, and the poor aide-de-camp
crawled forth. He dressed and departed, in
great terror of his master's wrath the next
day. No notice was ever taken of the misad-
venture."-" But how do you know these
details? I am sure you must exaggerate, for
neither of the persons concerned in it were
likely to tell."-"Not so, neither; but step
into the adjoining apartment, and you will
hear all I say as plainly as if you were sitting
by my side." I tried the experiment, and
saw that it was the fact. Since my return to
Paris I have often met the fair lady in society,
and I confess that I should be very glad to
encounter her at a masked ball-so great is
my anxiety to settle all disputed points of
history, public or private.


MY FAREWELL OF TURIN.
99
The day was delightful, and we dined at
Stupinis. Little hunchback related to me a
great number of scandalous anecdotes of the
Borghese court, during the short stay of the
Princess there. I do not regret having for-
gotten most of what he told me, as I have no
wish to say any thing indiscreet upon the sub-
ject of princely morals. It was night before
we got into the carriage, and were escorted
on the way, though the season was far ad-
vanced, by myriads of fire-flies, glittering
and sparkling along the meadows, which had
just been mowed for the fourth or fifth time.
At half-past eight we entered the city, and
were struck with the sight of a conflagration
in the quarter of the Consola, a title given to
that part of the city by the church of the
Vergina Consolata. "It will come to no-
thing," said my friend: "a fire here has
nothing disturbing about it; the level of the
town is so perfect, that on the first sound
of a bell, the water of the river can be
brought to all parts, and in a few minutes
be made to flow past the very door of the
burning house." Directing our course to the
place where the fire was, we found it extin-
>
F 2


100
MY FAREWELL OF TURIN.
guished on our arrival. These waters of the
Doire are so skilfully managed, that it requires
only a small quantity to turn twenty-two
powder mills, which are built on a sort of
staircase, so that the water which turns the
upper one successively turns those below it.
This is the most perfect thing of the kind I
have ever seen. We were now at home;
and after wishing each other good night, we
parted.
The next day, being desirous of visiting the
church of the Consolata, which I had hitherto
overlooked in my perambulations of the town,
I went there at an early hour, and was sur-
prized with the gilding, marbles, and beautiful
grand altar. What struck me the most was,
a mode of devotion hitherto unwitnessed by
me. It is impossible to imagine the great
number of ex-votos which fill the walls of the
church, both above and below.
Let any
extraordinary event take place, whether for-
tunate or unfortunate, and it is made the
subject of a little picture, which is then pre-
sented to the Virgin, and all who take any
interest in these events go to prostrate them-
selves before the pictures. Sometimes a man


MY FAREWELL OF TURIN.
101
is represented as tumbling from a window,
a horse is running away, deformed children
are in the act of birth, carriages overturning,
legs and arms broken, boats sinking, and
every other sort of accident is painted in these
wretched daubs-in comparison of which, the
most miserable sign-painting is a Raphael's
work. Whilst I was walking in the church,
a female devotee was looking for the sexton,
to give him a portrait to be hung upon the
walls. Was it the portrait of a friend? No.
Of a sister or brother? No. Of a lover?
You are still in the dark. It was the portrait
of a little dog, which had just recovered from
a severe fit of illness !
I had remained some time at Turin, lead-
ing a very agreeable life; but it was now the
20th of November, and I determined to con-
tinue my journey, without taking leave of any
one except my "disfeatured" friend, who
had procured for me some letters for the
other Italian cities. I sold to a Jew my court
dress and sword, in order that I might not be
tempted to visit other courts, and then set
about hiring a place in a vetturino. On the
way I entered a distiller's shop, to get a glass
F 3


102
MY FAREWELL OF TURIN.
of liqueur called rosa-bianca, or alkermes. At
first I objected to drinking it at the counter,
until I saw that it was done by the most
fashionable persons at Turin. The liqueurs
here are in great reputation. The vetturini
were more numerous than I wished to find
them. At a certain hour these people fill a
street where they reside. At least a dozen
of them came upon me at once, with the most
intolerable eagerness and noise: "Sir, sir,"
said one, "I have a famous calash and two
good horses: I am ready for all parts of the
world-fifty leagues-a hundred-two hun-
dred." But I wish to go no further than
Alexandria."-"To Alexandria! that will cost
you twenty-five francs, including your supper
and bed at Asti."-"How my bed? will it
take two days to go twenty leagues?"-" We
shall get there early on the day after to-
morrow."-"The day after to-morrow?
and why not to-morrow?"-" Because we
can't set off to-day." "But I wish to set
off to-day."—" Oh! then you must find
a vetturino who is content with a single
fare." Another then came up, and offered
to set off immediately if I would give him
66
#
--


MY FAREWELL OF TURIN.
103
fifty francs he was a partner of the one
who had just left me. A third would take
forty-five francs-another, forty; till at last,
in order to get out of the hubbub with safety
to my clothes and person, I closed with the
first who had offered, and fixed my departure
for the next day; and as I was about to give
him some earnest-money, he put into my
hands a Piedmontese crown: "There," said
he, "is your caparro (security) for a place in
my carriage; to-morrow, early in the morning,
I shall be ready for you at your hotel." The
rest of the day I passed with little hunchback,
who wished me to stay all the winter at
Turin; and indeed I was more than once
tempted to do so, but the curiosity of seeing,
and a restless disposition, prevented me.


N° IX.
ALEXANDRIA.
O fera notte! andiam doman, col sole.
ALFIERI.
THE vetturino who was unwilling the day
before to set out at noon, came to rouse me
at two in the morning, and we set out for
Alexandria. The slow pace of our mules
allowed me time to examine the plains of
Piedmont. On the hillier parts I observed
great numbers of small oxen, of a dunnish
cream colour, drawing small cars without
wheels. They were fastened to a pole, the
upper end of which, bent towards the car-
riage, was raised about a cubit above the
horses. At Villanova we dined. The bread
here is made without leaven, and the peasant
girls wear long white veils, which fall back
upon their shoulders. The country looked
?


ALEXANDRIA.
105
as fresh as it would in France in the beginning
of autumn; the climate here keeps its plea-
sant warmth at least a month later than in
the environs of Paris. In this part of the
country, pears, peaches, and grapes are sold
by the pound of twelve ounces. A pound of
beautiful pears cost three French sous. Each
of them would have cost three or four sous at
Paris.
We slept at Asti, a town of Montferrat.
This town is the birth-place of Alfieri, the
regenerator, or rather the creator of Italian
tragedy. The Italians say that his pieces
combine the tenderness of Racine with the
grandeur of Corneille. He died at Florence,
full of regret at being unable to found a per-
manent academy and an Italian theatre. The
next morning we breakfasted at Quatordic,
and arrived about mid-day at Alexandria, a
warlike town, bristling with fortifications and
´cannon, and filled with French soldiers; none
but military music heard, and every man we
saw had a fur cap and large mustachios.
The town itself is very dirty; the streets
narrow, dark, and crooked; the pavement
small and sharp. The Place d'Armes is square,
if


106
ALEXANDRIA.
and about the size of the Place Royale at
Paris. The town-hall is an old brick building,
of a severe style, at the upper end of the
place. Amongst the crowd of persons walk-
ing here, I observed a great number of Abbés
mixed up with the soldiers, and very few
civilians, except public functionaries, sent
from France into Piedmont and the Genoese
country. The public walks appeared to me
very gloomy.,. There are no others than the
ramparts, which are covered with mortars,
cannons, balls, and the frowning brows of
the sentinels.
7
It is said that this city contains 30,000
inhabitants but they keep a great deal in
their houses, particularly since the introduc-
tion of a numerous French garrison. The
native belles appear rarely in the streets, but
the wives of the French officers or employés
are sometimes to be seen. The citadel, built
on the north, is one of the strongest in Italy.
A great number of soldiers were at work
upon the fortifications, under the superin-
tendance of French engineers. Three thou-
sand convicts were employed upon these
works.


ALEXANDRIA.
107
From Turin to Alexandria, as well as in
this latter town, the atmosphere appeared to
me to be thick, heavy, and sultry. In Alex-
andria we hear scarcely any thing except the
firing of cannon and the ringing of bells.
A covered bridge about four hundred fathoms
in length extends across the Tanaro: it is for
carriages, as well as for horse and foot pas-
sengers. It is a curious erection, and the
view from the sides is remarkable. There
are great numbers of poor at Alexandria, and,
as in the rest of Italy, they are covered with
sores, and almost naked.
At the opening of the theatre, I went to
the pit. The body of the house is somewhat
smaller than that at Turin: but the whimsical
arrangement and colour of the curtains and
draperies which ornament the five tiers of
boxes, present a coup-d'œil at once irregular
and original. At Turin, each tier has a par-
ticular colour-at Alexandria, each box has
its own; and the colours are so diversified,
that they strike the traveller with surprise.
The Italian females occupy the boxes; they
are dressed with sufficient taste, but their
fashions are not quite so new as those of the


108
ALEXANDRIA.
French ladies, who sit in the pit with the
strangers and townspeople. The orchestra
and the singing, without being as perfect as
in the higher order of Italian cities, still bear
evidence to the extent of Italian taste. The
grotesque dancers appeared to me to be even
more nimble, fantastic, and dislocated than
those of Turin. In general, the aspect of the
theatre here was more rude and foreign than
any I had yet seen in Italy. In other respects,
the city, in its general appearance, had a mili-
tary cast, very unlike the ease and comfort of
towns where civil industry more prevails.
Returned to my hotel, I went to sleep on a
mattress filled with large leaves of Turkish
corn. Every motion on it made a rustling
noise, which for a long time most effectually
prevented any thing like sleep. The next
day our vetturino did not please to set off
until ten o'clock. The crackling of my bed
had awakened me long before the break of
day, and thus I gained an opportunity of seeing
a little more of the town. It was a market-
day, and the provisions appeared to be very
abundant. The French ladies, with baskets
on their arms, mixed up with the Italian


ALEXANDRIA.
109
h the
bestra
ect as
bear
The
even
than
than
ects,
rt of
On a
ish
ng
Xt
of
n
cooks and maid-servants, were making their
way through triple lanes of farmers and their
wives. The prices of provisions seemed to be
very moderate: a pound of grapes cost a
French sou, and other fruits were sold in the
same proportion.
I had already traversed the city and visited
the churches, which are very uninteresting,
and began to be tired of a garrison town,
when I heard the clock strike the hour fixed
for our departure for Tortona, which is only
four post leagues from Alexandria. My com-
panion in the carriage was a Frenchman, who
had resided in Italy since the year 1805.
Named Imperial procurator in the courts of
Bobbio, he had been to Alexandria for a few
days, and was now returning to his own place.
I was delighted to find myself with a country-
man; and in the following chapters some
evidence will be given of the great mass of
information he had collected concerning those
tribes of people who were enclosed in the
deep vallies of the Appenines, as if they were
entombed-tribes whose manners were almost
primitive, and who were as ignorant of the
rest of Italy as the people of Lower Bretagne


110
ALEXANDRIA.
are of the rest of France. We had now
passed the Bormida, which runs on the
southern side of Alexandria, and unites be-
yond the town with the Tanaro, and arrived
on the celebrated plain of Marengo. The
astronomer Lalande once seriously requested
that the name of this battle, which made
France once more mistress of Italy, broke
the power of Austria, and prepared the peace
of Amiens, should be changed-on the pre-
tence that Marengo sounded so much like
Madame Angot.* Buonaparte had already
made up his mind to barter the consular for
the imperial dignity, and therefore excused
the mauvaise plaisanterie of his brother mem-
ber of the Institute.
The Abbé Delille, in his poem L'Imagina-
tion, has very beautifully touched upon the
associations connected with a field of battle.
My companion and I fixed our eyes upon the
column near the road, in front of the village
of Marengo. We did not utter a word, but
our thoughts were the same :-we fancied
* There is probably some covert allusion here, or else the
joke is a dull one indeed.
1
(
1


ALEXANDRIA.
111
Dessaix, as he received his mortal wound,
after having ensured the success of the battle-
tulit alter honores.
My original intention was to proceed direct-
ly to Florence by the way of Placentia and
Parma; but the society of my fellow-traveller
induced me to change the route, and accom-
pany him to Bobbio. We were still upon the
plains of Marengo, when I recollected an
anecdote which happened here during the
battle; and though it resembles many others
in history, yet it is not the less striking, as
indicating a kind of inconceivable fatality.
Two twin brothers, inhabitants of a village in
the environs of Colmar, were enrolled, at the
commencement of the revolution, in the first
conscription. Placed in different regiments,
they had not seen each other from the time
they quitted their paternal mansion. The
one who was the best educated arrived to the
rank of captain; the other remained a simple
grenadier. These two brothers met at the
battle of Marengo. The struggle was nearly
over, when the captain obtained permission
to see his brother for a short time; he was in
a regiment stationed at some distance from


112
ALEXANDRIA.
his own. Scarcely had they met and clasped
each other in their arms, than they fell life-
less, pierced by the same cannon ball. Alas!
who shall pretend to explain the cruel sports
of fate?
We arrived at a bridge, constructed not
many years before by the French engineers.
It is more than a quarter of a league in length.
We passed it on foot. One end of this beau-
tiful bridge reaches to a point not more than
a mile from Tortona. The torrent which
dashes beneath it expands or narrows itself
by turns; sometimes it is a mere thread, then
it swells to a size that fills up the whole
breadth of the bridge, and bears away in its
course the men and beasts who may be
crossing its bed, in the confidence that the
waters cannot rush down from the mountains
with sufficient rapidity to arrest their pro-
gress. Not even the bridge itself could with-
stand the current, but for the wise precautions
which have been taken to counteract the
violence of its assaults.
It was Sunday, and the middle and lower
classes of the populace had flocked in crowds
to this beautiful bridge, and nearly choked


ALEXANDRIA.
113
our way with their numbers, as we entered
Tortona at three in the afternoon. The inn
to which we drove was one of those old and
irregular buildings which mark the small and
sombre towns of the Appenines. The vettu-
rino left us here-as I had arranged to pur-
sue the road over the mountains to Bobbio.
There is no passage over these mountains for
four-wheeled, or even two-wheeled carriages,
and mules form the only mode of conveyance.
In searching for two of these animals and a
guide, we entered the chief café of the town;
it consisted of two shabby chambers, contain-
ing half a dozen wooden benches about a
long table, where the lovers of coffee indulged
in that beverage, very copiously diluted with
water, and kept for three or four days in the
same state of tepid warmth.


N° X.
NARRATIVE.
Ce qu'on ne doit point voir, qu'un récit nous l'expose.
BOILEAU.
WHILST We were drinking our coffee and
rosoglio, we observed in the inner chamber
three or four priests, and some of the jolly
citizens of Tortona, whose fluctuating opinions
kept just at the thermometrical grade of the
day; and we could scarcely credit the devo-
tedness of these Abbés to Napoleon, particu-
larly at the very moment when he was guilty
of the most inexcusable conduct towards the
Pope. "It is in this café," said my official
friend, "that I stopped several years ago, on
my first visit to Bobbio: and since you are
rather curious for details of the circumstances
which attended my first arrival in this country,
I


NARRATIVE.
115
I will satisfy you, as far as my memory will
allow. It was towards the end of October
1805. Then, as now, I heard a crowd of
Abbés discoursing most enthusiastically on
the power and grandeur of the French Govern-
ment, although they execrated it from the
very bottom of their hearts. Through dark
and narrow streets I made my way towards
the residence of the person who I understood
had a great number of carriages to let, with
whom I shall make you acquainted to-morrow,
and in the course of our route you shall be
informed of the particulars of my journey.
In the mean time, I am ready to act as your
valet de place, and point out some of the pecu-
liarities of Tortona. The ruins you saw just
now are the remains of the citadel and fortifi-
cations, which the French made themselves
masters of in 1642; they were afterwards
rebuilt, but for many years past Tortona has
been entirely dismantled. You must have
remarked amongst the citizens on the bridge,
that the women of this district are neat and
pretty; but heaven protect you from the inns:
both masters and valets are dirty enough-
and there are not here, as in France, any such
•
|


116
NARRATIVE.
things as maid-servants to be met with in the
inns.
"My notions of physiognomy, as derived
from a knowledge of the French face, may
have contributed to lessen the Piedmontese
countenances in my opinion; but I ought
nevertheless to make an exception in favour
of the innkeeper at the Hôtel de Verona, in
this town, whose appearance, together with
that of his whole family, iuspired me with
the greatest confidence. My first attempts at
bargaining in Tortona were for a conveyance
to Bobbio, and I soon found out that I had
been cheated in more than half the amount I
paid. It is not worth my while to describe
to you the appearance which my equipage
made, as you will have an opportunity of
witnessing something similar to it to-morrow,
in your own case. After ascending and
descending a sufficient number of steep, nar-
row, and rocky paths, sometimes through
forests, and oftener over barren precipices,
we at last arrived at the summit; it was then
our business to descend, but my guide con-
trived to lose his way in the bed of a torrent,
which it required some hours' most anxious
!
1
1
1
{


NARRATIVE.
117
and uncertain labour to discover again. We
fell in with two ecclesiastics, with whom I
soon made an acquaintance, and through
whose courtesies I was enabled to take up
my lodging for the night, in the house of the
curate of Varzi, a small village about half-
way to Bobbio. My official character having
been made known, all the functionaries of the
town and the vicinity came to pay their re
spects; and what with our ignorance of our
respective languages, the interviews were
uncommonly amusing. In the morning the
same ceremony of compliment was repeated,
and I passed with a numerous train through
the crowded tents of the fair, which was then
being held at Varzi. On reaching another
small eminence, the guide cried out, Master,
master, look there! look there!'- What is
it?' I inquired. 'Bobbio, Bobbio!' pointing
with his finger to a small huddle of houses;
and added, 'There is your home.'-' There,'
I said to myself, there is my prison.'
6
"What a prospect! a few scattered houses,
covered with yellow tiles, and built of dark-
grey stone, buried in the bottom of a narrow
valley at the foot of Mount Penice, whose
6


118
NARRATIVE.
sides we were obliged to descend for more
than two hours, by a winding and perilous
path. This country is just the same in ap-
pearance as it was when described by Tacitus,
except that the vine has been since intro-
duced. We entered Bobbio with some éclat,
and I took up my temporary residence with
the two ecclesiastics. This town is a sort of
capital of the villages and hamlets scattered
about in this part of the Appenines, and was
built by Saint Colomban. It is cut up by a
few narrow streets, badly paved, dirty,
gloomy, and is called by the people of the
neighbouring plains, L'Urinale dell' Italia, a
most characteristic title. It is built on the
banks of the Trebia, a torrent celebrated for
the victory which Hannibal gained on its
banks, near Bobbio, over the consul Sempro-
nius. The view of the interior did not change
or weaken any of the impressions which the
external aspect had created. I beheld several
priests in old faded black gowns; civilians in
long dirty great coats, with clumsy capes
and hanging sleeves; and whole processions
of geese and swine, cackling and grunting
through the streets. The houses were ill


NARRATIVE.
119
built, and surrounded by walls almost in ruins,
excited very slight desire to effect an entrance.
The windows had rarely any other sort of
glazing than oiled paper. In this town of
some twelve hundred inhabitants, there were
not more than fifteen decently built houses,
The little place was thrown into confusion by
our arrival. The arrival of a stranger amongst
them was an uncommon event; and from the
time of the Carthaginian invasion to the visit
of the French under Marshal Macdonald, in
1799, it would have been no very difficult
thing to have numbered up all the strangers
who had been intrepid enough to encounter
the perils of this savage district. The in-
habitants, covered with their smock-frocks,
stood out in front of their houses, and stared
at us with open eyes. As my companions
were known, their principal attention was
directed to me. It was soon made known to
the village politicians that a Frenchman had
arrived, to take upon him the chief office of
their civil tribunals.
"The inhabitants of mountain districts are
commonly shrewd, and they soon gave me


120
NARRATIVE.
credit for no ordinary courage, in having
thus ventured to take up my residence in
Bobbio. For a century previous, such a thing
had never been done, except by a Piedmon-
tese Bishop, and a German captain of the
garrison."
i


No XI.
BOBBIO.
Quod fuit durum pati, meminisse dulce est.
SENECA.
My companion warmed himself quite into
a state of enthusiasm whilst describing the
savage beauties of his residence; though it
should be stated, that he occasionally re-
joiced that he was about to quit it for ever.
Such is the disposition of man; he delights
in exaggerating to others the sources of his
own misery, and those who dwell most elo-
quently on the happiness of a humble station,
are generally those who are most ambitious
of distinction. For myself, it is not without
great pleasure that I recall to mind the vallies
of the Appenines, in which so many villages
are buried, whose inhabitants resemble the
portrait which La Fontaine has left us of the
peasants on the Danube.
VOL. I.
G


122
BOBBIO.
The next day we recommenced our journey,
and my companion resumed his narrative.-
"Immediately after my arrival I received the
visits of all my colleagues, the new justices of
the peace, and the other members of the tri-
bunal. Far from resembling the Romans,
who adopted the laws of the people they con-
quered, and whose gods they placed in the
capitol, Napoleon was anxious that all the
provinces united to the Grand Empire should
speak French, and should renounce those
laws which their topographical and moral re-
lations as well as the habits of ages-had
established and confirmed. This desire on his
part very often placed the judges and ad-
ministrators of such countries in situations
the most perplexing, and forced them to adopt
interpretations the most ridiculous.
--
"We were soon engaged in the pleasant ser-
vice of eating; but my attention was caught by
he manner in which the table was arranged.
First a sort of carpet of coloured wool was
laid over it; then came a table-cloth, and
above that a parcel of napkins. The glasses
were placed in a kind of stand made of painted
iron plates; the bottles and the water-pitchers


BOBBIO.
123
were placed on pieces of thin iron, in the same
way: under each of these stands were placed
leaves of the mulberry or vine, so that the whole
had a curious appearance. Our napkins were
large enough for pocket-handkerchiefs, and
it was no easy business for me to dispose of
mine. Two long thin pieces of board, covered
with coloured paper, hung down from the
beams above the table, and one of the ser-
vants was constantly swinging these back-
wards and forwards by means of a string, so
that during the dinner they served us as fans,
refreshing the air, and driving away the flies,
which would otherwise have made very se-
rious encroachments on our fare. The meal
began with a glass of vermont, which is the
name they give to a yellow bitter sort of li-
quor. The potages consisted of lassagua, (a
thin broad paste, not unlike macaroni in taste,)
and of vermicelli. Then came the fritura,
without which no Italian can make a dinner;
and after this the other usual dishes, which
were by no means deficient in quantity nor
quality. The arrangement of the table was
not very symmetrical; dish followed dish, in
slow succession, until the dessert. The plates
G 2


124
BOBBIO.
and dishes were made of pewter, as they
are throughout the mountains of Italy, and
amongst the monks of France. The kitchen
of my ecclesiastical friends did not strike me
as being very delicate. The dessert was suffi-
ciently respectable; and the wine—though the
production of the country-was not bad.
Neither coffee nor liqueurs followed the repast.
Coffee is drank only at breakfast, and liquors
are rarely given, except during visits in the
middle of the day. At Bobbío it is a custom
to hand to every visitor a large glass of white
wine, or a small one of some choice liquor, to
every visitor. The domestic does this as a
matter of course, and never waits for his
master's orders. The moment a stranger en-
ters he follows him with a pewter server, on
which is a bottle wine, and a flask of ro-
soglio. The bon-ton is to accept the offer, but
the number of glasses is measured by the de-
gree of the visitor's thirst, or the strength of
his head.
"In all the better houses of the town the
greater number of the rooms are bare and
cold. The walls are of a yellowish white co-
lour, and covered with mirrors-about six


BOBBIO.
125
inches in width, and two feet in length; and
they are hung about the room, eight or ten
feet from the floor, so as to be utterly useless,
except to such as are willing to mount a chair.
Glass manufactories are not very frequent in
this part of Italy, and these ornaments are
therefore somewhat expensive. The less opu-
lent inhabitants of Bobbio substitute for them
little frames of coloured paper.
"The Italians are great mimics. They
have certain exclamations which, though mo-
nosyllabic, tell more than whole phrases in
other languages. Their gestures are singu-
larly expressive, and their grimaces-which
they understand perfectly-form a language.
"The day after my arrival I learnt that
Bobbio possessed a single palace, inhabited
by one of the nobles of the country—a Mar-
chioness Malaspina. The Marquis, her hus-
band, resided at Pavia, about eight leagues
distance; whilst his lady preferred living in a
village, because she could be the first person-
age in it.
"I was told it would be expected, as a mat-
ter of duty, that I should pay my respects to
her the very evening of my arrival. Not having
G 3


126
BOBBIO.
opened my trunks, I deferred it until the next
day, and found that I had been guilty of a
great offence. In Italy, as every where else,
the small towns are the seats of rivalry and
backbiting. It was reported to the Mar-
chioness, that the President of the Tribunal
had told me there was no necessity of my
being in any great haste to pay my visit: this
gallant person came running to me the next
morning, quite out of breath, with the sad
tidings, that he had just been most severely
reprimanded by the Marchioness for his neg-
ligence, and he besought me to accompany
him in the course of the evening to the great
lady, and to plead the impossibility of any
earlier visit, in consequence of the state of
my wardrobe.
This,' said he, is the only
way in which both of us may escape from the
dilemma.' To this proposition I willingly
acceded, and we reached the palace a little
before the usual hour of the assembly. After
passing through a long dark gallery, studded
with family portraits, and having deposited
our outward garments in an anti-room, we
entered the room where, in the midst of some
twelve or fifteen antiquated serious old ladies,
6
6
1
1
I
1
1
1


BOBBIO.
127
sat the Marchioness herself. To my compli-
ments, which I had commited to memory out
of a book, she answered in French. The other
ladies, however, bowed very gravely, and
the men, who were standing up, returned my
salute in a frigid way: they were the greater
part of them ecclesiastics. Soon afterwards
we were regaled with some music. A young
Abbé accompanied himself on the piano to a
comic song, with much taste, delicacy, and
spirit. I found that the Marchioness had in
most respects adopted French manners; and,
from the engravings in the Journal des Modes,
she contrived to accommodate her dress to
the French fashions. The company at her
parties was extremely formal and dull, but it
was all that Bobbío could produce, and I
made the best of it. The cavalieri serventi
always arranged themselves at the sides of
their respective ladies, and when any lady
happened to have two, one was stationed on
the right, and the other on the left hand: if
their number exceeded two, they were sta-
tioned according to their privilege. The
chief diversion of these parties was a game at
G 4


128
BOBBIO.
cards called chuchu. It is the dullest of all
conceivable sports, and depends entirely on
the manner in which it is played; the trick-
ery of the ladies, the sacrifices of the gen-
tlemen, and all the little compliments and
finesses which Italians know so well how to
employ. All the rules of the game are re-
gularly abandoned to the reciprocal success
della Signora e del caro cavaliere.
In France, in proportion as a woman is
attached to a man, does she delight in quizz-
ing and contradicting him; but in Italy, where
all is sentiment and tenderness, the slightest
raillery would destroy the most intimate con-
nexion.
"The Malaspina family is one of the most
ancient and honourable in the north of Italy.
Nearly the whole of this district was once a
fief of theirs; it has, however, fallen from
its ancient grandeur, and has become so ex-
tended and ramified, that some of its branches
are to be found in every part of Italy, and
even in Austria. Many of them are extremely
poor; and one of them, having married a
peasant girl, established himself at Bobbío,


BOBBIO.
129
not far from the hotel of the Marchioness, as
a tailor. My regard for the lady induced me
to encourage her kinsman, and he has re-
ceived my
custom ever since my residence in
the town.
"In this district the cold commences at
the end of November. The snow falls as
abundantly as in the north of France. It is
sometimes thrown up into immense drifts in
the valley of the Trebia, and the streets of
Bobbio are not infrequently covered to the
depth of two or three feet."
However, we continued the route which my
travelling companion had described, and with
such an exactitude that I recognized it at every
step.
We arrived at Bobbio in the evening,
where I was treated by him with the greatest
hospitality. I passed three days there, and
was introduced to the Marchioness he had des-
cribed. It was, and is a great matter of regret,
that sufficient time was not allowed me to
study the manners of the people-which are
less known in France than those of the North
American tribes; but I was extremely de-
sirous of arriving at Genoa before the sailing
G 5


130
BOB BIO.
of the Breslau, a ship of war, on board of
which was one of my most intimate friends.
She did sail-but her destiny was similar to
that of many other French vessels-I never
knew into which English port she was car-
ried.


No XII.
FROM BOBBIO TO GENOA.
Adieu, Gênes détestable,
Adieu, séjours de Plutus;
Adieu, l'ennui qui m'accable;
Mes yeux ne te verront plus.
MONTESQUIEU.
It was just as I was descending the last
declivity of the Appenines, and about to
escape from the defiles in which I had so long
been wandering, that the preceding lines of
Montesquieu flashed upon my memory.
I
confess that I cannot imagine a cause for the
injustice of that great writer towards a city
which so well merits the title bestowed upon
it by the Italians, of Genoa la Superba, and
which all liberal strangers so willingly con-
firm. I had never yet beheld that magnificent
city, and all that I had heard of it only aug-
G 6


132
FROM BOBBIO TO GENOA.
mented my curiosity. It was near the end of
November, and the snow which had fallen
during the night obliged me to hasten my ex-
pedition. It would not be easy to picture the
savage beauty of the road I was obliged to
travel. My host at Bobbio bade me farewell
with an appearance of interest, which to a
stranger was not a little soothing. The path
was narrow and impassable, except for mules
and foot passengers. To ascend, and descend,
re-ascend, and re-descend-and almost al-
ways between lofty precipices :-such for two
whole days was the character of my route;
and I had occasion to remark, that the Appe-
nines were still more rugged and impractica-
ble than even the Alps. If the journey was
not dangerous, it was at least excessively un-
pleasant; and I was constantly disputing with
my guide about some danger which after-
wards proved to have been visionary. But it
required stronger nerves than mine, to pass
unmoved and tranquil along the edges of pre-
cipices, where a single false step of the mule
would have flung me down into abysses two
or three thousand feet below me. The guide
pointed out the exactness with which my


FROM BOBBIO TO GENOA.
133
mule placed his feet in the very tracks where
his predecessors for centuries had put theirs.
This was some security to me, and I follow-
ed his advice, to let the beast take his own
way; the slightest check of the bridle might
cause a false step, and inevitable destruction
would be the consequence.
We saw at intervals several villages stud-
ding the mountains, and scarcely distinguish-
able from the dark grey rocks, on which and
out of which they were built. We passed
a great many small and wretched cottages,
which seemed to be wedged in rocky defiles,
or suspended from the hanging ridges of
frightful precipices. Some of these were
only to be approached by rude staircases, cut
out of the rocks. How strangely constituted
must the mind of man be, that it can endure
existence in spots so dreadful as these, when
within a few leagues' distance the most fertile
and beautiful regions are open to his choice!
My guide informed me that in the course
of a few days it would be utterly impossible
to return by the same road; the vallies-de-
files-precipices-would all be covered with
snow, and nothing would be discernible but


134
FROM BOBBIO TO GENOA.
one vast sheet of snow, through which a
solitary fir tree would now and then shoot up
its lofty and whitened branches. No track
is then to be discovered; and not unfrequently
man and mule are tumbled into the gulfs
below, whilst engaged in the perilous search.
At the time I passed the road, there were not
more than six or eight inches of snow on the
mountains; the waters still rushed down the
narrow vallies, and the little patches of soil
were covered with the effects of cultivation.
Sometimes my mule would stop at the base of
a steep rock-to draw breath-or to retreat
from the toil-as if the difficulty of the as-
cent filled him with terror. Sometimes he
retreated in absolute despair; and nothing
but the most strenuous exertions of the guide
could urge him on. It should be remem-
bered, that every traveller in the Alps ought
to have a guide on foot, to carry his port-
manteau, for the mule will be sufficiently
loaded with the master. At short intervals,
when the road is, as the people of the coun-
try say, on the plain-that is, a little less.
rough and dangerous-are small niches cut
in the rocks, which contain images of the


FROM BOBBIO TO GENOA.
135
Virgin, of marble or common stone, before
which lamps are continually burning. These
are attended to by the priests who live in the
adjacent cottages; and the expense is more
than defrayed by the liberality of travellers, like
my guide. He rarely failed to say a short pray-
er before each image, and to drop a small piece
of money into the boxes of all such as were
nearest to any dangerous passage. He re-
gularly told me how much he paid at each,
and took very good care that I should be an-
swerable for the amount of the whole. This
is a common habit with the guides and mule-
teers who travel these mountains; and I
have since noticed that it prevails in other
parts of Italy. Towards night we arrived at
a small village on the side of a mountain
covered with snow. We alighted at a little
dirty ale-house, with a broken door, and a
single window, without glass or frame-work.
It was very cold, and I stretched myself
out upon a wooden bench which was before
a fire, where a pot, suspended from one of
the joists of the cieling, was constantly boil-
ing. The only chimney in the room was that
which the door afforded. I saw that the pot


136
FROM BOBBIO TO GENOA.
contained a sort of soup, into which a tall
half-starved man was chopping some bits of
black bread. Occasionally, as he stirred it up
with a long two-pronged iron fork, I saw
some pieces of meat. The fire was made of
chesnut branches, which filled the room so
thickly with smoke that I was obliged to go
out, with my eyes filled with tears, into the
open air, and was instantly forced to return,
with face, hands and feet almost frozen. I
was waiting for my supper, when I saw the
landlord distribute to all the rest of the per-
sons present, a small porringer of the soup, a
piece of black bread, and a large flask of
wine. He then emptied the pot, and began
to throw in some chesnuts-when I thought
it was time for me to put in a claim. It was
answered by giving me the same portion. The
strength of my appetite may be easily ima-
gined. After smoking a pipe, the muleteers
stretched themselves out on the benches, and
began to sleep. To my inquiries for a bed-
chamber I received no other answer than
this: Ah! I have no other apartment be-
sides this, the hay-loft where my family
sleep, and the stable where my sheep are.'


FROM BOBBIO TO GENOA.
137
It was useless to attempt to find any better
accommodation elsewhere, and I submitted
to the necessity of my situation, and stretched
myself along the benches. The cost of this
night's supper and lodging to each muleteer
was four parpaioles, about threepence. I gave
him a five-franc piece for myself, guide, and
mule; and when he was about to return me a
handful of parpaïoles in change, I told him
to keep them for himself;-he burst out into
a transport of joy, promising me the most
splendid accommodations if ever I returned
that way. He then ran to the stable to assist
the muleteer, and, leading the beast to the
door, he held the stirrup whilst I mounted,
and, after a profound salute, generously be-
stowed a glass of eau-de-vie on the guide.
As we approached Genoa the mountains.
gradually lessened; we even met with some-
thing like level ground. The houses began
to have glass windows, and the traces of in-
civilization were perceptibly diminished.
At Cassolo I saw an aqueduct of consider-
able height; it is a Roman erection, and ex-
tends along a narrow valley for four leagues,
to Genoa. When the Austrians, in 1800, held
Stopp


138
FROM BOBBIO TO GENOA.
Genoa, in that famous siege which Massena
sustained with so much energy, they broke
down one of the arches, in order to deprive
the besieged of a supply of water. Two
miles further on is another aqueduct; and
then comes a third, close to one of the su-
burbs of Genoa. All these works are re-
markable for their extent, elevation, and so-
lidity. They supply the city with excellent
water, which is distributed in every house by
pipes. The declivities towards the sea are
covered with olive trees: they give a singu-
larly dreary aspect to the country, and it is
perhaps from their repulsiveness, that the
ancients consecrated it to the Goddess of
Wisdom.
We approached Genoa by the suburb of
Bisagno, which furnishes no better indication
of the splendour of the city, than the barrier
d'Enfer does of the gaiety and beauty of Paris.
After half an hour spent in traversing
this gloomy suburb, we arrived at the city
gate. With the aid of a Genoese commis-
sioner, I set about the very necessary business
of finding a hotel to my taste. As I entered
the city the streets grew narrower, until


FROM BOBBIO TO GENOA.
139
T
it sometimes became difficult for two persons
to walk abreast. In vain did I endeavour to
admire the proud and boasted palaces of Ge-
noa; they were on every side of me, but I
could not manage to get a view of them. I
had already began to give into the opinion of
Montesquieu, when the Piazza delle Fontane
Amorose opened upon me. Without being
either regular or spacious, this piazza is very
grand and imposing. It is formed entirely of
lofty marble palaces, whose varied colours do
not destroy the regularity of the view. The
two finest streets of Genoa-and well worthy
of its superb reputation-branch out from
this piazza. They are flagged with large
stones, and on each side of them are lines of
magnificent marble palaces, variegated and
veined with all colours, and in the most beau-
tiful way. No carriages or horses disturb the
passenger, and I had leisure to survey and ad-
mire these beautiful edifices. The hotel della
Villa, where I engaged apartments, had been
the residence of a Genoese nobleman, who
sold it to its present proprietor. A spacious
court, surrounded by marble colonnades, and
ornamented by a fountain in the centre, some-


140
FROM BOBBIO TO GENOA.
what startled me on my entrance; but the
master of the house assured me that his
apartments were suited to every sort of ex-
penditure-even the most economical. He
gave me a chamber in the fourth story, looking
out upon the sea. I should observe, that in
Genoa, as in the other Italian cities, the
ground story of a palace is appropriated to
servants and tradesmen; the first floor con-
tains the saloons and state apartments; whilst
the family of the proprietor occupy the third
and fourth stories. In Genoa it would be
almost intolerable to live on the ground
floors, which are rendered extremely close
and stifling by the narrowness of the streets;
more particularly in those which are much
frequented. The apartments opening to the
streets are generally converted into shops,
and are broken only now and then by some
palace or hotel, standing back from the
street.


4
No XIII.
GENOA.
Nil adeò magnum, nec tam mirabile quicquam
Principiis, quod non minuant mirarier omnes
Paulatim.
6
THE exclamation of Corinna, on her arri-
val in the ancient capital of the world, has
been much criticized:- The next morning
I awoke in Rome.' Nothing, however, can
be more natural than this exclamation, for it
is in the morning that our perceptions and
feelings are in all their freshness, and to the tra-
veller it is by a sort of mechanical movement
that he gazes round and exclaims, where
am I?'—I rose early, to enjoy the view of
the ocean. It is not easy to imagine the effect
which that mighty element produces upon
those who gaze upon it for the first time.
1
6


142
GENOA.
Never is the majestic smoothness of a calm
sea more imposing than when contrasted, as
at Genoa, with the rugged mountains. I
could scarcely tear myself away from the sight
to begin my travels of inquiry about the town.
My first care was to find the naval friend of
whom I have already spoken. He was an
amiable and accomplished person, and unlike
the generality of his profession. At this time
he resided in the same house with two others
of my countrymen, and after accepting their
invitation to dinner, I recommenced my ex-
ploratory visits. The difficulty was, to settle
where I should commence, in a place so
abundant in things worthy of being admired.
I wished, in my impatience, to see all at once:
but at length decided on devoting the first
day to an objectless walk about the town, and
took with me as a guide one of those very
obliging persons, who are to be found in all
Italian cities, and who are the most attentive
and devoted friends of foreigners,-for a
crown.
The immoveable wealth of Genoa is enor-
mous. The city may be likened to a rich ma-
gazine, where a mass of precious objects are


GENOA.
143
thrown together, and only wait to be properly
arranged. Genoa is a magazine of palaces,
heaped one upon the other, in the most ad-
mired disorder.'
One is struck at first by the number of
narrow streets, crowded with foot
passengers,
where no carriages ever appear. Occasionally
we meet with a chair (portantino), containing
some venerable old lady. Every family has
one or more of these conveniences, as in those
which are hired, the chances are that you
succeed to a dead body: for it is in these that
the dead are transported to their last home.
The vehicle which carried a lifeless corpse in
the morning, is often employed to carry a
warm and buoyant spirited dame to a ball at
night. Genoa has sometimes been called the
paradise of foreigners, because the females
are very handsome, and the men uncom-
monly ugly. The Genoese ladies have a grace-
fulness of figure, regular and expressive fea-
tures, and superb eyes. Their dress is very
uniform-generally white, with a long veil
of white muslin, called a mezzaro, falling
over their shoulders. The toilette of the foot
is attended to with great taste, as the streets


144
GENOA.
66
are paved with large smooth flags, and there
is no such thing as muddy weather at Genoa.
My valet de place had been formerly a do-
mestic to M. Durazzo, the last Doge of the
Republic, who was named by Napoleon mem-
ber of the senate. I visited his palace—one
of the largest and finest in the city. The en-
trance is through a magnificent portico lined
with a double row of marble columns. I was
struck with the richness of the furniture, the
number of saloons, halls, and galleries, deco-
rated in the most profuse way. It was in this
palace that the Prince Borghese, with his
whole court, resided, during their visit, a few
months before, to the capital of the ancient
Liguria, the wealthiest city in his province.
Napoleon preferred the Doria palace, in or-
der that he might sleep in the chamber which
Charles V. had occupied, although the palace
was almost abandoned, and scarcely habit-
able. I was quite dazzled with gazing on
the accumulated magnificence of ages, the
profusion of white marble from Carrera, and
yellow marble from the Sierra Morena. In
the days of Genoa's glory her wealth was so
great, that not only was she free from debt,


GENOA.
145
but she drew a revenue of more than thirty
millions from her Swiss and Italian territories.
I questioned my guide as to what I ought to
believe relative to certain proverbs not very
favourable to the Genoese, such as: "It
takes three Jews to make a Genoese ;" and
this: "A mountain without wood, a sea with-
out fish, women without modesty, and men
without honour."—"Ah! Sir," said he, shrug-
ging his shoulders, there is a good deal of
truth in all that. So long as I was in the
service of M. Durazzo, I used to see all the
most distinguished persons of the city, which
is better known to me by its inhabitants than
by its monuments. I agree that the Genoese
are very sharp in business; that the moun-
tains are not covered with trees; that no
other city is so dear; that the sea is not very
well stocked with fish; and that the ladies
do not particularly dislike gallantry. But if
it requires three Jews to make one Genoese,
it requires three Genoese to make one of
your generals or contractors." The retort
was well deserved by me, and I had nothing
to reply.
VOL. I
H
1


146
GENOA.
After having visited this magnificent pa-
lace, and gazed on the glorious view which
spreads itself out before the terrace, I turned
aside to the church of San Lorenzo, which
is in the same street. It is the principal
church of Genoa, and is built in the Gothic
style. The front is incrusted in black and
white marble. The steps which lead to
the principal entrance are about twelve in
number, and rather steep; but such is the
strength of the Cross-bearer in the proces-
sions, that he sustains his burthen up the
steps without the slightest tottering. He is
obliged, some fifty paces before he arrives at
the first step, to assume a firm and equal
pace, which he preserves to the last. The
choir of the church is surrounded with a
superbly gilt rail-work, through which may
be seen, from all parts, the interior, the
bishop's seat, those of the priests, canons,
arch-priests, and the splendid marble altar.
Although St. Lorenzo be the metropolitan
church, yet it is not the largest nor the most
beautiful. It is here, as my guide informed
me, that the gallant dames of Genoa fix
༣


GENOA.
147
If any of my readers
their rendezvous.
should chance to visit Genoa, I will give
him one or two instructions, in order that he
may know how to act in case of any adven-
ture. If a lady speaks to you with a sort of
negligent earnestness about this or that
church, and tells you that she will be there
at such a day and hour-to perform her re-
ligious duties-your part must be taken.
Keep aloof until the time indicated, and then
follow her at a distance. It is possible that
you may be led a round-about path, and for
a considerable distance, but you are sure to
stop somewhere at last. No matter what the
nature of your conversation may be, you
must be careful and not speak to her after-
wards; neither at a ball, in a saloon, nor at
the promenade; she will neither recognize
nor answer you. If Genoa be the country of
gallantry, strangers should not forget that to
them it ought to be the country of discre-
tion. The females here are so constantly
surrounded by their titled lovers, that no
stranger can visit them without its being a
matter of public notoriety, and the cause of
H 2


148
GENOA.
jealousy to more than one gallant. This in-
formation was given me by my cicerone, and
I was so pleased with his frankness, and so
instructed by his counsel, that I slipped a
piece of money into his hand, with as much
cheerfulness as if he had been the bearer of
some assignation under the pillars of San-
Syro. He laughed very knowingly, thinking,
no doubt, something about French vanity;
nor will I say that he was entirely wrong.
However, I did not repent of my liberality,
for the fellow-melted, as it were, by the
sight of the money-went on with the chap-
ter of Genoese morals, and told me more
than I could elsewhere have so easily learnt.
"Sir,' he continued, I see very well
that you are not yet up to the customs of
Italy; allow me to give you the result of a
pretty long experience, and you know that
the people of the anti-chambers are best
acquainted with what passes in the saloons.
My father was once in the service of the fa
mous Argentine Spinola, who is still living,
though very old, and whose connexion with
the Marshal Richelieu rendered her so cele


GENOA.
149
brated. I remember having seen with her,
in my boyhood, your brilliant Duke de Lau-
zun, on his return from Corsica. The house
of Madame Spinola was at that time the re
sort of all that was splendid, gay, witty, and
licentious in Genoa. If the French have
ruined our republic in annexing it to their
empire, they have at the same time done us
great services; and you will find in the grand
hall of the Ducal Palace, the statues of the
Marshals Richelieu and de Boufflers, mixed
with those of the great men who illustrate
the glory of the old republic. At Genoa
husbands are not jealous, and the use of
cicisbeos, now called patiti, is universal and
immemorial. This usage, which nothing will
ever be able to change, has become respecta-
ble from its antiquity. I remember to have
heard one day a long conversation on this
topic, many points of which still remain
fixed in my memory. There was formerly a
species of cicisbeo, called intendii, whose dis-
interested gallantry was not unlike that of the
chivalry of the ancient Paladins..
"An intendio was a lover in honour, and
F aR ༩༧༢ *་ནམ
H 3


150
GENOA.
in virtue; and his mistress was really nothing
more than the lady of his thoughts. A lady
of the Spinola family, and one of the kings
of France, offer a remarkable instance of this
platonic affection. When Louis XII. was at
Genoa, with his chevaliers, Thomassina Spi-
nola was not insensible to the manly and un-
affected beauty, and the natural graces of
the monarch. His conversation effected what
his outward qualities began. She was young
and pretty; she very ingenuously besought
the king to become her intendio; he con--
sented, and when he quitted Genoa, the
intendimento was kept up by means of a
correspondence, from which the republic
derived great advantage. Thomassina took
so much interest in this correspondence; she
was so proud of having a king of France for
her intendio, that she in reality began to love
him with the purest and strongest passion.
A report having reached Genoa of the death
of Louis XII., she was much affected, and fell
ill. The cares of her friends were useless,
and she died. The report had been fabricated
by some of her unsuccessful rivals, and was


GENOA.
151
soon disproved by the arrival of letters from
Louis but Thomassina was no more. The
republic caused a superb mausoleum to be
erected, and the monarch ordered his historio-
grapher, Jean Danton, to write the epitaph,
which he would have written much better
himself. At present the name of intendio
is obsolete, and that of patito has been very
appropriately substituted for that of cicisbeo.
It is derived from the verb patire, to suffer,
and surely no state of suffering can be more
complete than the slavery of these amorous
followers. Every Genoese lady has two or
more of them, in order, I suppose, that the
young aspirants may not be left without some
hope."
Such are some of the details which my
knowing valet gave me. He promised to de-
vote another morning to my service, and to
conduct me to the baths. These establish-
ments are very elegant at Genoa; where, in
general, there is as much cleanliness as in
the rest of Piedmont there is filth.
The
rooms are spacious, and furnished with large
marble bathing ponds. Nothing can ex-
H 4


152
GENOA.
ceed the dexterity of the attendants. I re-
turned to the part of the town where my
countrymen resided. It was near the Ex-
change, and I could not help admiring this
scene of so many vast commercial specula-
tions. I stopped for a moment before a bar-
ber's shop, where a crowd of persons was
standing, and there was quite enough, as I
learned from a bystander, to excite their
curiosity and their laughter. A single barber
undertook to shave a dozen Jews at once;
he rubbed their beards over with a green
drug called mardocheo; as the drug burnt
away the hair the barber scraped off the rest
with a bit of lath. But the paste being of
a very burning nature, attacked the skin be-
fore the barber could change from one to the
other. The scene was excessively ludicrous:
here a Jew screaming with pain, and there
the barber sweating with the labour ;—the
one cursing the other, the other cursing
himself, the spectators laughing at all.
-
-


No XIV.
GENOA-continued.
Suave mari magno, turbantibus æquora ventis,
E terrâ magnum alterius spectare laborem.
LUCRETIUS.
I HAD the good fortune, during my resi-
dence at Genoa, to be the witness of a mag-
nificent sea storm. I will not attempt any
description of it here, but as the only vessels
which suffered much were then belonging to
the English fleet,* I will confess that my
feelings were not much unlike those which
Lucretius speaks of in the preceding lines.
The population crowded along the shores, and
the quays and the batteries, to gaze at this
sublime spectacle. It was about four o'clock
in the afternoon. I hope I shall be pardoned
*Under "Admiral Bentinck," says the Hermit, with the
usual accuracy of his countrymen.
H 5


154
GENOA.
if I say that I had no very sharp commisera-
tion on Lord Bentinck and his fleet. Socrates
alone was sufficiently free from passion and
prejudice to be a citizen of the world.
These English ships came habitually so
near to the city and the forts, that they
seemed to bully the batteries, and to provoke
ineffective discharges in order that they
might reply by their bombs. The Breslau
was then building-and it might have been
said that they superintended the erection and
fitting out of the ship, as if she had been
built in the dock-yards of Portsmouth, for
alas! she was captured by them on her very
first cruise. No one even thought of accus-
ing the justice of Napoleon with a want
either of eyes or ears: but in spite of its
activity it never could discover how the En-
glish kept up their communication with the
Continent, from which it had news almost
every day. The fleet used to come so near to
us, that we could with a telescope distinguish
the officers as they walked along the deck.
But I am forgetting the storm-which I en-
joyed in solitude and after my own way, that
-


GENOA.
155
is, by suffering reflections to run away with
feelings, and for a moment to close up my
eyes to the scene before me. A few minutes
had been sufficient to agitate the waves of
the Mediterranean, but when the clouds had
disappeared, and the winds subsided, it was
a long while before the dashing waves were
calmed. Here said I-is a faithful image
of popular revolutions; a moment may plant
the seeds, which ripen and burst out into an
appalling violence, nor is it until after much
agitation, and a long series of shocks, that
time is able to reestablish tranquillity.
Such was the violence of this tempest,
that the waves broke nearly as high as the
lantern of the light-house. I will here quote
two lines, written by a Tuscan poet, as an
inscription for this light-house, who wished
to shew the resemblance between the Latin
and Italian languages.
"In mare irato, in turbida procella,
Invoquo te, ô sacra benigna stella."
I had been at Genoa for a week without
having half satisfied my curiosity. Yet had
I every day reason to praise the intelligence
H 6


156
GENOA.
of my cicerone, who came to me in the
mornings to inquire if I needed his services,
and I do not recollect having given him a
single negative.
I had been introduced to the principal
French functionaries, and amongst others to
M. de la Tourette, prefect of Genoa, and the
General Montchoisy, commander of the 27th
military division. But in a city, where shew
and ostentation were so much in demand,
where every thing was so excessively dear,
and where there were so many wealthy indi-
viduals, the functionaries ruined themselves
in order to live in a very moderate style.
Their salaries are inadequate to their necessary
expenses, and more especially for the military,
who are obliged to keep horses; for at Genoa
it costs at least four francs a day to keep a
horse. During my stay at Genoa, I received
a letter from my official friend at Bobbio,
who sent me a notice on the manners of the
inhabitants of the Appenines, and another
on the revolt of Placentia. This last event
happened soon after his arrival in the coun-
try, and during the time that M. le Brun


GENOA.
157
(Duke of Placentia) was governor of Genoa.
I shall transfer these two notices to my own
pages.
It required some time before I could make
my way through the throngs of monks, Ca-
puchins, Dominicans, and Franciscans, who
crowd the streets of Genoa, without wonder
-as it was a sight new to my eyes. These
orders had not yet been suppressed in Genoa,
though they were so during the following year.
These unhappy persons, once so wealthy, now
dragged out a miserable existence, and many
of them were reduced to the necessity of
asking alms in the streets.
It was necessary, however, to take good
care how the outward garment of religion
awakened a compassion which might be ill
placed. As these monks were subjected to
no particular order, and to no discipline,
many improper persons had put on the garb of
St. Francis, in order to procure admission to
houses and commit robberies; no very difficult
task in a city where there are few porters.
I frequently stopped in the streets to
admire the dexterity and promptitude with


158
GENOA.
which the lower class of the people and the
labourers played at a game called morra, a
game of great antiquity, since it has been the
delight of the Italian people ever since the
times of the Emperors. This is played by two
persons, who stand opposite to each other,
and open and stretch out, either alternately or
both together, the fingers of their right hand
-crying, one, two, three, four, eight, ten;
he who guesses right, at the very moment the
action is performed, the number of fingers
extended by both, wins.
:
The Genoese, as might well be imagined,
were not very fond of the French yoke,
although that yoke did not press very heavily
upon them but they saw in their annexation
to the grand empire, the source of their
decay. Accustomed to furnish sailors only
to the necessities of the state, the conscription
for the land service was more insupportable
there than elsewhere. What, however, most
afflicted them was, the being placed under
the same government with the Piedmontese.
The hatred between these people is more
inveterate than that between the English and


GENOA.
159
the Catholics of Ireland. Still Genoa was not
without illustrious citizens and real philan-
trophists, who wept over her ruin. I will
mention a single example. The harvest in
1809 completely failed throughout Italy;
bread was excessively dear, and the conti-
nental blockades prevented any arrivals by
sea. Count Balbi, a Genoese, called a meet-
ing of some of the richest citizens, and pro-
posed a scheme for bringing by land-carriage
from France the necessary quantity of grain.
For himself, he subscribed the sum of two hun-
dred thousand francs. The collection rose to
a considerable amount, and during the winter,
when so much distress had been anticipated,
the poor were able to obtain food at a mode-
rate price. In the time of the Doges, the
poor were supported from the Ducal Palace,
when once a week they were supplied with
a dinner. The benevolent institutions of
Genoa are numerous, and the hospital Albergo
dei Poveri is unequalled for its beauty, mag-
nificence, and extent. It was formed in the
time of Doria, and contains the statues of all
its principal benefactors. This is one of the


160
GENOA.
instances where the self-love of man is
turned to the advantage of humanity itself.
Thus in Russia, whoever gives 100,000 rubles
to a hospital, receives the decoration of the
first class of the order of St. Anne. If it be ra-
tional to feel proud of these gewgaws, which
kings have invented to reward cheaply great
services, it seems to me that one might justly
be more proud of those which are bestowed
for preserving a fellow citizen's life, than
for destroying an enemy. What a contrast,
when, returning from the Albergo dei Poveri,
we ask the meaning of the iron cages which
stand near the harbour! They were the
dens in which the wretched Algerine cap-
tives were shut up, when age or sickness
rendered them incapable of labour. The
horror of their punishment consisted in being
so confined, that they could neither lie down
nor stand upright. A notion of religious
duty kept them alive!—but it rarely hap-
pened that the republic was put to the ex-
pense of maintaining them many months.
What a strange and ridiculous mixture of
kindness and barbarity! And yet, why should


GENOA.
161
I be surprised?—Is it not the same through-
out the history of man?-Evil always marches
hand in hand with good.
The presence of the English fleet did not
prevent me from making several excursions
on the water. The view from the centre of
the harbour was one of the most splendid I
could imagine. It is since that time that I
have seen Naples from the bay. The city is
built on the side of a mountain, which is
shaped like an amphitheatre. On the left, the
pleasure-houses and gardens stretch along
the suburb of St. Pierre, towards Voltri-
about a league and a-half from Genoa. The
country on this side is covered with a multi-
tude of villages, where white walls rise up
between the grey quivering leaves of the
olive, and the glossy green of the fig-tree.
The wood of these trees is wrought by the
Genoese with remarkable ingenuity, into
snuff-boxes and cabinets, as light and elegant,
and at the same time, as fragile as porcelain.
The gardens are filled with flowers in
almost every season of the year; and the
orange and citron trees shed a delicious per-
P


162
GENOA.
fume on the air. The land in the city is so
valuable, that there is but a single garden—
that belonging to the Doria palace. This is
remarkable for a double terrace, constructed
entirely of white marble, communicating
with the ground and first floors-so that the
under terrace is protected from the rains, as
well as from the burning sun. My cicerone
who was profoundly versed in the history of
his native town, told me that its origin went
back to the second century before the chris-
tian era. Its name was originally Genua-
derived from Janus, to whom it was dedi-
cated. But Genoa paid dearly for the go-
vernment under which it flourished, from the
year 1528 downwards; for, during the thirty-
four years, immediately previously to the
establishment of the republican aristocracy,
it was afflicted with twelve different kinds of
government. It was frequently at war with
the French, whom it massacred under
Charles IV.-expelled under Charles VII.,
Louis XII., and Francis I. The Genoese
destroyed the republic of Pisa, which had
been founded by a Greek colony. The suburb


GENOA.
163
y
of Pera at Constantinople once belonged to
Genoa, and so did Corsica before its union
with France. Andrew Doria was the real
founder of its power-a power of which, like
many other once illustrious states, it has now
nothing but splendid palaces and sad recol-
lections.
One day, as I was passing with my guide
along the suburb of St. Pierre d'Arena,—“ I
wish," said he, "to shew you a garden which,
though it contains nothing curious in itself,
may interest you, perhaps, from the part of
which it was the scene.' He knocked at a
small door: an old woman opened it for us,
and we entered into a square garden, sur-
rounded by walls, and which had no other
outlet than the gate by which we came
in. "At the beginning of the siege of
Genoa, a young French lieutenant of infan-
try, named Henrion, who I am told is now
Aid-de-camp to Prince Borghese, followed by
four brother officers, made prisoners, in this
very garden, of four hundred Austrian sol-
diers of the regiment of Lastenie, and obliged
them to lay down their arms." "Impossible!"
""
+


164
GENOA.
-"Impossible perhaps, but it is true. Pre-
senting himself at the gate, which was partly
open, he made them believe that he was at
the head of a strong column which had made
a sortie. He summoned the commanding
officer to surrender, which he instantly did.
The four hundred prisoners entered the city
to our very great delight, for in verita, signore,
since we cannot be independent, we prefer
the French to the Austrians any day, and you
will hear the same thing throughout Italy.".
I raised my hand to my pocket with the
intention of rewarding this compliment,
but the scene of Gil Blas, and the parasite at
Pennaflor struck upon my fancy, and chilled
my generous feelings in a moment.
The same day I visited in company with
my guide the Sera Palace, which may justly
be styled the wonder of Genoa. I had
already visited the Carignano church, built
pretty nearly on the same model with the
Superga at Turin, but much more richly orna-
mented with pictures and statues, amongst
which I remarked, and not without pride,
that the most beautiful of all were from the


GENOA.
165
chisel of a French sculptor-it was the Saint
Sebastian of Puget. I had often before
passed both over and under the bridge of
Carignano, for it is built over what is neither
a river nor a torrent. It joins, directly oppo-
site the church, the two hills which rise on
each side of the deep valley, in which lies
the suburb of Bisagno. I had observed the
building with four stories, at the angle of the
bridge, on the right as you come from the
city, and in my way to the Sera Palace I
spoke of the church and bridge of Carignano.
-"Signor," said he " these two monu-
ments may give you some idea of the prodi-
gious wealth which some of our great families
once possessed, and at the same time of
the excessive gallantry of the Genoese. A
M. Saoli, whose family, always honourable,
still exists, was a noble merchant, (I say noble
merchant, because in Genoa the nobility have
never been so foolish as to look with disdain
upon commercial pursuits) and built at his
own expense the church of Carignano, which
cost him four millions of francs. About
eighty years afterwards, a member of the
h


166
GENOA.
same family, who had married a young lady
of whom he was highly enamoured, expended
three millions in the erection of the bridge
you have remarked, in order to spare his
young bride the fatigue of descending and
ascending the hills, as she went to mass in
the church which her husband's grandfather
had built."
In the mean time, we had arrived at the
gate of the Sera Palace, in the Strada No-
vissima. The exterior of this palace has
nothing remarkable about it; my guide, as we
entered, told me that he had not, like the rest
of his profession, made me begin my travels
with the palace, as he did not wish to dazzle
me with the most splendid sight first. We
ascended by a staircase, somewhat narrow, of
white marble to the first story, which consists
of an anti-chamber, a beautiful dining room of
an oval form, and two saloons adjoining. In
this narrow space, two millions of francs have
been expended in furniture and ornaments.
From each side of the two saloons, or rather
from the single saloon divided into two parts,
each of them about forty feet square, there is


GENOA.
167
presented to the eye a prodigious luxury of
gilding, sculpture, marbles, immense mir-
rors, precious stones, porphyry columns, in-
crustations of mother of pearl, paintings, and
carved work, which almost realizes the won-
ders of Arabian fable. The walls are covered
with a stucco of lapis-lazuli. Four clocks on
the chimney-pieces, with their brackets, cost
no less than six hundred thousand francs;
the second-hands are made of brilliants. This
saloon ought to be the despair of the rich and
the consolation of the poor;—the one can
scarcely ever hope to equal its magnificence;
whilst the others need not envy a luxury so
inconvenient, that the owner, instead of being
able to enjoy it, is obliged to reside in a
small chamber in the fourth story. This
palace belongs in reality to the persons who
visit it, and to the domestics, who derive from
it an excellent revenue, as no one ever quits
it without giving them some considerable
present.


No XV.
MANNERS OF THE INHABITANTS
OF THE APPENINES.
O fortunatos nimiùm, sua si bona nôrint,
Agricolas! Quibus ipsa procul discordibus armis,
Fundit humo facilem victum justissima tellus.
VIRGIL.
"You ask me for some details on the
manners and usages of the people in the Ap-
penines; a necessary and rather long resi-
dence among them enables me to comply
with your wish. I will first tell you some-
thing about myself and my official difficulties.
You can scarcely imagine the number and
nature of the obstacles which interfered to
prevent the organization of our tribunal.-
A large room in the episcopal palace of Bob-
bio served as our hall of audience. Ricketty
tables, tapestried old chairs, elevated on a
few planks for the magistrates, benches stuf-


THE APPENINES.
169
fed with straw, for the advocates and so-
licitors, and a long beam stretching from one
end of the hall to the other, made up the
material part of a court-room, which was
presided over by four judges, and was to ad-
minister justice for a whole arrondissement.
With respect to its intellectual elements, they
were upon a level with their accommodations,
being formed of persons obliged to interpret
and enforce a system of laws of which they
knew nothing, and to speak and write in a
foreign language. Add to this, a collection
of some fifty pictures or more, hanging over
our heads, painted in all conceivable colours,
and which, instead of being the portraits of
Cujas, Daguessau, and other eminent jurists,
were the harsh representations of the bishops
of Bobbio. The effect of this new tribunal
in a conquered country was at once afflicting
and ludicrous. I was quite touched to wit-
ness the obstinate efforts of the president,
clerks, advocates, and solicitors, tearing and
breaking up the French language in such a
way, that I could neither understand nor
conjecture their meaning. How could I re-
VOL. I.


170
THE APPENINES.
frain from condemning the injustice of the
French Government, in forcing another
people to renounce its laws, customs, and
language, for a set of laws, customs, and
language, which suited neither its climate
nor its manners. The ludicrous part of the
business was our attempting to express our-
selves sometimes in both languages-deliver-
ing discourses which were utterly unintelli-
gible, and pronouncing judgments wholly
inconsistent with all that had gone before,
and rising from our seats with a reciprocal
stare, as if to ask each other's opinion on the
judgments we had pronounced.
"But Napoleon had ordered it at the point
of the bayonet, and the people murmured.
The Italians, who were appointed to judicial
situations, struggled hard at the oar, for in-
deed their situations were not unlike those of
galley-slaves.
"The great amusement at Bobbio is dancing.
The figure and the step most in vogue have
been handed down from generation to ge-
neration, without change or improvement.
The musical instruments alone have under-


THE APPENINES.
171
gone any modification, the dances are as they
were a century ago, the montferines, ferlanes,
and bisses. Formerly the fashionable instru-
ment was a tambourine; then came a Ger-
man trumpet; a sort of bagpipe succeeded,
and with its nasal sounds afforded the same
delight then to the haut-ton of Bobbio,
which it does still to the mountaineers of
Italy, whether in the Alps or the Appenines.
It is a curious sight to witness the people of
all ranks dance; the only difference between
the high and the low is that the former have
a slight superiority in ease in vivacity and
speed they are both alike. The gentleman
and lady seize each other firmly about the
waist, and whirl themselves around in as
large a circle as the room will allow; then
they separate and dance opposite to each
other-clap their hands,-pirouette-seize
each other, and so repeat the affair over
again, until one or both of them are too
fatigued to persevere. The other kinds of
dance are just as novel to a Frenchman, and
just as laborious. The abbés and priests do
I 2


172
THE APPENINES.
not hesitate to join in these amusements, and
are amongst their most renowned professors.
It is only very lately that violins have been in-
troduced at Bobbio. The Marchioness Malas-
pina was tired of the bagpipe, and unwil-
ling longer to be mixed up with peasants and
innkeepers, who were, with the fashionables,
the joint patrons of the only piper in the
district. They were brought from the neigh-
bouring town of Voghera, and the ladies of
Bobbio "footed it away" to the sounds of a
new instrument. The priests were decidedly
in its favour, because it bore some resem-
blance to the harp of David, but the opinions
of the rest have been much divided; and this
is the history of dancing at Bobbio.
"You will perhaps be surprised on hear-
ing that the clergy do not refuse joining in
these profane pleasures: but I have seen
them myself in their professional dresses, and
even with masquerade habits during the car-
nival. In Italy it is only the higher clergy
who are very scrupulous in their conduct,
and who set the example of ecclesiastical se-


THE APPENINES.
173
verity to the world; the others indulge freely,
and with very little scandal, in the amuse-
ments of the city.
"Although the earth is covered with ice.
and snow for six months, yet the soil produces
several harvests in the course of the year. I
have known a meadow to be mown in the
beginning of May, in July, September, and
in November, when the north wind had strip-
ped the trees and vines of their foliage. The
soil here has not, as in France, one year of
fallow in every three. The first crop is wheat,
which is reaped in the beginning of July;
then Turkey corn, of which the harvest is in
September; and some of the land at Bobbio
is so fertile, that it produces even another
harvest in the course of the year. The large
proprietors let their land to men who, though
rich, do not cultivate it: these under-let it to
others, who divide it into small portions, and
farm it out to the peasantry. Sometimes a
rich and enterprizing peasant will venture to
take the whole of a farm himself. The last
tenants, however, are obliged to pay so much
1 3


174
THE APPENINES.
of the produce to their landlords, that very
little of it remains for their own families.
Thus it is that the peasantry of Italy are
poor in the midst of plenty. But they have
another sort of oppression to contend with
-that of being disposed of almost like
serfs of the soil. They are subject to the
will of the proprietors, and the contractors,
who live on the lands, or in the neighbour-
hood, and who oblige them to cut their woods,
gather in their vintages, and perform all
their messages, both for themselves and their
friends, without making the slightest recom-
pense. The master would be in arms against
a friend if he should offer a reward to the
poor peasants, and would grossly abuse them
if they were to accept it. In speaking of the
soil and its cultivation, I ought not to forget
the salt and mineral springs which are at
the foot of the mountain on the right bank
of the Trebia. After passing this torrent by
a bridge upwards of twenty arches in length,
some of which have been destroyed by the
floods, and afterwards rebuilt in a style rude
•
1


THE APPENINES.
175
;
enough for the time of its original construc-
tion, several centuries ago, we come to the
mineral springs. They flow from two parallel
sources, and about a hundred feet above the
level of the torrent. They diffuse a sulphure-
ous odour to a considerable distance. Though
the streams are small yet they run with great
rapidity, and do not lose any of their warmth,
which is considerable. The water is nearly
as salt as that of the, sea. It is believed by
some, that these springs result from some of
the extinct volcanoes in the mountains, which
stretch nearly to Genoa.. They are deemed
very efficient in purifying the blood, and are
used both for drinking and bathing. A spe-
culating chemist built a house over one of the
springs, with the intention of manufacturing
salts but the extreme scarcity of wood in
the mountains occasioned a complete failure
and abandonment of the project. A single
quart of water furnishes about two ounces of
salts and another of sulphur. Were the car-
riage less expensive, they might be trans-
ported in barrels on mules into a more
wooded district, and be converted into a
:
"
1
1 I
4


176
THE APPENINES.
profitable speculation. The surrounding re-
gion abounds in rocks, which contain a
sparkling stone not unlike brilliants, for
which they form not a bad substitute. The
banks of the Trebia produce a pebble, which
have a yellow shining inside resembling gold.
"But I must now say something of the
manners of the people as they struck me in
society, the promenade, and at church. The
females, whether in the streets or in the
saloons, never give any other salute than a
nod of the head, whilst the body remains
immoveable; with this, and a slight smile,
and a few unintelligible words, begins and
ends their politeness. The better educated
Italians are generally very loud in praise of
all such persons as they stand in awe of, and
they often carry their hypocrisy so far as to
kiss them on the mouth when they meet in
public. Some of the young priests at Bobbio
say mass in boots, with heavy gold rings
hanging down from their ears, and not un-
frequently with large military cloaks on.
"The inhabitants of mountainous countries
are generally industrious, because they are
E


THE APPENINES.
177
obliged by their own labour to make up for
the parsimony of nature. Many of the na-
tives of these sterile regions descend into the
fertile plains of Placentia and Parma, to earn
subsistence as those of Dauphiny emigrate to
the country of Lyons, to teach them the
rudiments of education, or as the young
Savoyards visit Paris to pursue the occupation
of chimney-sweepers.
"Very few of the ladies of the Appenine
towns possess the vivacity and gay thought-
lessness of the French. I recollect one day
seeing a fashionable lady of Bobbio in the
public promenade, surrounded by a levy of
suitors. The two most ambitious of them
were very assiduous in supporting her by the
arms; lifting her over the ruts, and wiping,
with their handkerchiefs, the dust from her
shoes. The chief cicisbeo is dispensed from
this sort of service, and he alone has the pri-
vilege of offering his arm to the lady. He,
like the lady herself, seemed to leave to the
inferior members of the establishment the
duty of acting according as circumstances
might require.
1 5


178
THE APPENINES.
"The Italians of the mountains, as well as
of the vallies, are infinitely more musical in
their propensities than the French, whatever
be the local character of their residence. It
is rarely that a Frenchman can sing in the
Tuscan dialect, whilst the Italian, if he speaks
French at all, renders it far less displeasing
than are the harsh monotonous efforts of the
other.
"
"The change of manners, sports, pleasures,
sounds, language, society, situation, men,
and country, at first threw me into a fit of
melancholy. I seemed to be cast into a re-
gion out of which no efforts could extricate
me. I submitted with becoming resignation,
and my surprise and alarm have both sub-
sided. On reflection, I find that the music is
excellent, the games of Chuchu and Tarocco
amusing, the eating good, and the ladies,
when one acts upon the French notions of
gallantry, very amiable. With the same
sort of philosophy one might manage to make
Siberia itself endurable. As a specimen of
the manners of the people, I will give you
1%
$


THE APPENINES.
179
an account of their mode of keeping New-
year's day. On the 31st of December, visits
are paid; the men kiss each other on the face,
and the ladies on the hand, with such greet-
ings as, "happy new year-long life-
health, &c., buon fin d'anno! buon capo d'anno!
buon principio! molte prosperità! e lunghi
anni con salute buona!" The next day there
is nothing left for them to say, but families
come together, and eat sundry dishes which
are appropriated to the season; such as
polpetti (made of minced veal), and polenta
(of Indian meal), powdered over with cin-
می
―
namon.
t
"The marriages of Bobbio are celebrated
pretty much in the same manner as in
France, though it must be admitted that
some of them present a strange union of
wealth and poverty, deformity and beauty,
old age and youth. Until the invasion of the
French, females in Italy could not succeed to
the property of their relatives, and had a right
to a small portion of it only. Two or three
thousand francs was the extent of the portion
which a citizen gave his daughter, and the
"
*
I 6


180
THE APPENINES.
noblest dames rarely brought more than five
thousand. I remember a marriage which
took place soon after my arrival, between an
old widower of sixty-nine, and a widow of
sixty-three, who married for the third time.
The bridegroom had lost his second wife but
a few weeks before. Both were in rags, and
their figures were in keeping with their dress.
The husband might be able to earn about
five sous per day, a basin of bad soup, and a
loaf of brown bread, which was all that this
ancient couple and their children had to sub-
sist upon.
"When a rich man dies he is carried to the
church in an open bier on a litter. The corpse
is drest out in gay attire, the face and feet
uncovered, the hair powdered, and a crucifix
in the hand. It is attended by a great many
priests, who are numerous in proportion to
the vanity of the defunct, or the liberality of
the heirs. The body is placed in a chapel,
with a basin of holy water at the head, and
surrounded by torches. The priests pray over
it all day, and watch with it in succession
during the night. The next day it is coffined
1
3


THE APPENINES.
181
1
"2
up and deposited in a vault. A poor person
who has money to pay the priests and the
undertakers, is carried with "maimed rites
to the nave of the church, and left there
wholly unattended for the night, and thrown
carelessly into a deep vault. I was told of a
man who was once entangled with a corpse,
and fell with it into the vault. Torches were
brought, and it was found that the fall had
killed him, and the stone was closed again
upon both. Still-born and unbaptized chil-
dren are not allowed to be interred in conse-
crated ground; they are obliged to be de-
posited in any other place which may be
found for them. But to pass from these
melancholy subjects to those of a gayer cast.
"The people of this district welcome the
return of spring, by making bonfires on the
heights which surround the town. They are
called le fogliate, or fires of the shepherds.
The peasantry crowd round them, and roast
chestnuts, of which they make a sort of
paste, called polenta, and with this and ag-
nolotte, and other choice dishes, they regale
themselves amidst dances, and cries of joy,


182
THE APPENINES.
which are heard down to the valley of Bobbio.
The higher classes, also, keep the first day
of spring as a great holiday. They play at
various sorts of amusements, and particu-
larly that called si rompe la pugnata. A
vase containing a piece of gold, a pair of
silk stockings, or any other article of dress,
is placed in the corner of the room, and one
of the party, his eyes covered, and a cane in
his hand, aims a blow at it: if he hits the
vase, and breaks it, he gains the contents of
the vase. It is customary, however, to resign
them to the domestics of the house. On
Holy-Thursday all the ladies of Bobbio are
very strict in their devotions, and they per-
ambulate the town alone, quite unattended by
their cavaliers. It is not until the evening
that they appear in public again with these
faithful servants. On this day of fast they
drink great quantities of rosoglio; liquidum
non frangit jejunium is a maxim of the ca-
tholic church. The master of a house offers
it to his visitors, in order to keep up the
spirits of his guests until evening, when the
tables are covered with all kinds of fish, and


THE APPENINES.
183
the feast lasts till midnight. I have some-
times been to three or four of these suppers
in the course of a single night.
Medals which have been consecrated al-
ways bear a good price here. I remember a
travelling vender of these things who made
a little fortune out of the superstition of the
Bobbians. He had a little bit of painted
glass representing the Virgin and child,
which had been sanctified, and were gifted
with the power of saving the wearer from even
sudden death. The vender launched out into
the most eloquent praise of its virtues, and
whenever he named the Madonna he took off
his cap and crossed himself. At this all the
hats of the audience were slightly raised. In
two hours the pious trader in relics had sold
more than four hundred of these medals, to
the people of the town and the neighbouring
districts.
"As an instance of this superstition, I will
mention a fact which occurred with respect
to an assassin who lived at Bobbio. This
man and his brother had killed their uncle,
who murdered their father whilst they were


184
THE APPENines.
yet children. The murderer of whom I am
speaking had been tried and banished from
Genoa. The lenity of this sentence arose no
doubt from a sympathy with the irresistible
desire for vengeance which such a crime
must excite in the heart of a son against the
father.
"After receiving sentence of banishment
he took refuge in Bobbio, where for twenty-
seven years he lived in tranquillity. Every
one knew the history of his early life, and,
in addition to what was true, some persons
asserted what was false;-that, after having
given the fatal blow, the two nephews had
absolutely devoured their uncle's heart!—
Frightful as the crime was, it seemed to
frighten no one at Bobbio. The murderer
resided there unmolested, and grew by means
of usury into a yearly revenue of five or six
thousand francs. At last he became dropsi-
cal, and his life was considered in danger.
The miser, usurer, and murderer was me-
naced with speedy death, and he wished to
make a will: but he was afraid to trust the
notaries of Bobbio, whom he believed to be
1


THE APPENINES.
185
prejudiced or corrupted by his uncle's chil-
dren-his nearest relatives and natural heirs.
He sent for two priests and two physicians,
and the fear of death for once loosened the
strings of his purse. He bargained for masses
and prayers, at the rate of two francs and a
quarter each mass, and five francs for a be-
nediction. But, distrusting even the priests,
he refused to pay them until witnesses were
brought to prove that they had earned their
wages. Doubting the integrity of the me-
dical men of Bobbio, he sent for others to
Placentia, but, notwithstanding their pre-
scription, he would not suffer them to tap
him, for fear of being murdered. Finally this
wretch, who had lived by crime, died through
fear, unable to find a companion, adviser, or
physician, except among men nearly as de-
praved as himself.
"As affording some insight into the customs
of this part of Italy, I will give you an
account of a religious ceremony which I wit-
nessed at Bobbio, and which is performed
annually upon Good-Friday. The church was
converted into a theatre, with a stage, wings,


186
THE APPENINES.
scenes, &c.; and on the morning of Good-
Friday the tribunals, functionaries, &c. took
their seats in the parts which had been as-
signed to them, as spectators of this theatrical:
representation by a religious fraternity. At:
the further end of the theatre three crosses
were erected; to the middle one was affixed
an image of our Saviour. The Passion and
all its symbols were painted on the scenes.
To the right of the stage was a large arm-
chair, with a table before it covered with a
green cloth. Over the top of the stage:
whole troops of angels, cut out of paste-
board, and painted, were dangling about.
In the front, and made of the same materials,
were the figures of Saints Joseph and Nico-
demus, of the size of life. All these figures
were moved by some concealed machinery.
Immediately at the feet of the two saints was
a capacious tomb. The musicians had taken
their seats in the orchestra,-the spectators
had crowded into the church,—already had.
the cherubim and seraphim fluttered their
wings, and waved their hands to the notes:
of the musicians, tuning their instruments,


THE APPENINES.
187
when a venerable saint, in a square cap, short
surplice, bordered with broad lace, took his
station in the arm-chair, and delivered a dis-
course on the Passion, which lasted nearly an
hour. Some lay-brethren then shouted prayers
at the feet of the crucified Christ, whilst two
priests, ascending the steps of the crucifix,
gradually drew out the nails from the feet
and arms of the image, and, as the psalms
were continued, and the angels were agitat-
ing their wings and hands, took it down
from the cross, and placed it on a hearse near
the orchestra. After this the other priests,
wearing only their cassocks, the friars and
ecclesiastics covered with their surplices, fol-
lowed by the officers of the tribunals in long
robes, all bearing torches in their hands,
joined in a procession in the following order.
"First came a flute-player; then a large
black flag, borne by a young man clad in a
suit of mourning, with a sword by his side,
and black gloves on his hands; and then a
drummer, his drum muffled. Afterwards, in
double file, marched the lay-brothers to the
number of one hundred and sixty-dressed


188
THE APPENINES.
in flowing robes of a grey colour, and not
unlike dominos. The hoods covered their
heads entirely, with the exception of two
small holes for the eyes. The hearse was
borne, under a black canopy, by some of the
lay-brethren: the priests and the tribunal
followed. A Virgin came next, as large as
life, supported on a frame, and carried by
the young girls of Bobbio, of all ranks, who
were all clad in white. Two gendarmes closed
the procession, and were quite sufficient to
keep order among a crowd which was already
most devoutly attentive. The muffled drum
with its hollow sound filled up the intervals,
when the plaintive tones of the flute had
ceased for a moment. The procession marched
by torch-light through nearly all the streets
of the town, the windows and balconies of
which were thronged with devotees. From
the terrace of the Marchioness a line of ladies,
all kneeling on their seats, and attended by
their cavaliers, gazed upon the holy multi-
tude as it passed. The sub-prefect stood at
the side of the Marchioness, who had kept
him away from the procession for this pur-


THE APPENINES.
189
pose. In the course of our march I saw
some half a dozen ragged boys eagerly busy
in catching the wax which dropped from our
burning torches, into little paper basins
which they held beneath. The slight quan-
tity which they gathered was sufficient to pay
them for their trouble, as they sold it at a good
price to the wax-chandlers. The procession
made a halt before the different churches,
and all the members of it sang a Latin prayer.
Returning to the place whence we set out, the
hearse was presented to the images of St.
Joseph and St. Nicodemus, which very cour-
teously bowed their heads-stretched out their
arms and seemed to receive on their knees
the corpse, and to place it in the bier. This
was all very well managed by persons con-
cealed behind the two saints. During all
this time the archangels and seraphim expres-
sed their grief at the sight of the lifeless
corpse, by the convulsive agitation of their
wings, and their whole bodies. We all
returned our torches to a verger, and we
sank into the meditation which naturally
ensued after this religious performance of the
brethren of the Immaculata.


190
THE APPenines.
"At Bobbio there have been fifty bishops.
The last was Marius Fabius, a Milanese,
belonging to the Augustine order, and a per-
son of considerable merit, who died in 1804,
aged upwards of eighty years. Amongst
these fifty bishops were three saints. The
King of Sardinia, who appointed to this
bishopric, always chose, not the most highly
born, but the most able and the most learned.
And what minor temptation than a mitre could
attract any ecclesiastic to come and bury him-
self in the deep valley of Bobbio? The Abbés
sprung from titled and wealthy families could
never endure the dark and frowning aspect of
the mountains which fling their shadows from
every
side over this little town.
"It is still the custom at Bobbio to recite
the benedicite at table, with the prayer and
the sign of the cross: each person turns al-
ternately to the right and the left, and salutes
his neighbours, wishing them a good appetite.
"The young are educated in the greatest
respect for their parents, and whether they love
them or not, they at least shew them every
proper obedience. Parents allow their chil-


THE APPENINES.
191
dren not the slightest familiarity, and use the
most formal modes of address. At the age
of eight the boys are sent to school, where
they learn Latin; and the girls are shut up
in a convent, where they learn nothing. The
nature of their education, and the perpetual
constraint under which they labour, renders
the youth of both sexes weak-minded and in-
sincere. Those who are kept at home and
educated beneath the eyes of their parents
are less hypocritical, perhaps, but still more
formal. Their manners are cold, stiff, and
repulsive. They live in an apartment set
apart for them: strangers, and even intimates
in the family, rarely or never see them.
They quit the table immediately after the
desert. Is it wonderful that they should seize
the earliest occasion to remunerate them-
selves most amply for all this restraint?"


N° XVI.
REVOLT OF PLACENTIA.
Da
Quanto più la donna sara giovane, tanto meglio per voi.
quattordici anni fino a' diecisette avrete amor per amore; da
diecisette sino a' ventuno un miscuglio d'interesse e d'affetto.
Più là si passa con pericolo di trovare non una donatrice ma una
venditrice d'amore.
SALVINI.
It was now the middle of December, and
I found the climate of Genoa far milder
than it was in Paris at the end of October.
My time passed agreeably away, and I had
begun to fashion myself to Italian habits.
The theatre was but a poor resource, for the
troop of comedians, which on every even-
ing but Friday (in Italy they never perform on
that day) acted la capricciosa pentita at the
theatre del Falcone, was of the most wretched
order. It is rather singular that in a city so
rich in monuments of every sort, there should
not be even a tolerable theatre. The Genoese


REVOLT OF PLACENTIA.
193
J
r.
ad
ts
be
1.
e
d
0
d
e
prefer living in a more domestic manner,
and are given to indulge in very high play.
Fearing that the difficult passages of the
mountains might be rendered impracticable
by the snows, I made my arrangements for
departing, and resolved to proceed along the
coast to Chiavara, and then to the Gulf of
Spezzia. A Genoese noble having called on
me one morning, I turned the conversation
to the subject of the people of the Appenines,
and read to him the observations which have
been submitted to the reader in a preceding
chapter. He was pleased to speak highly of
the correctness of those remarks, and I then
proposed to read to him the notice I had
received from my friend at Bobbio, on the
insurrection of the Placentians.
"The French," observed the Genoese, "can
bear every thing but prosperity; that is their
fatal rock, and you must not be surprised,
therefore, that they should please men as
much too little as they please women too
much. In addition to this inaptitude, if they
exercise authority, they are but too prone to
abuse it. Their gallantry has almost always
VOL. I.
K


194
REVOLT OF PLACENTIA.
been the cause of the dissentions which their
presence has given rise to in different parts
of Italy. I do not accuse them of having
carried away by violence our wives and
daughters, who have, unhappily, in more
than one instance, been but too ready to fol-
low them. Amongst the young Italian females
there is an openness of manner, a susceptibi-
lity of disposition, to which they resign them-
selves, and, I confess, that in most cases, their
education has not been such as to strengthen
them against the seduction. At the time
when the French first entered Italy, I was in
Lombardy, and have often remarked, that
when a regiment quitted a town after any
considerable residence, fathers, mothers, go-
vernesses, sought in vain for their daughters
and pupils. Sometimes they were found
again, but irreparably injured. Many, afraid
of the severity of their parents, never dared
to re-appear, and submitted to their unhappy
lot without an effort to escape. Italian jus-
tice rarely punishes a conqueror; and I have
myself heard a magistrate reply to the com-
plaint of a father who had espoused the


REVOLT OF PLACENTIA.
195
French cause, and whose daughter had been
seduced: "You should have defended your
city, and then you would not have had to
weep over your child's ruin." The evil at
one time reached such a height, that those
were regarded as the wisest fathers who en-
deavoured to palliate the misconduct of their
children, by ascribing it to inexperience. I
will tell you an instance, however, in which a
French general repaired the fault of one of his
officers, though ignorant himself of the mis-
conduct. The daughter of a rich Milanese citi-
zen was at a school in Cremona: she was about
fifteen, very beautiful, and had exchanged
some tender glances with a young captain of
Hussars. After a few days, the mistress of
the establishment found that the girl was
missing. She did not dare inform the pa-
rents of the afflicting news. Very prudently,
she remained silent, and, at the end of a
week, the young lady returned. She told just
enough of her secret to her mistress to shew
the impropriety of revealing any more. About
this time a message arrived from Milan, re-
quiring the young lady's return to her family,
K 2


196
REVOLT OF PLACENTIA.
where every thing had been arranged for
marrying her to a French general, after-
wards high in rank at the Court of the Vice-
roy of Italy. The young Captain soon after-
wards was made Aide-de-camp to the Gene-
ral, and had a rapid advance in his profes-
sion. These were not the kind of facts which
occasioned the insurrection of Placentia-but
proceed, I entreat you to read your friend's
manuscript."
I read as follows:-"I had been for some
months in my gloomy solitude at Bobbio,
when the district of Placentia produced
against the French and their authority, an
army of insurgents, one column of which
directed its course towards our mountains.
The people of Parma were well aware of all
these movements, which were not made
known to us until a day or two before the
appearance of the peasantry, who told us,
that the public functionaries, and more es-
pecially the French, were in the most immi-
nent danger. The Mayor of Bobbio declared
to the Sub-prefect, that he could not answer
for our safety. We said: "Sound the toc-


REVOLT OF PLACENTIA.
197
sin! Call in the peasants of Bobbio to our
defence, and close the gates of the town.”
We might have added, "barricado the im-
mense gaps in the walls;" but he coldly
answered: "The tocsin is more likely to be
sounded against you, for our peasants are
sure to join the insurgents."
"On the 3d of January, two Placentian
emissaries presented themselves at the mu-
nicipality, and required that rations should
be provided for fifteen hundred men who
would enter the town within four hours. The
Mayor learned from their discourse that there
was just time enough for the French autho-
rities to escape. At noon, the Sub-prefect,
the officers of the recruiting service, the re-
ceivers and treasurers, left the town. This
was told me by a messenger from the Sub-
prefect, for I wished them all to remain, and
that the gates should be closed, the breaches
in the walls guarded, and the town defended
against a badly armed and undisciplined
peasantry. I advised also to send expresses
to the Governor of Genoa, to the Military
Governor of Parma and Placentia, General
K 3


198
REVOLT OF PLACENTIA.
Junot, requesting assistance, and stating that
in the mean time the town would be able to
hold out. My advice was not attended to,
and I found myself left alone a hostage in the
hands of ignorant peasants, who had already
sent the French to prison in the Castle of
Montalto, situated on the frontiers of Placentia.
As this was not a pleasant prospect, I set out
as rapidly as possible after my fugitive fellow-
countrymen, and soon came up with about
thirty of them, who, with the exception of the
Sub-prefect, were all on foot. The inhabi-
tants would neither hire nor lend us their
mules, in the belief that they never should
see us again."
"We had proceeded about half a league
to the south of Bobbio, when we beheld on
the mountains to the north of the town a body
of armed men, whose long dark mantles
strongly contrasted with the whiteness of
the snow. We observed that they directed
their course towards Bobbio. Continuing our
route, we were buoyed up with the hope that
the government had taken some measures to
suppress this insurrection, which was reported


REVOLT OF PLACENTIA.
199
to be general in the district of Placentia, and
to be managed by certain persons of conside-
ration who remained in the back-ground. We
arrived at Dezza, having been led by trusty
guides through the deep snows, in which we
sank up to the knees, and from which it was
sometimes almost impossible to extricate our
feet. The cold was excessive, but the ra-
pidity of our march enabled us to endure it.
We trod as carefully as possible in the tracks
of our guides. Like true Frenchmen, we
beguiled the tedious perils of the way with
songs, witticisms, and conversation. Finally,
we arrived at Prégola, at the house of a Mar-
quis Malaspina, a relation of the lady of that
name at Bobbio. Not having been expected,
the Marquis told us that he had not provisions
enough for so numerous a company. Never-
theless, he emptied his hen-roosts, and we
managed to get through about a hundred
eggs of all ages. Our beds were quite ex-
temporaneous, and consisted of boards covered
with mattrasses.
"In the mean time the insurgents had en-
tered Bobbio, to the number of fifteen hun-
K 4


200
REVOLT OF PLACENTIA.
dred, amidst the most terrific outcries and
huzzas. I was told that one of the more
respectable inhabitants of the town, who had
been sent with three others, by the Mayor, to
treat with the insurgents, marched in at their
head, with branches of laurel in his hat, as if
he had retaken Bobbio by force of arms. The
insurgents cried, as they entered the town,
"God and the Holy Mother for ever! Long life
to the Emperor! not the new one, but the old one
of Austria!-Spain and the Dukes of Parma
for ever!"-They had already levied contri-
butions of money and provisions on the Mayor
and all such as they supposed favourable to
the French. They hastened to the Treasurer's,
whose chests they found empty, plundered
the lodgings of the gens d'armes, who had been
very imprudently ordered to Genoa at the
beginning of the insurrection of the Placen-
tians. They then sent off a detachment of
forty men in pursuit of us, but the depth of
the snow retarded their progress; and, on
arriving at Dezza, they had not the strength
to follow us to Pregola, where they would
have arrived about two hours after us. They
then returned to Bobbio, fearful of finding the


REVOLT OF PLACENTIA.
201
roads entirely blocked up by the snows. The
next day we resumed our journey, part of our
number making a circuitous route to Voghera,
and the rest proceeding to Genoa by way of
Novi.
“The insurgents were near to Novi; but
the Sub-prefect was ignorant of this until in-
formed by us. He immediately reconnoitred,
armed the national guard, and closed up the
gates, so that not a single rebel penetrated
the capital. Their design was to get posses-
sion of Montalto on the 6th of January, and of
Voghera on the 8th. Our fortunate arrival
on the 5th was, perhaps, the means of saving
the town.
"A detachment of light French cavalry soon
came to our relief, and, aided by them, we
returned to Bobbio. The gates were closed,
and the breaches in the walls barricadoed.
The sentry demanded: Who goes there?—
Frenchmen! was the answer. The inhabitants
having learnt our return, adopted the same
course for their own safety, which we had
previously suggested for ours. We recap-
tured the town without firing a musket, as
K 5


202
REVOLT OF PLACENTIA.
the insurgents had captured it without a blow.
The last had evacuated their conquest after
having sung a Te Deum, and had left a gar-
rison of about fifty men, who were a vexation
to the inhabitants, and by whom they were
driven out of the town. The Governor of
Genoa then sent us an official bulletin, con-
taining an account of these events.
"It suffices to say that this insurrection,
which had begun during the French campaign
in Germany, and which had been greatly
fomented by the report that Napoleon had
been taken, with forty thousand men, and im-
prisoned in an iron case, was entirely stifled
by the victory of Austerlitz. After a few
skirmishes between the troops and the pea-
santry, something like quiet was restored.
One might have thought that these political
disturbances had had an effect on the lofty
rocks which overhang Bobbio, for, on the 7th
of February, at ten o'clock a slight earth-
quake was felt there, to the great conster-
nation of the inhabitants. Napoleon ordered
Mezzano, a small village about two leagues
distant, to be burnt, as having been a rallying


#
NE
1
}
1
I
I
I
203
point for the insurgents. This order was
put in execution with all possible lenity.
The inhabitants received timely notice; the
soldiery were interdicted from pillage; the
mansion of the principal person in the village
was preserved, in order to afford an asylum
to the peasant families, who, instead of losing
by the conflagration, received full receipts
for the rents and dues which they had not
paid to their landlord. Many of the peasants
were seen warming themselves by the fire of
their own habitations. The people of Bobbio
expressed a becoming gratitude to the Gene-
ral under whose superintendance these orders
were executed, and who knew how to pre-
serve tranquillity in an invaded country,
exposed to the dangers of a badly-disciplined
and licentious soldiery.
REVOLT OF PLACENTIA.
"A decree of amnesty was soon published
pardoning all the insurgents, except a few
who were condemned to death by a military
commission instituted at Parma. General
Junot himself, with his staff, soon afterwards
visited Bobbio, where he was received with
all sorts of honours. The Mayor recited a
K 6


204
copy of verses, which invoked Mount Penice
to bow its lofty head, and the Trebia to
bridle in its current, for he who had filled with
the blood and carnage of victory the fields,
valleys, hills, lakes, and highways, was now
about to pass them with a giant's step.
General Juno, afterwards Duke of Abrantes,
whose death was so tragic in its manner, and
who before 1789 had been an attorney's
clerk at Chaumont, was scarcely settled in
his residence, before he received all the
authorities and tribunals in grand levee. He
spoke to those around him in the Tuscan
dialect. Although stretched almost at his
length on a sofa, yet I observed that no
one of his suite ventured to sit down in
his presence. This was a kind of appren-
ticeship to the state which he afterwards
assumed in Paris and Illyria. He had pro-
bably caught the infection in Egypt, where
the persons in power are so great and the
rest of the world so small. Young females
alone were allowed to sit before him. To
them he paid the greatest attention. There
was a young figurante, named Rotonda, at
Parma, who happened to sprain her ancle,
REVOLT OF PLACENTIA.


REVOLT OF PLACENTIA.
205
whilst the General was present. He sent
first one Aide-de-camp and then another,
and finally visited the young lady himself.
This military governor was necessarily fol-
lowed by a great number of courtiers-the
majority of them functionaries of Parma-so
that the childish assemblage of public men
about the couch of a common dancer proved
the nothingness of man when woman is con-
cerned.
1
The general was treated at Bobbio with
the greatest attention. The Marchioness gave
him a grand ball and supper, but after con-
descending to walk through part of a dance
he disappeared.
After the tempest, all was calm in the dis-
trict, and General Junot at the head of his
suite, and escorted by the inhabitants of the
town, departed for Parma. On his route he
diverted himself with killing the poultry of
the peasantry, by shooting at them with a
pistol whilst trotting past, in order to shew his
dexterity in using that weapon. For every
pullet so shot, which the peasantry brought
him, he paid six francs. And thus terminated
the visit of General Junot.


206
REVOLT OF PLACENTIA.
"In the rebellion of Bobbio there was but
a single head turned, that of a lame apothe-
cary, who, finding himself in the streets
during the entry of the Placentian peasantry,
and more intent upon his bills than with their
arrival, which he had not anticipated, could
not escape so easily as he wished. On reach-
ing his own house at last, he was haunted
with the notion that the insurgents were still
in pursuit, and determined to poison or
dissect him. The return of peace, how-
ever, effaced all these political and mental
blotches.
"So soon as the danger was over, the in-
habitants began to tell their marvellous stories,
and accompany them with their more or less
sagacious comments. The politicians pre-
tended that there were still revolutionary
movements in the south of France, similar
to those in Parma and Placentia: that in Pied-
mont, near Bielle, the insurgents had made
the most hostile demonstrations, and after
being defeated and made prisoners they had
been condemned by a military commission at
Verceil.
"The dealers in romance dwelt upon the


REVOLT OF PLACENTIA.
207
carelessness of the people of Mezzano, who,
though warned early in the evening of the
intended conflagration of their village, re-
mained in their beds, without any attempt to
escape or provide for a future residence.
These people stood by in the morning and
beheld unmoved the destruction of their
dwellings; and some of them went so far as
to tell the adjutant the best places for throw-
ing his combustibles. A dealer in salt and
tobacco, after having transported some of his
effects, returned to inform the commanding
officer, that the cellar of his house was filled
with wood, and would burn like wildfire. At
the sight of the conflagration of Mezzano,
which is separated by the river Trebia from
Canimata, the inhabitants of this last village,
and of the neighbouring hamlets, who had
joined the insurgents, quitted their cottages
and drove away their flocks, in the fear that
the French would devote them to a similar
ruin. The curate of Mezzano fled the coun-
try in his fright, leaving the key in the taber-
nacle, and the chalice and the consecrated
wafers in the sacristy. The commanding offi-


208
REVOLT OF PLACENTIA.
cer collected them altogether, and sent the
holy vases, and the host, with the ornaments
of the church to the Count Caraccioli. The
curate of Scabiesa, a village of Placentia,
kept in his sacristy a pistol and dagger, to
protect himself from such of his insurgent-
parishioners as might have dared to attack
him at the feet of the altar. The people of
Mezzano, startled from their lethargy by the
sight of the Swiss soldiers who came to set fire
to their dwellings, set about removing in the
greatest haste, and in order to carry away the
casks, poured out the wine upon the ground,
the weight of which would have rendered their
removal more difficult. A great quantity of
grain, provender, and furniture was lost.
The Swiss soldiers rioted considerably among
the provisions, and got very intoxicated.
Some of the villagers warmed themselves at
the bivouacs, and, whilst the flames were
consuming their habitations, drank with the
soldiers. Others, on the ground, or standing,
gazed at the burning ruins with the most
stupid indifference. But these were not
amongst the guiltiest of the insurgents. The


REVOLT OF PLACENTIA.
209
people of the villages of Canimata, Cardorela,
Prino, and Macerati, were the genuine re-
bels; but they had selected Mezzano as a
rallying point, to turn away the ruin from
themselves in case of failure; there they
sounded the tocsin and combined their forces,
so that Mezzano passed for the centre of the
insurrection, and was unjustly destroyed.
The inhabitants were prohibited from re-
building their habitations before twelve years
had elapsed. In the midst of what had been
the village a column was erected, having
inscribed on it the reasons for its destruc-
tion.
"A report was circulated that Napoleon
had bestowed on General Junot, for his zeal
in suppressing this insurrection, a rich abbey
in the Placentine, whose revenue exceeded
three hundred thousand francs per annum.
Twenty rebels, two of them ecclesiastics,
were condemned by the military commission
to be shot.
"As a specimen of Italian character I would
remark that, during the whole of the insur-
rection, the revels of the carnival went on.


210
REVOLT OF PLACENTIA.
The youths of Bobbio came to the balls in
the dresses of the Placentian brigands. Let
it not be said that the French are the only
nation in Europe which exhibits symptoms
of unbecoming levity."
.
7


Nº. XVII.
PLACENTIA.
Et que doit-il penser, lorsque, dans une rue,
Il trouve de pédans un escadron fourré
Ou qu'il voit la justice, en grosse compagnie,
Mener tuer un homme avec cérémonie.
BOILEAU.
WHAT then is justice? The most beautiful
of all fictions. It resembles friendship in one
respect, nothing is more common than the
name, nothing more rare than the thing.
There is often a great difference between
giving judgment and doing justice. I have
sometimes heard judgments pronounced, so
ridiculous and so unexpected, that the sar-
castic hyperbole of Montesquieu might have
passed for truth, when he wished that every
cause should be decided in favour of the party
who had the fewest voices in his favour: so
true is it that the number of clear and just-


212
PLACENTIA.
minded persons in the world, is exceeded by
that of the dull and unjust-minded.
I recollect to have heard tell, in my infancy,
of one of the judges of Toulouse, who was in
the habit of making very curious bargains
with the goddess of Justice. Equally afraid
of letting loose a malefactor on society, or of
sending an innocent person to the scaffold, he
had chosen for his guide, what he called, a
kind of middle term, and, without embar-
rassing himself with the more or less compli-
cated details of the cases, he always decided
that the accused should be condemned to the
gallies for ten years. According to his view,
what some lost, others gained by this com-
promise, and so the great principles of justice
were kept in equilibrium. I would not un-
dertake to say that this mode of passing judg-
ment was worse than others which are now
in use.
Before the last occupation of Italy by the
French-an occupation which was either too
long or too short for the prosperity of the
Italians nothing was more simple than the
administration of justice in most of the towns.
A sbirro (for two-pence) served a verbal sum-


PLACENTIA.
213
mons; the parties appeared before the po-
desta, who received, as his fee, two pence,
when the damages amounted to twenty-five
francs; five-pence when they amounted to
fifty; and two per cent. on all higher sums.
The fees of the Judges in the Courts of
Appeal were in the same proportion. A
notary certified for some trifling fee that
the summons was legally served. The ad-
vocates were ordinarily limited by a very
frugal tarif; but they turned to a better
account all that kind of business into which
any feelings of hatred entered. This sort
of litigation, which the Italians term cause
di pontiglio, was very common in Italy, for
the podesta rarely exercised his authority
until after recourse had been made to the
influence of the stiletto. The Italians are
not remarkable for their fondness of litigious
processes; and if legal discussions are more
rare amongst them than amongst other na-
tions, it partly arises from the cheapness of
advocacy, for it is unquestionable that suits
are more numerous in proportion to their
expensiveness.


214
PLACENTIA.
The influence of the French Revolution
was felt through all the states of Italy. The
introduction of the French system of jurispru
dence was fatal to the old ultramontane jurists,
and raised up at once a large tribe of young
advocates. The first too far advanced in their
professional career, to familiarize themselves
with a new language and a new code, se-
ceded from the courts of law; the others, on
the contrary, as soon as they were able to
talk even a jargon of French, usurped their
seats on the bench, and derived from igno-
rant suitors considerable sums for a few
rash and imperfect opinions, or inefficient
speeches. At Genoa, I heard a beardless
barrister plead for a man who was accused
of having stabbed another. The defence
amounted, in fact, to a justification of the
deed. "No law," cried the advocate,
"forbids us from destroying our enemies,
when that destruction is necessary to our
own preservation;" he went on to quote the
civil law, and to shew that a stiletto was
nothing more than a weapon of defence.
As we say in France, that a blow demands


PLACENTIA.
215
a reference to the sword-so in Italy, they
say that a blow must be wiped away by the
stiletto. "Both principles are barbarous
enough," said a Genoese to me one day,
"but are we not as excusable as you are?"
There is one thing which greatly obstructs
the proper administration of criminal justice
in Italy, and that is the vast influence which
the confessors exercise over judges, advo-
cates, and solicitors. I have known an in-
stance where a judge was heavily censured
by a confessor for some sentence which had
been pronounced in his court. Often has it
occurred that solicitors have been afraid to
put their briefs into the hands of certain
advocates, who were in bad odour with the
religious orders.
At Genoa, neither the power of the Doges
nor that of the senate, ever pressed so se-
verely upon the people as did formerly the
government of Venice, which had adopted
only half of Machiavel's advice" Kill
speedily, but rarely." The Council of Ten,
which Duclos has so justly called an immor-
tal despot, killed speedily and frequently.


216
PLACENTIA.
Although the punishment of death was occa-
sionally resorted to in Genoa, yet it was
more rarely employed than in Piedmont.
The Doge was the supreme head of the
state, and consequently of justice; but as his
power lasted but for two years, he looked
forward, amidst the exercise of all his high
functions, to the time when he should return
again to the rank of a simple citizen. I
beheld, with a deep respect, the portraits of
all these personages in the vast magnificent
hall, where the Doges used to preside over
the Genoese senate. On the day of their
election, a member of the senate, after having
thanked the last Doge, announced to him the
expiration of his authority in these words:
"My Lord, it is now two years since you
were elected Doge.-Sir, you are no longer
Doge." He immediately descended from
the official chair, and laid aside the insignia
of his power.
I had been at Placentia two days, when I
made these reflections on the state of Italian
jurisprudence; and if any of the kingdoms of
that country were still ruled according to
1


PLACENTIA.
217
the maxims of Machiavel, the Duchies of
Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla, as well as
Tuscany, were governed previous to the ar-
rival of the French, by laws as mild and tem-
perate as their own climate. A man of whom
all Italy is justly proud, and whose name
is respected by the civilized world, had seen
his principles prevail in these fortunate pro-
vinces; and the Grand Dukes who adopted
them, were in some measure associated with
the glory of Beccaria. They believed that no
man had the right to doom his fellow-crea-
ture to death; they thought that the right to
destroy belonged to Him alone who had the
power to create. One may easily imagine how
odious all our barbarous legal customs must
have appeared to people unused to witness
the shedding of blood.
I lodged at Placentia, in the house of a
merchant, who had retired from business
ten years before. After having travelled in
France and England, he returned to his
native city, and devoted his time to the
education of his children. I had known him
very intimately at Paris, in the house of the
L


218
PLACENTIA.
Chevalier Angiolini, then envoy from Tus-
cany, and who, by way of parenthesis, ren-
dered Prince Borghese the unwelcome ser-
vice of marrying him to the handsome widow
of General Leclerc.* My host was suffi-
ciently intimate to be quite at his ease with
me, and he never hesitated to say how easy
it would have been for the French to have
conciliated the affections of the Italians, if
in breaking up all their old usages they had
not imposed the yoke of French laws. In
short, he was one of the most decided oppo-
nents of Napoleon, although he paid him
the tribute due to his great military talents,
and recognized the good qualities of the
French people. "We were then so happy!"
has he often exclaimed to me; 66 now, we
pay three times as many taxes as before; not
only does the conscription take away from
us our children at the age of twenty, but
under the pretext of giving them a French
education in the lyceums; the sons of the
wealthy are taken as early as their twelfth
year, and your authorities have the audacity
* The Princess Pauline Buonaparte.


PLACENTIA.
219
to say that these are benefits conferred on us.
I will admire as much as you please, but
nothing in the world shall force me to love
a government which extends its power into
the bosom of private families, and prescribes
to a parent how his children shall be edu-
cated. But the worst of all your deeds is
the having re-established the punishment of
death, which prevents no crime, for crime
always increases in the direct ratio of the
severity of laws. The public eye becomes
familiarized with a horrid spectacle, and
the purity of morals is thereby greatly cor-
rupted. I admit that civilization is not so con-
siderably advanced with us as with you, for
excepting a few persons who might easily be
pointed out, the twenty-eight thousand in-
habitants of Placentia are imbued with many
prejudices, and led away by many supersti-
tions; but it is not the sight of a scaffold
which will improve their moral and intel-
lectual condition. It is impossible to de-
scribe the effect produced on the first intro-
duction of the guillotine, by the French, into
Placentia. It was towards the end of May
-
L 2


220
PLACENTIA.
in 1807, that the hearts of the Placentians
were chilled by the occurrence of a horrid
tragedy. The man condemned to death was
an assassin, I admit; and whilst we censure
the law we must absolve the judges. During
the interval between the sentence and the
execution, and for several days afterwards,
you might have observed every face pale and
astonished; the theatre was deserted; in the
streets, and the public walks, the common
question was have you seen it? When the
day of execution arrived, the inhabitants, of
every age, men, women, children, those
whom infirmities generally kept at home,
all thronged to the public square, and the
adjacent street; the windows, balconies,
and roofs were covered with spectators, and
all the houses and shops were shut up. Or-
ders had been given in the morning to close
the gates of the city; before daybreak all
the different religious societies, which are
very numerous here, had dispersed them-
selves into the various quarters to solicit
money for the requiem of the deceased. The
nobility of all orders assumed the dress of one


PLACENTIA.
221
or other of these societies, and engaged in their
religious toils. After some hours of strange
expectation the fatal axe fell, and struck
terror into every heart. The executioner,
unmoved by the general horror, rolled the
corpse into a box, and, taking the head by
the hair, held it up as a spectacle to the
people. The head of Medusa itself could
scarcely have produced greater affright. In
a moment a thousand absurd reports were
circulated amongst the crowd, and swallowed
by their credulity. One asserted that the
features moved, another saw the mouth open
and shut, others began to count their rosa-
ries, when a cry was heard that the dead body
had raised one of its legs out of the coffin.
The disorder was then at its height; the
crowd immediately fled in every direction,
believing that the evil spirit had taken pos-
session of the corpse of the unhappy sufferer.
Many persons were seriously hurt in the
confusion; and the members of the religious
societies, embarrassed by their long robes
and hoods, were thrown down, and the
money they had collected was scattered upon
क
L3


222
PLACENTIA.
the ground. Some of the fugitives in their
fright escaped over the walls, others took
refuge in their own houses. In the general
terror, the mayor had recourse to the clergy,
who formed themselves into a procession,
and marched through the streets. The mea-
sured chaunt of the priests, their regular and
solemn march gradually restored the terrified
people to their senses. Without such an
intervention, nothing would have calmed
their agitated spirits." I admitted that this
event might have produced very disagree-
able results, and concurred in the danger of
changing the laws and customs of a nation.
Without wishing to defend the conduct of
Napoleon in all things, still I could not avoid
citing an instance where he had paid great
deference to the superstitions of the people
of Parma. A Mr. N had been appointed
prefect of the city at the recommendation of
Joseph Bonaparte. He arrived a little be-
fore the end of Lent, and on Good Friday
gave a fête and ball, at which the principal
persons of Parma were obliged to be present.
As soon as Napoleon was informed of this, he


PLACENTIA.
223
transmitted to Mr. N-, by means of the
telegraph, the information of his official re-
moval. This act produced the best effect
upon the people of Parma, but "we were
once so happy!"
I had already remarked during my earlier
promenades about the town, that Placentia
had little or no accord with the meaning of
its name. The environs, however, are fine;
and, so far as the imagination can conceive
the effect of summer verdure upon the situ-
ations and woods, which are even picturesque
in winter, the country around Placentia, must,
in the warmer seasons, be delicious. The
town itself is gloomy and dull, and harmo-
nizes with the peevish and sour aspect of
the people.
After conversing for a few hours with
any number of Placentians, it is difficult to
believe that one is not living in the fourteenth
century; thus, when they quit their country,
which is extremely rare, they believe them-
selves transported into a new world. Their
incurious taciturnity almost equals that of
the inhabitants of the Greek isles. Dis-
L 4


224
PLACENTIA.
daining labour and study, they find no sa-
tisfaction except in ignorance and supersti-
tion. When General Junot arrived there for
the first time, all the nobility thought it their
duty to present themselves before him in
uniform, and they all put on the epaulettes
of Colonels. The General had great difficulty
in making them understand that this kind of
dress was not allowed except to those who
had received the proper commissions.
Placentia is a very ancient city, founded by
a Roman colony. It was captured and
burnt by Hamilcar. In many places, where
excavations of a certain depth have been
made, the water bubbles up very salt, but
without the disagreeable taste of sea-water.
The number of Monks and Ecclesiastics forms
nearly one-tenth of the whole population.
Although not very productive in distin-
guished men, yet Placentia boasts of Pallavi-
cino, one of the clever authors of the seven-
teenth century. Like many other persons of
far greater celebrity than himself, Pallavicino
owed his misfortunes and his deplorable end
to his own talents. Il Divorzio Celeste was
•


PLACENTIA.
225
ascribed to him, a work full of wit and seve-
rity, in which he traces a picture, perhaps
too extravagant, of the Court of Rome and
its profligacy under the Pontificate of Urban
VIII. Having written against this Pope and
the Barberini family, then all-powerful, he
was invited to Avignon by every sort of
flattery and seduction. He went there full of
a confidence which was fatal to him, for no
sooner had he arrived, than Urban caused
him to be beheaded. There are still extant
some other curious works by Pallavicino,
which have not been translated into other
languages, and which the bibliomanists con-
sider precious and rare.
I remained only a few days at Placentia.
Spite of its fine fountains, the magnificent
frescoes of the Carracci and Guercino, and
the beautiful pictures which decorate its
churches, it is, of all the Italian cities, the
one which has left me the fewest pleasant
recollections, and I quitted it for Parma
without regret.
!
1
1
$
1
$
L 5


Nº. XVIII.
PARM A.
Mihi sic usus est; tibi, ut opus est facto, face.
TERENCE.
How greatly is it to be desired in the
world, that each man would occupy himself
with his own conduct, and not busy himself
so impertinently about that of others. This
very common fault is more intolerable than
much greater vices, and often tends to create
and confirm national antipathies. In foreign
countries, the French are accused of levity;
I think unjustly so. But there is another
charge against us which is much better
founded, I mean an exclusive affection for our
own manners, habits, and customs. A little
more, and, like the ancient Romans,we should
treat as barbarians all those who do not live


PARMA.
227
in the same way with ourselves. Men, the
most remarkable for gravity of character, are
not exempt from this prejudice, which in-
fluenced even so great a person as the Pre-
sident, Montesquieu. Being at Venice with
the celebrated Lord Chesterfield, a discussion
arose between them on the respective emi-
nence of the two nations, which were so
favourably represented by themselves. Lord
Chesterfield allowed France the superiority
in wit, but refused the palm of good sense.
Montesquieu returned home very much dis-
satisfied with this praise. He was still in a
petulant mood, when a Venetian whom he
did not know, presented himself mysteriously
and demanded a private audience. This man
said, that the State Inquisitors had taken
some offence at the President's visit to the
Republic, and that his residence would be
visited that night for the purpose of ex--
amining his papers; and, if anything was
found to compromise him, he would be most
certainly arrested. The stranger withdrew
after having given this advice to Montes-
quieu. The latter instantly set about de-
L 6


228
PARMA.
stroying all the observations he had written
down on the Government of Venice, and
waited with some anxiety for the menaced
nocturnal visit, but no one came. The next
day, at an early hour, he called on Lord
Chesterfield and related to him the adven-
ture, together with the mode adopted to res-
cue himself from all danger from the Inqui-
sition. Scarcely had Montesquieu finished
his story, when Lord Chesterfield began to
smile, and said: "Well, my dear President,
was I wrong in refusing France the posses-
sion of good sense, when one of her most
distinguished citizens has shewn himself so
strangely deficient in it?"-" How?"
-
Clearly-with very little good sense you
would have reflected, that a man who did not
know you could not have felt so deep an in-
terest in your concerns as to do a service of
this sort; and, besides, if the Government
had intended such a step, it is too fond of se-
cresy to have imparted its design to any one.”
Montesquieu confessed his precipitancy; and,
when such a man confesses such a fault, it
would be idle in us to deny it. It is certain


PARMA.
229
that we judge strangers more or less favour-
ably, in proportion as they differ or agree
with ourselves. I have remarked this on
almost every occasion that I met any of my
countrymen in Italy.
But, to continue my route. At two or
three leagues from Parma, on each side of
the road, are meadows of great extent, co-
vered with numerous herds of cattle, some
of them of extraordinary size. These pastures
are inclosed by hedges of a man's height,
planted and cut with a symmetry equal to
that of the most elegant gardens. The envi-
rons of the city are more simple than those of
Placentia, and without the same variety and
beauty of scenery. About half a league from
Parma, we met a procession of females, hav-
ing at their head a grand Cross-bearer and two
or three priests. The nature and direction of
their procession I could not learn. Every
thing about me indicated the appearance of a
city which had once been subject to Spanish
Government; and, I was told, that many
Spanish customs still prevailed in Parma.
On entering the city, I thought that the


230
PARMA.
streets and buildings were far less gloomy
than those of Placentia. A more modern air
pervaded every thing, although there was no
pretence to magnificence. Almost all the
windows were set in lead, even those belong-
ing to the Palazzi. In Italy, the better sort
of houses in town or city lay claim to the title
of Palazzo. Parma is very ancient, and bore
the same name even before the time of
Augustus. It is situated on the Flaminian
way. During the time of the triumvirate,
Parma suffered greatly from the cruelties
exercised towards the inhabitants by the
party of Antony. Cicero alludes to the pro-
scriptions which that faction levelled at the
people, whom he describes as amongst the
most estimable in Italy. Augustus sent a
new colony to Parma, which in gratitude took
the name of Julia Augusta Colonia. At the
time of the destruction of the Western Em-
pire, it experienced many disasters; and, in
the wars of Italy, passed successively under
the yoke of several dominions. It was a
part of Tuscany when Cassius, the friend of
Brutus, was born there. Hence Horace,


PARMA.
231
when speaking of that republican, calls him
Etrusci Cassi.
The Parmesans have a distinguished uni-
versity, founded in 1599 by Ranuccio Far-
nese. Their other literary claims are not
great. It is said that Aurelius Macrobius
was born here in the fourth century; Paer,
the celebrated musician, is a native of Par-
ma, and composed his opera Agnèse as a
homage to his birth-place, where it was
first performed by a company of amateurs,
he sustaining the part of Uberto himself.
The town is watered by the little river
called the Parma, which divides it into three
parts, connected by as many bridges. The
palace offers nothing remarkable on the out-
side. The grand square is large, but the
buildings which surround it, are neither
splendid nor imposing. The centre of the
square is converted into a market, and crowd-
ed with sellers and buyers. The square of
the ducal palace would be very beautiful if
it were finished. One is struck at Parma
by the great number of churches, which are
more remarkable for their internal deco-


232
PARMA.
rations than their architecture. The cathe-
dral is famous for its cupola, which repre-
sents the assumption. It is the work of
Corregio, and though somewhat injured by
time, is marked by great warmth of imagina-
tion, and extraordinary boldness of foreshort-
ening. It has been objected to by severe critics
for great imperfection in the drawing and the
over-colouring of the flesh. Parma is rich
in pictures of Corregio, Parmegiano, Paul
Veronese, Guercino, and other famous mas-
ters. The academy of Parma possesses a
bronze table, which contains the charter
granted by Trajan to the Velleians. For
many centuries, this town has been under
the government of the Farnese, a family
rendered illustrious by Alexander Farnese,
better known as Pope Paul III.
Parma is surrounded by walls, and flanked
by bastions. It is more than four miles in
circumference. The citadel is inconsider-
able. It has about forty thousand inhabitants.
The principal commerce of the place is
in silk and cheese. This latter is famous
throughout Europe.


PARMA.
233
The library is worth the attention of the
curious, and contains all the works printed
by Bodoni. I paid a visit to this extraordinary
man, who has contributed so much to the
advancement of typography. He was made
a member of the corps législatif during Buo-
naparte's time, but he did not appear to be
greatly affected by that honour. When I
visited him, he was engaged in printing an
edition of Homer, on vellum, only two copies
of which had been struck off-one for Napo-
leon, and the other for the King of Bavaria.
I was accompanied by an officer of the
French army, who happened to be attached
to the mission in Parma, and who, being
little versed in any thing except the art of
war, had the bad taste to admire nothing in the
Homer except the beauty of the parchment.
I never saw a more expressive glance of the
eye than the printer threw upon me when he
heard this opinion. Unhappily, Bodoni was
a devotee, and extremely timid; his editions
are all expurgati. The only French work
which his presses have produced, is the


234
PARMA.
poem on religion, by the gallant Cardinal de
Bernis.
The inhabitants of Parma are polished in
their manners, and well informed. The
great Farnese theatre is in ruins, but even
its ruins display much of its former magni-
ficence. It is three hundred feet in length,
and the largest in Italy, and was once the
most beautiful. At present, the carved work,
gilding, and sculpture, are fallen into ruins.
Every part of the building is exposed to the
open air; the roof, platforms, and stage, have
given way in several places. Once this mag-
nificent edifice testified the prodigious power
of man; now it gives a sad proof of the
destructive influence of time. It was built
after the designs of the celebrated architect
Vignola, and was capable of holding twelve
thousand spectators, so placed as to hear
from all parts and corners of this immense
building. The moderate tones of the actor
might be heard by the auditor in the re-
motest recess of the interior. What made
the structure of this house the more remark-


PARMA.
235
able, was the complete absence of echoes and
reverberations. With my friend, the un-ty-
pographical Colonel, I examined the house
in all its parts, and there was no situation on
the stage in which a person might not be
easily seen from every part of the boxes, pit,
and gallery. This theatre was constructed
something more than three centuries ago,
for the purpose of celebrating the marriage
of Hercules Farnese; it is of a demi-oval
form; all the lower part is built in ascending
rows of seats à l'antique, up to the usual
height of the second tier of boxes. There is
only one circle of boxes, which is ornamented
with simple columns, at equal distances,
which support the arches, and is surrounded
with a rich cornice. Above is a gallery with
several rows of seats. The theatre Farnese,
and the theatre Palladio, are the only two
modern theatres in Italy, which really shew
any marks of architectural science and beauty.
The audience on the sides see and hear as
well as those who are opposite the stage.
Abandoned for more than a century, this ex,
quisite monument has fallen into ruins; but


236
PARMA.
even the ruins are curious, and enable the
observer to judge of the character of the
original edifice. Architects have often talked
of rebuilding this edifice in all its pristine
beauty, in order that at least one city of Italy
might boast of a theatre constructed accord-
ing to the models of antiquity. The expense
of such vast reparations have always occa-
sioned their indefinite postponement. The
river Parma flows behind the theatre, and in
pieces requiring shew, they were in the habit
of opening some of the side walls, and intro-
ducing the water on the stage, with barks
in full sail. This was a great aid in the
representation of sea-fights. The only theatre
at which the Parmesans enjoy themselves at
present, is a still smaller one than that of
Placentia; its consists of three tiers of boxes,
but has nothing remarkable in its architec-
ture. The grotesque dances here are famous
throughout Italy.
It only remains to say something of the
public garden, or park, which adjoins the city.
It is planted with a great number of trees,
many of which are exotics. There are a


PARMA.
237
great many bosquets, alleys, and fountains in
different parts of it; and the citizens find it
a pleasant promenade. The terrace com-
mand the view of an extensive and fertile
country, remarkable by the victory which
the French gained over the Austrians in
1734. This battle, called the battle of Parma,
was fought immediately below the terrace.
The district of Parma is fertile in garden-
stuff, and particularly so in all sorts of
melons. The grand square, and all the ad-
jacent street, are crowded with melon-stalls;
and the pavements are covered with rows of
immense water melons, called by the Ita-
lians cocomeri, and by the Provençals pas-
tèques. This fruit is much sought after in
Italy, and, being moderate in price, the poor
make it their habitual food in summer. The
juice is slightly acid, and they say that it
preserves and repairs the powers of the
stomach. When the richer classes eat them,
they pour one or two bottles of white wine
into them, which greatly improves the fla-
vour.


No. XIX.
AN ORIGINAL.
Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum
Grata superveniet, quæ non sperabitur hora.
HORACE.
It is in travelling that we find the advan-
tage of leaving each day to take care of
itself, and not to form an attachment to any
particular country, which, instead of creat-
ing sources of enjoyment, is sure to prepare
occasion for regret. I had begun to find
Parma a pleasant place, and formed two or
three delightful connexions, when I quitted
it suddenly, to bury myself once more in the
heart of the mountains. The spring was just
opening upon us, and having contracted a
friendship with a Parmesan naturalist, he
persuaded me to take advantage of the sea-
son, and to accompany him to Chiavari and


AN ORIGINAL.
239
Spezzia, to observe a singular natural phe-
nomenon. As there was nothing which spe-
cially retained me in Parma I consented.
Italy is the only country which incessantly
offers those great contrasts of the most per-
fect productions of art in towns, with a cer-
tain primitive and savage air in the country
-which tends to shew off the advances of
civilization. During my residence at Parma,
I had sedulously courted my travelling com-
panion; he joined to the usual vivacity of
an Italian, a disdain of the human species,
which was not with him an affectation, but a
genuine originality. On the other hand, all
irrational animals were the objects of his
constant admiration.
"How very unjust men are!" said he to
me, one day. "If, before they condemn
those species in which human pride affects
to recognize mere instinct, they would only
examine the use to which they put their own
boasted reason, I think it would perplex them
to decide on which side lies the superiority.
I admit that nothing else than instinct is ne-
cessary to stimulate two bulls to a combat


240
AN ORIGINAL.
for the same cow, or two dogs to fight for
their prey; whilst it requires a progression
of improvements and discoveries to bring
together, in hostile array, two armies of
three hundred thousand men, who are to
destroy each other they know not wherefore.
Give all due honour, then, to your vaunted
reason. We are proud of the very thing
which ought to make us blush; and the
meanness of our actions puts to shame the
pomposity of our pretensions. Recollect
what an old Greek philosopher (whose name
I have forgotten-such is the nature of hu-
man memory) once said: Men go about
boasting that they are the most beautiful of
all created things, and yet they conceal their
beauty under the spoils, and borrow the dress
of those very beings whose ugliness they
censure.' Still further it is a proverb
'ugly as a monkey;' and yet of all animals
the monkey is that which most resembles a
man. Philosophers admit that man, in his
natural state, is scarcely more intelligent
than the animals:-they should have said,
much less so. It is thought, that the instinct


AN ORIGINAL.
241
of domestic animals is greatly improved by
intercourse with men :-fine improvement!
that of exchanging the instinct of liberty for
that of slavery. But their liberty is still dearer
to them than it is to us. I remarked this the
other day when looking at a troop of learned
dogs in the neat square of Parma. They
were clothed in tawdry rags, in imitation of
our dresses, and it was quite delightful to see
the contempt and scorn with which the other
dogs passed them by. A little shaggy bitch
repulsed, with vast indignation, the courtesies
of the Abbé and Marquis of the dancing
troop. There was in this something more than
instinct. The dog, that good and excellent
creature, does he follow the movement of
instinct merely when he remains faithful to
an attachment of which we are not worthy?
when he follows alone the property of a
master, who would have killed him if he had
broken a paw in his service, in order to be
relieved from the expense of keeping him in
his infirmity?-when he dies to defend him?
-when he dies even because he will not
survive him, as did Hircanus, the dog of
VOL. I.
M


242
AN ORIGINAL.
Lysimachus, who expired on his master's
hearse? It will perhaps be said, that these
qualities of the heart are compatible with
those of instinct, but are not the results of
intellect and the calculations of reason. How
then are we to estimate the mental combina-
tions of that dog, who had argued, that by
throwing stones into a vase which contained
a little oil, he should make the liquor
rise to the borders of the vessel? What
shall we say of that other dog, who, having
lost his master, and coming to three cross
roads, ascertaining that he had not passed
by two of them, immediately chose the third,
calculating that if he did not pass by this
nor by that, he must have gone by the other?
What shall we say of the malice of Thales'
mule, who waded into the water in order to
dissolve the sack of salt which he was trans-
porting? I know that Thales, in punish-
ment, loaded him afterwards with sponges ;
but the whole merit of the philosopher was
that of playing tricks with his mule, without
having the merit of invention. The ancients,
whose ideas we have been so ready to imi-


AN ORIGINAL.
243
tate, recognized in many things the supe-
riority of animals; we never knew of ani-
mals deifying men, but have often heard of
men deifying beasts. The Turks have built
hospitals to them; the Romans maintained
the geese of the capitol at the public ex-
pense; the Agrigentines granted the honour
of sepulture to such animals as had been dear
to them-to horses, dogs, and useful birds;
the Egyptians buried wolves, bears, croco-
diles, dogs, and cats, in sacred places, and
sometimes embalmed their corpses; Cimon,
the Athenian, gave a brilliant sepulture to
the horses with which he had three times
gained the prize in the Olympic races.
"Animals are far more temperate in their
appetites than men; they gratify their de-
sires according to the laws of nature, with-
out exciting themselves by factitious means
to a disgraceful intemperance. In what
republic, ancient or modern, did there ever
reign a more beautiful regularity than
amongst the ants? What kingdom is better
organized than a hive, from which those high
and powerful lords, the drones, are chased
M 2


244
AN ORIGINAL.
away, when they wish more than their share
of the honey distilled by the laborious bees?
Is it purely instinct which instructs swallows,
and other birds of passage, when they ought
to change their climates? What architect
taught them to build their nests, so as to pro-
tect them from the wind and the rain?
The beavers, our first masters in architec-
ture, have they no other guides than instinct?
Had the famous lion of Androcles, and the
elephants who waked in the night to repeat
their lessons in dancing, no other stimulus
than instinct? What web of Cashmeer, what
muslin of India is comparable to the fineness
and smoothness of the spider's web? What
shipwright ever launched upon the wave a
more beautiful and secure vessel than the
halcyon's nest? Animals have nothing but
instinct! What power then acts upon them
in their sleep, and when they dream, as well
as we do? It is not material objects alone
which strike their senses, but their imagina-
tion must be so disposed as to be able to
represent imaginary beings; for, as the most
philosophical and ingenious of your writers


AN ORIGINAL.
245
has observed the hare which a greyhound
fancies in his dreams, is a hare without coat
and without bones. Animals have a force
of mind not merely equal but very superior to
our own: we do not see them so often at-
tacked by madness, and in their sufferings
what patient resignation! They never de-
scend to the foolish cowardice of suicide.
The lever is the most beautiful discovery of
Archimedes, and yet it is known to the ant,
who uses a blade of grass to move a heavy
burden over any little eminence. Perhaps
the whole of Archimedes' merit consists in
having taken a lesson from the ant."
My new fellow traveller spoke at much
greater length in favour of animals; and
when we were toiling through the moun-
tains, I coincided in his eulogy on the mules
of the Appenines, who, fortunately, were
without the malignity of Thales' beast, as I
observed to my friend at the moment we
crossed a fordable torrent upon their
backs.
We arrived at Chiavari without any adven-
ture, and found nothing very remarkable on
M 3


246
AN ORIGINAL.
entering the town. The aspect of the streets
and buildings appeared to me sufficiently
lively, and I saw few dark and gothic edi-
fices. Chiavari has about 7,000 inhabitants :
it is built on the coast of Genoa, near the
mouth of the little river Vagua. It was
founded by the Genoese, ruined in 1167,
and afterwards rebuilt. The Latins called
it Clavarum, Claverum, and Claverinum. Its
trade renders it very lively, and gives a look of
comfort to the different classes of population.
The principal streets have ranges of porti-
coes, which are convenient if not elegant.
We arrived on the night before the festival
of the county was to be celebrated. The
religious ceremonies were majestic and im-
posing, from the numerous concourse of the
regular and secular clergy, as well as of the
different brotherhoods. The plenary indul-
gences, and public rejoicings, had drawn
such a crowd of strangers to the town that
we were scarcely able to find lodgings. The
moment we were finally located, I went out
to gaze upon the ocean, which is always the
first object of my contemplations. In pass-


AN ORIGINAL.
247
ing before the cathedral, I heard the music
of the organ, but the dashing of the waves
had a more attractive sound to my ear.
Crossing a large square, one side of which
stretched to the shore, I came upon the sea,
and immediately prepared for a bathe. Nothing
is to me more delightful than to feel the
dashing of the surge, and to be drawn back-
ward and forward by its gentle power. After
revelling in the waves for half an hour I re-
dressed myself. Then it was that the harmo-
nious sounds from the cathedral assumed their
empire, and I hastened back to the church.
The chaunts still continued, and the sacred
vault re-echoed to the united tones of a great
variety of instruments, which chimed in with
an immense volume of human voice. The
church was so crowded that I could hardly
make my way into the nave. These were
only the preparatory ceremonies to the next
day's fête. I beheld the clergy officiating
with dignity, the people filled with religious
joy, the church pompously decorated, and
the females, who solicited contributions,
dressed in a worldly style of elegance. At
༠༣༠
M 4


248
AN ORIGINAL.
the end of the service, I found as much diffi-
culty in escaping as I had experienced in get-
ting into the church. During the afternoon
until evening, the inhabitants and the stran-
gers wandered about the town, visiting the
streets where the altars had been erected,
and the squares, where the chapels were
ornamented, and the fireworks prepared for
the next day. The richness of the tapestries,
and the beauty of the paintings, were all
equally admired. They visited the sea-shore,
where small mortars had been placed to
awaken the echoes of the waves by the thun-
ders of the land. The fashionable dames
promenaded along the shore until midnight;
and the less distinguished crowd enjoyed
themselves in the open air with song, dance
and music. The moment the sun went down,
the bells and cannon began to announce the
festival of to-morrow.
Day had scarcely dawned, when I was
roused from my sleep by a continuation of
the same sounds. I ran to the different
quarters of the town, and was gratified with
the gaiety and delight of the populace, which


AN ORIGINAL.
249
.
thronged the streets and squares. The very
atmosphere breathed of enjoyments, and was
loaded with the sounds of music. The dif-
ferent religious orders had already begun to
flock to the cathedral in crowds or alone;
the brotherhoods arrived in files, and one
might almost say incognito, for under the
hoods and dominos were concealed the
counts, marquises, and knights, who form
the largest portion of these societies. The
louder tones of the bells soon announced the
departure of the procession. Three long
narrow embroidered silk banners led the
van. They bore on them the representations
of the most sacred objects. Large wooden
crosses, with gigantic figures of the Saviour
affixed to them, followed at intervals. These
were covered with garlands of ivy or flowers.
The capuchins, monks, nuns, and brother-
hoods, marched in separate divisions, with
slow steps and downcast eyes, carrying in
their hands lighted wax tapers. The hal-
berdiers were scarcely able to restrain the
crowd from disturbing. the procession by
their eagerness to discover the different per-
M 5


250
AN ORIGINAL.
圈
​sons who marched along under the disguise
of dominos and cowls. Whilst the devotees
in procession prayed for the souls of the bye-
standers; these last were repeating in tones
of irony :-" God bless you for your kind-
ness, and always keep you so devout and
penitent, for you have great need of his com-
passion." Indeed, to a stranger, not much
given to admire these processions, the naïve
and sarcastic remarks of the wags among
the populace, furnish a good deal of amuse-
ment. They indulge in the most liberal
censures on the vices of their superiors, and
point out the most appropriate kind of pe-
nance. "There goes the Chevalier
he ought to march six times a year, at least,
barefooted and bareheaded, to cool his
amorous disposition."-"That is the banker
M-, who is doing penance in public for
his usuries and robberies in secret." Each
byestander pretends to discover, under the
hood of a capuchin, some one who has either
seduced a female, or gained an unjust cause,
or denied his debts, or who holds possession
of another's property, or exacts usurious


AN ORIGINAL
251
interest. I was greatly diverted with the
criticisms of the women, who spoke very
freely about the penitents, though their own
husbands were amongst them, and their
cavalieri serventi at their sides. It must be
remembered, that the husbands and the cava-
lieri never belong to the same confraternity.
The children had likewise got up a little
procession of their own, and were habited
as St. John, St. Francis, St. Theresa, or in
the dresses of nuns and monks, bearing their
tiny standards, crosses, relics, virgins, &c.
The most conspicuous part of the procession
was the image of the Virgin; wherever this
sacred figure passed, all the faithful pros-
trated themselves before it in deep humilia-
tion. The most delicate ladies knelt upon
the handkerchiefs which had been spread
out for them by their cavaliers, and leaned
upon their arms with a very willing confi-
dence. From time to time, the air resounded
with the discharges of cannon and fire-arms;
the military bands executed pieces of sacred
and profane music; on every side were signs
of the cross, and eyes turned up to heaven;
M 6


252
AN ORIGINAL.
the sounds of the mea culpa, from the rus-
tics and the sailors, were heard at intervals,
as the Holy Image passed, and for a time all
other feelings were merged in those of
devotion. The crowd was constantly in
motion, pressing to those places where bene-
dictions and indulgences were granted.
Amidst the general excitement, I could not
remain entirely tranquil, and wandered
wherever the
the pleasure
pleasure seemed to be
most intense. The music in the cathedral,
during high mass, was extremely touching,
and I could hardly suppress my emotion at
the elevation of the host. The ladies seemed
to be less deeply affected, and conversed
with their cavaliers in the most negligent
manner. It must be stated, however, in
their excuse, that the density of the crowd
was most unfavourable to any thing like
comfortable kneeling, and calculated to dis-
tract their attention. The contributions must
have been considerable, for the plate was
held by a young and handsome countess,
very lightly clad, and very fascinating in
her manners.
1


AN ORIGINAL.
253
*
When the mass was over, and the orchestra
had played their finale, each one withdrew
after sanctifying with holy water all the
thoughts and actions which the ceremonies
of the day had caused. After dinner, the
squares and promenades were filled again in
the same way; but the sounds of music and
revelry gave way to the voice of the preacher.
In Italy, the pulpits are three or four times
as large as those in France. The preacher,
as soon as he is animated with his subject,
breaks out with exceeding violence into a
frantic gesticulation-rushes from one end
of the pulpit to the other throws himself
into all shapes of contortion-apostrophizes
the audience-addresses a large image of
Christ, which is always at one corner of the
pulpit-bursts into tears, and by his exces-
sive agitation contrives to agitate and affect
the audience. They sometimes shudder with
affright; and I have heard the murmurs of
the mea culpa and frequent sobbings, very
generally amongst the spectators. In pro-
portion as he sees his hearers excited, the
preacher works himself up to a superadded



254
profane
must
the city subsides into solitude and quiet.
sophical friend doing all this time?" He
spent the whole day playing with a kitten.
When I began to relate all that I had seen,
he interrupted me: I can excuse you, as
a stranger for losing your time in running
It may be asked, what was your philo-
did not quit his chamber for a moment, and
and
1.
The
be the incense which these vicious men
rather than religious. Pure, indeed,
these shameless mothers--and these coquet-
music
The
AN ORIGINAL.
fury, until they all arrive at the grand point,
and then he sinks down gradually to a calm
Sober description of eternal bliss, which he
prays may be the lot of his auditors,
concludes by giving them his holy blessing.
After the preaching,
dances succeed.
tables are put in order, and every one takes
his part in the enjoyments of the world.
The cannon, musquetry, bells, and
of the morning are renewed in the evening,
and the shore re-echoes with the noise.
whole terminates with magnificent fireworks.
The populace then retire to their beds, and
after these ceremonies which are


AN ORIGINAL.
255
tish daughters, offer at the altar of our Sa-
viour! How much more have I been de-
lighted by the artless sportiveness and the
graceful tricks of this little animal. Cats,"
he cried," are modest at least; they do not,
like women, advertise their amours to the
public; they defer until the hour of night
and solitude the secrets of their tenderness."
As it was already past midnight, I begged
permission to go to bed, and that he would
put off until another time his eulogy on the
morals and manners of cats.


Nº. XX.
LA SPEZZIA.
Nell' odorato, e lucido oriente
Là sotto il vago, e temperato cielo
Vive uno lieta e riposata gente,
Che non l'offende mai caldo, nè gelo.
BEMBO.
THE appearance of Spring in Italy, when
we are for the first time present at this
annual resurrection of nature, creates in the
breast a deep feeling of joy-a disposition
towards happiness and benevolence which
it is difficult to define, but of which the
spleen of the English is directly the reverse.
The senses become more highly animated,
the intellect seems to expand, and the facul-
ties of the mind, like those of the body,
acquire a greater completeness. I have met
with Italians whom habit had rendered in-


LA SPEZZIA.
257
capable of feeling that involuntary benevo-
lence which I felt for the first time; there
are others, on the contrary, whose disposi-
tions are more obedient to the influence of
the seasons than any barometer. At Chia-
vari I met with an officer of the brigadiers,
aid-de-camp of Prince Borghese, and one of
the most distinguished officers of a corps
which contains so many who are distin-
guished. The richness and variety of his
information were by no means confined even
to the comprehensive circle of knowledge
required in the military profession. I had
met him before at Turin, and we now encoun-
tered each other on the sea-shore at Spezzia.
We admired the magnificence of the ocean,
and the purity of the heavens; we breathed
together the gentle air, perfumed by the
exhalations of a thousand flowers; and we
were struck with the same ideas about the
inexplicable delight which a beautiful sky
and refreshing air inspire. He mentioned
to me the singular susceptibility of the
Prince Borghese to the influence of the ex-
ternal air. All who were admitted to his


258
LA SPEZZIA.
intimacy knew him so well, that they never
ventured to make any request of him when
the sky was overcast; and when he heavens
were clear, and the sun shone out, nothing
was so rare as his refusal. "In that case,'
I observed to Mr. Delmas, "whatever be
the result of your mission, if the weather do
not change, you are sure of being kindly
received." We breakfasted together, and
he continued his route to Genoa, whither I
had a great desire to accompany him, but I
could not venture to desert my eccentric
companion. I learnt from Mr. Delmas, that
Napoleon had frequently meditated the erec-
tion of a large town and naval arsenal at
Spezzia, and that the object of his mission
was to survey and examine the locality,
which he told me was the most beautiful in
Europe after Constantinople. He presented
me to the Prefect of Chiavari, an amiable
and excellent man, who was subject to a
singular complaint; if he remained a few
minutes in the same place he instantly
fell asleep. In his department he was
greatly beloved, for he was one of the very
""


LA SPEZZIA.
259
few prefects who never increased the seve-
rities of the conscription laws.
I proposed to my companion, the natu-
ralist, to travel along the shore, on foot, as
far as Spezzia. We had also some notion
of making the passage by sea, but the fleet
of Lord Bentinck, which I had seen so often
and so near during my stay at Genoa, seemed
to stretch itself along the coast, and we
judged it prudent to decline a visit to Spez-
zia by the way of London. After all, it was
decided to go on foot, as we were told that
nearly all travellers who attempted this route
on horseback, were generally obliged to dis-
mount for more than half the distance. On
our right was the sea, which we rarely lost
sight of, and on the very margin of the
waves for considerable distances, but the
path was so difficult and rough, that
when we arrived at a small village, some
leagues from Chiavari, we were obliged to
return once more to the mules which we
ought to have taken from the commence-
ment of the journey. But even this change
was not without its inconveniences; for such


260
LA SPEZZIA.
was the hardness of the saddles, that if we
saved our feet, it was at the expense of ano-
ther part of the body. At every post, too,
we were obliged to change animals, and
after having used ourselves to one pace, we
were vexed by being obliged to accommo-
date our motions to another. We had also
chosen the longest route, and as I grew im-
patient and peevish, my companion indulged
himself with laughing at me; and every new
distress furnished him with a fresh topic for
merriment.
Before we came to Spezzia, at the en-
trance of the bay, we beheld Porto-Venere, a
small grey gloomy village, inhabited by a
few poor fishermen. The Italians, who exag-
gerate every thing which they cannot raise to
the superlative degree, have installed Porto-
Venere in all the honours of a city, they
gave the title of palaces to the most ordi-
nary dwellings. In answer to my question,
whether Venus was the protecting saint of
this miserable place; my companion said
that the name was derived from Saint Vene-
rius, whose body reposed in the small island


LA SPEZZIA.
261
*
"But
"this
of Fino, at a short distance in the sea.
be its origin as it may," I replied,
wretched place, and its still more wretched
denizens, have far greater need of the pro-
tection of a saint than the favour of a god-
dess of beauty." Above the city, since a
city they will have it, is a fortress built upon
the brow of a hill, whose aspect, though
savage and gloomy, is still extremely pic-
turesque. The adjacent mountains are mark-
ed with numerous wide crevices, which serve
as entrances to the quarries, from which a
very beautiful yellow marble, veined with
black, is dug out.
At Porto-Venere we attempted once more
to perform our journey on foot, and to enter
Spezzia in the same humble manner as we
did at Chiavari; an arrangement particu-
larly disagreeable to the post-master. On
the road we were witnesses of a scene sin-
gularly touching, which proves how large
an influence accident has over the destiny
of man. An old soldier had just returned to
his native roof and what a roof a paltry
shed, which scarcely served as a shelter from


262
LA SPEZZIA.
the rain, and which the first gust of wind
seemed able to destroy. Yet in spite of the
miserable appearance of the place it was
filled with joy. There were tears enough,
but they were the tears of pleasure; a son
had returned to the bosom of his family, to
his old father, and his young sisters. The last
time they had ever heard of him was the sad
intelligence that, after having quitted the
army, but whilst he still wore the uniform,
he had been tried for some offence, and sen-
tenced to death, at Genoa, by a military
commission. It was now six months since
his life had been saved by the merest acci-
dent. I saw the unhappy man, and recog-
nized in him the hero, and almost the vic-
tim, of an error, which my hunchback
friend at Genoa had related me, and which
I hope my readers have not yet forgotten.
He was one day arguing with me about the
influence of chance over human fortunes,
and illustrated his argument by the follow-
ing anecdote: The secretary of Prince
Borghese was in the habit of never entering
his cabinet after three o'clock. One day,


LA SPEZZIA.
263
by mere accident, and without the slightest
motive, he happened to go there about five
o'clock, and cast his eyes mechanically on a
dispatch, which otherwise he would not
have seen until the next morning. This dis-
patch announced, that a soldier, who had
been guilty of a theft, was to be shot at
Genoa the next day at noon. It struck the
secretary that the council of war had inter-
fered in a matter which of right belonged
to the civil tribunals. There remained only
eighteen hours to the execution, and it was
fifty-six leagues from Turin to Genoa! He
went instantly to the Prince, who thanked
him cordially for thus affording the chance
of saving a fellow-creature's life. A courier
was hastily dispatched, with the promise of a
large reward if he arrived in time. The re-
prieve was dispatched with the utmost speed:
the courier set off and arrived at Genoa be-
fore the clock had struck, but not before the
unhappy convict had left the prison, on the
road to the place of punishment. It was
not too late; the sentence was revised and
reversed, and the prisoner condemned after


264
LA SPEZZIA.
all to six months imprisonment only." This
period had just expired, and this was the
man whom we saw in the arms of his family,
which had not heard of him since his con-
demnation. It was to them a resurrection
from the dead. I submit this story, the
facts of which are substantially true, to such
statesmen as are not in a hurry to read the
documents in their offices, or who are given
to pass them by with neglect. On what a
slender thread does human life often hang!
We gave some pieces of silver to the younger
branches of the family. The idea of having
escaped a great calamity rendered them for
a moment insensible to their ordinary pri-
vations. When I told them that I was ac-
quainted with the secretary of the Prince
(who, after all, had only fulfilled the com-
mon duties of humanity, and, as it happened,
the duties of his office), I was covered with
benedictions; and so was my misanthropic
companion, who was for a moment recon-
ciled to his kind. For my part, I had never
been on bad terms with my fellow-creatures,
and no change of sentiment was necessary.


LA SPEZZIA.
265
We continued our route through pleasant
pathways, and arrived, a little before night-
fall, at Spezzia. We were too fatigued to
have any other cares than those of supper
and sleep. What was our surprise in the
morning, to find at our bedside the family
which we had visited the night before!
With what a different feeling did the sove-
reigns of Europe present themselves at the
levee of that man, whom conquest and their
own supineness had raised to the eminence
of being master of the world.
Spezzia is a pretty little town, pleasantly
situated, and filled with a busy population.
The public square, which extends to the sea,
is very beautiful; the houses, as in Genoa,
are painted on the outside. After having
seen the most celebrated situations of Italy,
I do not remember any which affords a more
magnificent prospect. The sides of the bay,
which fade away into the horizon, are covered
with country seats and olive plantations, and
the whole country is fertile and finely wooded.
On the left the gulf extends nearly to Leg-
horn. The town, though poor, contains
VOL. I.
N


266
LA SPEZZIA.
about 4,000 inhabitants, and struck me as
being an agreeable residence. The approaches
by land are difficult, and one wonders how
it is approached.
In coming to Spezzia, my friend, the na-
turalist, had a particular object in view, which
was to examine a phenomenon almost unique
in the world, and which I shall not perplex
myself by attempting to explain. At some
distance from the shore a spring of fresh
water rises in the midst of the sea. This
spring, which bursts forth with prodigious
force, boils incessantly above the waves, rising
over them, when the sea is calm, about six
inches. Its circular extent is at least a fa-
thom. The common notion respecting it is,
that it comes from the immense quantity of.
waters which, finding no outlet in the moun-
tains, fall into the vast tunnels of the Appen-
ines, and penetrate by means of submarine
channels as far as this spring, where they,
for the first time, find an issue. It is curious
that there is a great deficiency of fresh-water
springs at Spezzia. If Napoleon's idea of
erecting Spezzia into a naval port had been
1


LA SPEZZIA.
267
carried into execution, his engineers designed
a project, the completion of which would
have equalled the most splendid labours of
the Romans. It was intended to build round
the spring a well, by means of which the
water might be raised to the level of the new
town, and thence, by means of an aqueduct,
be distributed into the public fountains and
reservoirs. But who is there now to execute
these and similar magnificent projects? The
fresh waters of this curious spring will pro-
bably continue to mingle with the salt waves
of the Mediterranean, just so long as we
shall have reason to accuse man of incon-
stancy and folly.
END OF VOL. I.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY COX AND BAYLIS, CREAT QUEEN STREET.





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