ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY OF ILUNOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Brittle Books Project, 2014.COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION In Public Domain. Published prior to 1923. This digital copy was made from the printed version held by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was made in compliance with copyright law. Prepared for the Brittle Books Project, Main Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by Northern Micrographics Brookhaven Bindery La Crosse, Wisconsin 2014 UTT TTWT\7TTT?«TTV I osiV f/ff-if %e/ 4S95.I T A L Y BY JOSIAH CONDER. r * * AUTHOR OV THE MODERN TRAVRltBR. IN THREE VOLUMES. * Italia! On Italia, thou who hast The fatal gift of beauty.' VOL. I. SAVOY—PIEDMONT—GENOA—MILAN. LONDON :♦ PRINTED FOR JAMES DUNCAN, PATERNOSTER-ROW ; AND THOMAS TEGG AND SON, CHEAPSIDE. MDCCC XXXIV.LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES, Duke-street, Lambeth.v, \ * M r» * Rl 2 o 4 . 4 CONTENTS FIRST VOLUME i n Chapter I. Page , Boundaries of Italy—Natural divisions—Climate— ^ Malaria—Ancient population—Classical'divisions— Modern subdivisions and statistics . . . .1 ^ Chapter II. Physical geography of Savoy— Chambery—Aix— 1U Route of Mont Cenis—Route of Mont Genevre— *5 Route of the Little St. Bernard—Annecy—Cha- ■% mounix—Mont Blanc . . . .27 Chapter III. ■<1 Turin—The Valleys of the Vaudois—Pass of th6 Ar- gentine—Monte Viso—Pass of the Tende—Nice— "5 Pass of the Cornice—Route from Turin to Genoa 156 Chapter IV. Genoa ... . . 231 a 2iv CONTENTS. Chapter V. Pag-? Route of the Simplon—The Valais—Pass of the Simploa—Pass of the Gries—Simplon route to Milan—Lago Maggiore—Lake of Orta—Lake of Lugano—Passes of the Bernardin and the Splugen — Pass of the St. Gothard—Pass of the Stelvio —Lake of Como—Lecco—Como—Monza . 279 Chapter VI. Milan 'I . . • . « . 349 DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES. Page Vol. I. Map of Northern Italy . to face the Title. Gallery in the Pass of the Simplon . 290 Cathedral of Milan • . 355 Vol. II. The Rialto, Venice . 195 Florence ..... . 321 Vol. III. Map of Southern Italy . the Title. Falls of Terni .... . 127 The Roman Forum . 141 Castle of St. Angelo and St. Peter's . 373 Bay of Naples . 413 Naples from the Mo'e . . • . 417 DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES.PREFACE. So much has been written about Italy, that little, one is ready to imagine, can remain undescribed. Works without number, by tourists of all descrip- tions, might seem to have exhausted the subject, and to leave scarcely any room to complain of want of information. Under this impression, the present volumes were commenced; little difficulty being anticipated, beyond that of reducing to order, and compressing within moderate dimensions, the bewildering mass of materials which presented themselves for analysis. Little way, however, had been made, before it was discovered, that this apparent redundance of information is of a very partial and unsatisfactory description ; that some works of the highest pretensions and most popular character are the least trust-worthy; and that a general description of Italy, approaching to ac- curacy or completeness, does not exist in our literature. Invidious as it may seem to disparage the works of others, it is really necessary that the Author of these volumes should, in acknowledg-vi PREFACE. ing the extent of his obligations, explain the difficulty and disappointment which he has en- countered. With regard to one of the most popu- lar works on Italy, Lord Byron's severe but just criticism will preclude the necessity of further ani- madversions. 4 The extreme disappointment ex- perienced by choosing the Classical Tour as a guide in Italy,' must be common, his Lordship remarks, to 1 every one who has selected the same conductor through the same country. The Author is, in fact, one of the most inaccurate and unsatisfactory writers that have in our times attained a temporary reputation, and is very seldom to be trusted, even when he speaks of objects which he must be presumed to have seen. His errors, from the simple exaggeration to the downright mis-statement, are so frequent as to induce a suspicion that he had either never visited the spots described, or had trusted to the fidelity of former writers. Indeed, the Classical Tour has every characteristic of a mere compila- tion of former notices, strung together upon a very slender thread of personal observation, and swelled out by those decorations which are so easily supplied by a systematic adoption of all the common-places of praise, applied to every thing, and therefore signifying nothing.'* Suspicious that some personal prejudice might have influ- * Notes to Chiide Harold. Canto IV.PREFACE. vii enced this severe estimate, the Author of the present work has repeatedly turned to the pages of Mr. Eustace, in the hope of finding occasion to soften this condemnation, but has been uniformly disappointed. A few specimens of his unaccount- able inaccuracy will be found in the ensuing pages; and the fact is, that his work affords little evidence that its author had ever set foot in Italy. Millin is another compiler of the same descrip- tion ; and, warned by Mr. Hobhouse, the Author has not deemed it necessary to consult his work. ' He is charged by the Italians with never having been in some of the spots he describes as a spec- tator. His compilation does not apply to present appearances.'* Lalande bears a similar character in Italy; and Mr. Eustace has made such ample use of his volumes, that it has been thought equally unnecessary to refer to his doubtful au- thority. Among our older travellers, Evelyn, Addison, and Burnet, have been consulted sometimes with advantage; but the topographical information to be extracted from them, is extremely slight and vague: they are useful chiefly as supplying a few historical illustrations, or as referring, now and then, to objects overlooked by later travellers. Lady Morgan's ' fearless and excellent work on Italy,' as Lord Byron has styled it, abounds with * Ilobhouse's Historical Illustrations, p. 56.viii PREFACE, information as to the actual state of society in that ctiuntry, not elsewhere to be met with; and if the reader can pardon the glitter and flippancy of the style, the bad taste of the political diatribes, and the obtrusive liberalism, he cannot fail to be amused with the vividness of the descriptions, and the spirit and conversational gayety of the narrative. The general impression produced by her Ladyship's work is, perhaps, not far from correct. Unhappily, however, her details are so often sup- plied from hasty observation, hearsay, or fancy, that comparatively little use can be made of her lively volumes as a safe authority. The Description of Italy in the Geography of Malte Brun, was consulted with the high expec- tations justified by the former portions of this elaborate work; and had the learned Author lived to complete his task, this portion of it would doubtless have assumed a different character. As it is, the topography of Italy bears every mark of hasty and incompetent continuation. Mr. Simond and le Docteur Valentin are the only modern travellers to whom any reference is made, neither of whom has any claim to exclusive deference in a work of a scientific character. In short, the information contained in this part of the work, is both meagre and inaccurate. The statistical tables, however, are valuable, and, in the absence of better information, have been used as authorities.preface. ix It now becomes the more pleasing part of the Author's task, to enumerate the works to which he has been chiefly indebted. The highest praise, perhaps, is due to Forsyth, whose two slender volumes contain more original observation, taste- ful criticism, and compressed information, than are to be found any where else in the same com- pass. The marks of a vigorous and highly cul- tivated mind are stamped on every page ; and it may be truly said, that he touches no subject with- out illustrating and adorning it by his learning or taste. Never was dogmatism so graceful, or con- noisseurship so interesting, as in his work. But after all, his is but a sketch, rapid and imperfect, partly consisting of mere notes and fragments; and the criticisms, though always clever and en- titled to attention, are sometimes more brilliant than just, more bold than trust-worthy. There are points upon which the finest taste may be at fault in the absence of scientific knowledge. As a connoisseur, Mr. Williams, though an in- ferior writer, will often be found a more competent «*uide. His Travels in Italy and Greece contain some of the best remarks on works of art, that are to be met with. He thought for himself; he describes what he saw and felt; and hence, his information has all the freshness of originality, and all the value of accurate observation. Another traveller whose remarks on works of a 5X PREFACE. art are, in general, highly valuable, marked alike by good taste and scientific precision, is the late Mr. John Bell. His work on Italy, un- fortunately, like Mr. Forsyth's, is a posthumous fragment. His description of Florence, however, is one of the best that we possess, being even diffuse as well as elaborate.* Upon all architectural matters, however,—and the history of Italy is written in its architecture,— the authority upon which the Author of these volumes has felt warranted in placing his chief reliance, is that of Mr. Woods, whose " Letters of an Architect" are deserving of the highest praise. 4 The uneducated man,' this Writer remarks, ' judges by his feelings; the half-edu- cated, by rule; he who is thoroughly master of the subject, returns again to his feeling9, but to feel- ings trained and purified by study and re- flection.' Of the truth of this remark, his own observations supply abundant evidence. Of archi- tecture in all its branches, he appears thoroughly the master; and his extensive information on all collateral subjects, has enabled him to relieve the monotony of professional criticism and the dry- ness of technical details, by copious historical ♦ Oil the other hand, Mr. Bell's account of the Pass of Mont Cenis, by which he entered Italy, affords a signal specimen of confused and unaccountably inaccurate de- scription ; as will be apparent to any reader who compares it with Mr. Brockedon's Illustrations of the Pass.PREFACE. xi notices and general description. In sculpture, he is not at home : he is an architect. But upon the whole, to no traveller in Italy are we more deeply indebted, as regards the variety and accuracy of the information communicated in his pages. The extent of our obligations will be fully apparent from the continual references to his volumes. With regard to all subjects relating to the topo- graphy of the Alps, Mr. Brockedon's historical and picturesque illustrations have left us nothing to desire, but the extension of his work. Seldom have the artist and the topographer been so hap- pily blended. The indefatigable assiduity with which Mr. Brockedon has pursued his researches, inspired by the genuine enthusiasm of a traveller, has given to his well-selected views an intrinsic value quite independent of their merit as produc- tions of art. Accuracy has never been sacrificed to picturesque effect; and the pencil has been employed to illustrate the subject, not the infor- mation collected to illustrate the drawing. Mr. Simond, upon whom M. Malte Brun has chiefly relied, is a shrewd and diligent observer, a clear and unaffected writer, neither a virtuoso nor a savant, apparently without enthusiasm of any kind, but equally free from pretence and affectation. He describes with spirit and vigour evinces a good eye for natural beauty, althoughxii PREFACE. deficient alike in science and in taste touching all matters of art; and displays much sound discri- mination in his estimates of national and political character. More interested in men than in things, and a thorough iconoclast, he rejects all poetical illusion, and subjects every thing that he encoun- ters to the stern examination of inexorable com- mon sense. To this, he adds the merit of general, though not infallible accuracy. In Mr. Simond's volume is contained some slight but valuable information relating to the agriculture and political economy of Italy,—a subject too much overlooked by most of our tra- vellers. Neither our materials nor our limits have allowed of the attempt to supply this deficiency. The best account extant of Italian husbandry, is contained in M. Sismondi's Tableau de VAgri- culture Toscane. In the Annals of Agriculture, edited by the late Mr. Arthur Young, there are some valuable papers on the corn-laws of Italy, by the late Dr. Symonds, the Cambridge Profes- sor of Modern History; also, a sensible paper on the Agriculture of Piedmont, by the Portuguese Ambassador at the Court of Turin. Arthur Young's Continental Tour contains, with much that is erroneous in theory, a mass of instructive and entertaining information. And M. Lullin de Chateauvieux, though inferior as a writer to Sismondi and Young, has furnished two livelyPREFACE. and clever volumes on the Agriculture of Italy, of which use has occasionally been made in the ensuing pages. No Humboldt has yet explored the mountains of Italy ; and the physical geography of the country remains in a very imperfect and uncer- tain state. Mr. Bake well's Travels have been found to contain the fullest and most accurate information respecting the geology of Savoy,— which, though not properly a part of Italy, is so closely implicated with it, both geographically and politically, as to seem to claim description in the present work. A scientific survey of the Apen- nines, is still a desideraum. With regard to their elevation and general direction, Malte Brun has been chiefly followed. The Ancient Geography of Italy, has been so ably and completely illustrated by the learned pen of Mr. Cramer, that it has not been thought requisite to refer to any preceding writer upon this subject; nor will the reader have any reason to regret that implicit reliance has been placed upon so competent an authority. With regard to the topography of Rome, it has been deemed equally unnecessary to encounter the formi- dable task of collating the learned tomes of foreign antiquaries. Venuti receives from Mr. Forsyth, the praise of having sifted the far- rago accumulated by his predecessors, and ofxiv PREFACE. having 4 ground down their learning into so clean and digestible a mass, that whoever has access to it should go to his mill.' Mr. Hobhouse> however, thinks, that the learned Italian scarcely deserves the praise conferred upon him by 4 our most intelligent modern traveller;' and that if he has sifted the farrago, 4 the chaff flies in our eyes,'—that he is often obscure, and more positive than satisfactory. * The insufficiency of all latter labours, and the necessity of some new guide/ he adds, 4 may be collected from the expedient at last adopted, of republishing Nardini* (under the learned editorship of Nibby). Yet, Nardini is charged by Forsyth with 4 that old-fashioned scrupulosity which, on every point, must give every opinion, the received and the exploded, all jumbled together.' Nibby at present ranks as the highest authority; and his valuable works upon the Foro Romano, and the Contorni di Roma, are considered as the best that have appeared. Both of these, as well as the works of his learned predecessors, have been dili- gently consulted by Dr. Burton, in his very in- teresting 4 Description of the Antiquities of Rome.' The critical sagacity and learning of Mr. Hob- house have also thrown much light upon both the history and the ichnography of Rome; and upon his dissertations we have largely drawn, in sketch- ing the varied fortunes of the Eternal city. Mr.PREFACE. XV Lumisden's 4 Remarks on the Antiquities of Rome/ have also supplied some valuable infor- mation. But Mr. Cramer's volumes have chiefly supplied the topographical outline which Dr. Bur- ton's learned illustrations have served to fill up with descriptive and historic details. Their con- current labours have left little room to reiterate the complaints which have been hitherto brought against our own writers for their indolent neglect of Italian palaeography. It would be injustice not to acknowledge the important assistance derived from the very lively, intelligent, and accurate description of' Rome in the Nineteenth Century,' by Miss Waldie, which has obtained so well merited a popularity. For much general information and amusing detail, we have been indebted to several pub- lications of very various character. Mr. Cadell's two volumes will be found to contain, under the unattractive title of a 'Journey in Carniola and Italy/ a somewhat undigested mass of multifarious and often curious matter of fact detail and obser- vation, on geography, history, philology, anti- quities, natural history, agriculture, science, and the^ arts; and as a work of reference, (though the errors are numerous,) it will be estimated more highly by those who consult it for in- formation, than by the general reader. Mr. Pennington's Tour is at least as accurate and asXVI PREFACE. original as that of Eustace ; and instead of borrow- ing from French travellers, he has been at the pains of consulting, for the purpose of historic illustration, the works of native writers,—Denina, Giannone, Ammirato, Biancardi, and others. His unaffected familiarity with classic authors, is also evidenced in the variety of his citations and refe- rences. Though neither a fine writer, nor a con- noisseur, though his volumes are chargeable with dullness, and his statistical statements are singu- larly inaccurate, he not unfrequently describes or refers to scenes and objects either unvisited or unnoticed by other travellers. 4 Sketches of Italy/ in four volumes, is one of the most agreeable and well written works that we have. It is defective in point of accuracy, but the Writer's talent for picturesque description, and manifest good sense, have often tempted citation. A 4 Spinster's Tour' supplies the best description of the little territory of Genoa. The quaint title of ' Protestant Vigils/ designates two very pleasing volumes by Miss Morton, of which more use might have been made, had not they been sadly disfigured by occasional mis-statements, and by inaccuracies not always chargeable upon the printer. Mr. Matthews might seem to claim an earlier notice and higher rank among our travellers, than we can concede to him. ^ He is never enough in earnest to be trusted; andPREFACE. xvii his strange caprice and dogmatism, on subjects on which he appears to have been profoundly ignorant, obscure the good feeling and strong sense which break out in some of his obser- vations. He well deserves to be read, but can rarely be cited as authority. Mr. Galiffe often surprises us with information not elsewhere to be met with, and with observations singularly at va- riance with the statements of other travellers. The anonymous 4 Letters from the North of Italy/ weli known to be from the pen of Mr. Stewart Rose, have all the desultory character of epistolary communications, but they are the letters of an accomplished Italian scholar ; and upon the subject of Venetian manners, literature, and political society, are, perhaps, our best authority. Nothing can be more completely and strikingly in opposi- tion, than the opinions and representations of the two Writers last-mentioned, respecting the inhabit- ants of Western Lombardy. By the Swiss Tra- veller, the Milanese are evidently regarded with affectionate partiality, and are characterised as the most polished people of Italy. By the English Detenu, they are stigmatised with all the illiberal contempt that a native is too apt to indulge towards the inhabitants of a neighbour- ing province, but which is wholly out of character in a foreigner: Mr. Rose seems, indeed, to have become infected with the feelings of the Vene- tians towards their Lombard neighbours.xviii PREFACE* Had it been found possible to include in the present volumes a description of the Two Sicilies, there are other travellers to whom it would have been proper to pay a tribute of respect and ac- knowledgement ; especially to the Hon. K. Craven, to Sir R. C. Hoare, to Capt. Smyth, to the Rev. Mr. Hughes, to Mr. Leckie, and others, of whose works the Author may have occasion hereafter to avail himself. It only remains to perform the gratifying duty of acknowledging the personal obligations under which the Author feels himself laid, by the private communications with which he has been favoured. The first volume has undergone the severe ordeal of Mr. Brockedon's critical examination ; and the more important corrections which he has sug- gested, have been embodied in the Errata. The third volume has in like manner had the benefit of passing under the eye of a gentleman, whose accurate acquaintance with all the objects of ar- chitectural or picturesque interest in Rome, is at- tested by the treasures of his portfolio,—a series of views taken during a residence of many months in that city; and who is, moreover, well known to the literary world by his History of Hertfordshire. To Mr. Fletcher of Allerton, the Author begs also to tender his best thanks for some highly valuable hints and interesting details; and to Lieut.-CoI. Beckwith, for his very prompt and obliging com-PREFACE. xix munications, in answer to inquiries respecting a district of Italy, where he is well known and honoured as a benefactor. Stimulated by the public approbation awarded to his former work, as well as by the intrinsic in- terest of the subject of these volumes, the Author has spared no pains to render them as complete and accurate as possible ; and the delay which has occurred in their appearance, has been occasioned by no remission of his labours, but by the very arduous nature of his complicated task. He does not shrink from any competent criticism, feeling assured that the work will be most favourably estimated by those who will be best able to detect its deficiencies. If it is not all that he could wish to have made it, he claims the merit of having, under all the circumstances, done his best. So wide are the discrepancies in the varying reports of our best writers, even upon points which it might seem easy to verify, or impossible to mistake, that it has often been a matter of no small perplexity, to ascertain which statement might be most safely depended upon. Not to speak of the varying estimates of the area of Italy, given by Humboldt at 10,000, by Malte Brun at 15,000 square leagues; the reader will find, for instance, the height of the Falls of Terni stated, by different travellers, at 1060, 800, 266, and 200 feet; that of the Torre d'Asinello at Bologna, at 256, 327,XX PREFACE. 348, 376, and 476 feet; the Val di Chiana, at60 miles in length and 3 in breadth, and again at 40 miles in length by from 7 to 12 in breadth ; the height of the aqueduct at Spoleto, at 250 feet and 238 yards, &c. But in numberless instances, these variations have been too unimportant to notice, though they have materially added to the difficulty of the Writer's task. Who would have expected to find the accurate Gibbon guilty of the gross blunder of making the Mincio flow into the Lago di Guarda ? It will be obvious, that these volumes, if the Editor has competently fulfilled his task, claim to be considered in a higher light than that of a compilation; that they are rather a condensation of our knowledge of Italy, drawn fVom the most authentic sources, and reduced, by a careful collation, to distinctness and accuracy. Two objects have been kept in view: the one, to supply the traveller with all the information, historical and topographical, requisite to enable him to enjoy and understand the sqenes and objects which crowd upon his attention or de- serve his research; the other, to enable him, when —-' once again In his own chimney nook,' to recall those scenes and occurrences dear to recollection ; and at the same time to afford toPREFACE. xxi the less privileged reader, cui non contigit adire Corinthum,—in other words, who has never seen Rome,—the best compensation for being denied the pleasure of crossing the Alps, in a full and taithful account of the most interesting country in the world.ITINERARY TO VOL. I. VOL. I. aITINERARY TO VOL. I. The length of an Italian post is, throughout the coun- try, between seven and eight geographical miles. In Tuscany, the posts are each seven miles of 67 to a degree. The Venetian mile is nearly of the same measure. The Roman mile is much shorter, being 75 to a degree, and not differing much from the ancient milliare. In Pied- mont and Genoa, the mile is nearly equal to an English mile and a half, being 50 to the degree ; and the post is reckoned four miles. The Neapolitan mile is longer than the English mile by 166 toises, being equal to almost a Roman mile and a third. But the calculation is uniformly by posts. Route I.—From Chambery to Turin. Posts. To Montmelian on the Isere, p. 61 . .2 „ Aigue-belle, p. 62 . . . . 3§ „ La Grande Maison in the Maurienne . 2J „ St. Jean de Maurienne, p. 64 . .2 „ St. Michel......2± „ Modane ... . 2 „ Verney . . . . . .2 „ Lans-le-bourg, p. 65 . . . . .3 „ Post-house on the plain of Mont Cenis, p. 67 3 „ Molaretto, p. 70 . . . • .2 „ SuSA, p. 71 ...... 1^ „ S. Jorio,p. 73.....H „ S. Antonino . . * ' . . .1 „ Avigliana, p. 74 . . . 1^ „ Rivoli . . . . . . 1^ „ Turin, p. 156 2J 33J Distance from Chamberv, 145 miles, or 43 hours. a 2iv ITINERARY. II.—From Turin to Milan. To Settimo „ Chivasso Rondissone „ Cigliano „ S. Germano „ Vercelli, p. 111 „ Orfengo „ Novara (City) „ Buffalora „ Serdiano „ Milan, p. 349 Posts. 18 Distance from Turin, 94 miles, or 17$ hours. III.—From Geneva to Milan. To Dovaine ,, Thonon, p. 153 „ Evian, p. 154 ,, S. Gingouf, p. 155 ,, Vionne, or Vionnaz ,, St. Maurice „ Martigny, p. 152 ,, Riddes . ,, Sion, p. 282 . ,, Sierre ,, Turtmann, or Tourtemagne „ Viege or Visp, p. 283 ,, Brieg, p. 285 „ Barisello or Berisaal ,, Sempione, p. 288 ,, Isella (frontier), p. 291 „ Duomo d'Ossola, p. 297 • mITINERARY. V Brought forward Posts. 38£ To Vogogna, p. 299 .... 2 ,, Baveno, p. 300 .... 3 „ Arona, p. 301 .... „ Sesto Calende (frontier) li „ La Cascina delle Corde 2 „ Rho, p. 302 ..... li „ Milan, p. 349 .... ii 52 Miles. Hours. Distance from Geneva to Simplon about .... 200 „ Simplon to Milan . 105 12* ITINERARY. IV.—From Nice to Turin over the Maritime Alps. IV.—From Nice to Turin over the Maritime Alps. To Scarena, p. 203 . „ Sospello „ Breglio „ Tende, p. 201 „ Limone (frontier)? p. 200 „ Borgo S. Dalmazio . „ Cuneo or Coni „ Centale „ Savighiano „ Racconigi % „ Carignano „ Turin,j). 156 . Going.* Return! ng.f Posts. Posts. 2i • 2* 2i • 2f n • 2* 2i • 2* 3 4 2 • 2J 1 1 'i • ii 2i . 2i 1 li 21 • 2i 2i . 2J 24J 27i * Itineraire d'ltalie. Milan. f Mrs. Starke's Route from Turin to Nice, p. 520. t At Racconigi, the direct route to Asti and Genoa turns off from the road to Turin.itinerary. V.—From Nice to Genoa over the Maritime Alps. To Racconigi (as above) „ Poirino „ Dusino „ Gambetta „ Asti (on the Tanaro), p. „ Annone „ F^lizzano „ Alessandria *, p. 226 „ Novi, p. 229 . „ Voltaggio „ Campo Marone, p. 230 „ Genoa, p. 231 224 Posts. 19f 3 H H 14 14 14 n 2 2 34 43f Distance, about 185 miles, or 47 hours. *#* From Genoa to Turin, by the above route, is 24| posts. * At Alessandria, the direct route from Turin to Bologna, through Piacenza, branches off. From Turin Posts. To Truffarello „ Poirino . Dusino Gambetta Asti Annone . Felizzano Alessandria Tortona Voghera . Casteggio Broni Castello S. Giovanne Piacenza To Bologna, as in No. XII. H 1* 1* H H 1* 2i H 24 U 2 n 2 25£ (112 miles, or 23 hours.) 12 3 7iitinerary. vii VI.—From Nice to Genoa and Pisa by the route of the Cornice, p. 208. Posts. To Mentone, p. 212 . . . . .6 ,, Ventimiglia, 213 . . . „ S. Remo, p. 214 . . . . .3 „ S. Stefano . . . . . . 2J „ Oneglia, p. 215 . . . . . 2f J, Alassio, p. 216 . . . . .4 „ Albenga, p. 217 ..... 1^ „ Finale, p. 218 . . . . .3 „ Savona, p. 219 • ..... 3| „ Voltri, p. 224 . . . . *4^ „ Genoa, p. 231 . . „ . .4 36J [The 44 Itineraire d'ltalie " makes the distance from Genoa to Nice only 32^ posts ; but this is obviously an error, the stage to Finale being omitted.] To Recco, p. 264 ...... 3 „ Rapallo . ...... 1^ „ Chiavari, p, 265 . . . . . 1§ „ Bracco, p. 266 . . . . . . 2f f, Mattarana . . . . . 1^ „ Borghetto . . . . . 1^ )s La Spezzia, p. 267 • • • • -3 „ Sarzana ... . 2^ „ Lavenza (Massa), p. 268 . . . . l| „ Massa, vol. iii», p. 44 . . . .1 „ Pietra Santa . . . . . .1 „ Montramido ...... I „ Lucca, vol. iii., p. 25 . . . H „ Pisa, p. 12 . . . . . It*- 61 From Lucca, the direct route to Flo- rence, through Pistoja and Prato, is 6^ posts, making the total route from Genoa to Florence 2.9J posts.ITINERARY. Distance from Nice to Genoa ,. Genoa to Florence Leagues. . 71 . 72 143 (According to Vaysse de Villiers.) Hours. 36 3 GJ 72^ VII.—From Milan to the Grisons. To Barlasina, p, 347 . . 2 posts. „ Como*, p. 341 . . 1± „ La Riva, by steam packet and boat. „ Chiavenna, p. 329 . . 12 miles. „ Isola .... Imposts. „ Splugen,p. 317 . . 2 „ Tusis . . . - If „ Coire . . . .If }n hours". • From Como to Varese, 2 posts ; from Varese to Laveno, 2 ; or from Milan to Laveno direct, 6 posts : thence by boat to thevBorro- mean Isles, 1 hour—total, 8^ hours, or 37 miles; or by Como, 15£ hours, or 51 miles. VIII.—From Milan to Inspruck, by the Braglio. From Milan to Como • , 3posts. „ Como to Colico by boat To Morbegno . ♦ Sondrio ..... „ Tirano . . . . . f 8^ posts, „ Belladora .... „ Bormio (foot of the pass.), p. 325 „ Spondalunga . . . „ Santa Maria „ Windelen ..... V5 posts. „ Trafui ..... „ Pradt, p. 234 ,, Mais (foot of the pass.) From Pradt, two roads lead to Vienna. The road to In- spruck leads through Nauders, Pfunds, Ried, Landeck, Imst, Nassereit, Ober-Miemingen, and Platten.■ Drove Gemoria 3 Credo?.. \ Gvidale dme_/. alma npVa Irtrteyt nojrt Aviftrt? •j'eltre 3Govilza P^T ' \[onfc£la>i 2uero In nee v tecco Vare.ii l.naqo iano lah^-3. ^g^Tritstfe, fee h. v dJstriA* HJtfmj 'ntmea lant. joLonit V^elli % ft Trino ( •qnca Te.vt.ia iQrtar1 ?-ri C Cavor< "Volcarw mut&hw Prtttiaro tlber&i Cento i Qaipsw elJ)ebino VENOi famonej .J' i'KJwirft? qnarw .jinniui .Mbeil»a Spello Kenton 'escia ivarfnt hitell*c (iFUa&atno^ 7*ccbiA Irbitellq. j? ^iMr^'u,-'V' lonciaha ^S^\P.rPenna o^^fcVasto^Damoiie // ..... ' Eugmveci^ /J>r/ \ ^ j tl)r ithuVnt dtvtulilm*. Ifjr .siojrEY muuL. " English. Miles. 'oiiiforie taro k r^latrii WOFp\ I Valincv I Candida.P* vvnio^&w Porto Veen \io KT^^Spmizaliair Sir* of 09 Bonifacio Bonifa< °JLdrufel larsfus/ Fondi \>jb«53° Jfofc KABTV Jo Longitude East ijl from. Greenwich, Zondon^Published, by JamesDunccmrPaterno.rter HowITALY. • CHAPTER I. Boundaries of Italy—Natural divisions—Climate—Mal- aria—Ancient population — Classical divisions — Modern subdivisions and statistics. The name of Italy, which originally designated only the southern extremity of the Peninsula, has, ever since the reign of Augustus, been extended to the whole region lying between the Adriatic and the Mediterranean, as far northward as the mari- time chain of Alps, which dips into the Gulf of Genoa, and sweeps round to the head of the Adri- atic, inclosing the fertile basin of the Po. The etymology of the word is altogether doubtful: the ancient explanations which derive it from Italus, an (Enotrian or Sicilian chief, or from 'IraXos (vitu- lus), an ox, are destitute of either historic evidence or probability. Hesperia (the West) was the name at first vaguely applied to the Italian peninsula, in common with Iberia, by the Greeks ; in the same manner as we speak of the East and the Levant. By this appellation, or by those of Saturnia and Ausonia, it is generally mentioned by the classic vol. r.2 ITALY. poets.* In modern geography, Italy, like Ger- many, comprehends a groupe of countries forming a grand natural division of the European conti- nent ; allied by a common language and a general similarity of customs and institutions, but united by no political bond, having no common centre, and distinguished by a considerable diversity of physical circumstances and of moral and political condition. The natural limits of this region are formed by the great Alpine barrier, which presents a steep, unbroken acclivity towards the plains of Lom- bardy; but the lines of political demarcation de- viate considerably from this natural boundary, and modern Italy extends beyond the Alps, on the north-west, to the Lake of Geneva, and westward, * The ancient and original Italy, according to Niebuhr, consisted of the southern part of Bruttium, and afterwards extended to the confines of Lucania. In the time of Sopho- cles, it appears to have denoted the eastern coast of the peninsula south of Iapygia, as CEnotria denoted the west- ern. In the second enlargement of its outline, Italy ex- tended nearly as far as the Tiber and the Aesis. But Poly- bius uses the word Italia in its widest signification, as extend- ing to the Alps. Ausonia was originally synonymous with Opica, but afterwards signified the whole western coast on the Mare Inferum. By the name Saturnia, the earlier Latins designated a part of Central Italy, including Latium; but it was never a general one for the Peninsula.—Niebuhr's Roman Hist., by Walter, vol, i. c. 1. The CEnotri, who were so denominated only by the Greeks, seem to have taken their name from being vine-dressers, or from a land of vines, although the fabulous genealogy of the Greeks furnishes an CEnotrus, as well as an Italus, a Peucetus, and a Siculus. If the etymology given by Timseus be founded in fact, the ori- ginal Jtali or Ita/idcB might be herdsmen. The Oscan ViteRu is supposed to be the Sabellian form of Italia; as the Veneti are the same as the Enetl.italy. 3 in Savoy, to the course of the Rhone. The centra* range of the southern Alps, passing alpng the south-eastern boundary of Savoy, in a bending line of one hundred miles in length, comprises that portion of the vast chain known to the Romans by the name of the Alpes Graice, or Grecian Alps, together with a portion of the Pennine Alps on the north, and of the Cottian Alps on the south. * The highest summits, Mont Blanc itself, the Aiguille Verte, the Giant, and Mount Iseran, are situated along this part of the central range on the limits of Savoy, rising several thousand feet above the lower line of perpetual snow. The Cottian Alps, which extend southward of Mount Cenis to Mount Yiso, and the Ligurian or Maritime Alps, stretching from Mount Viso to the mouth of the Var, separate France from the southern part of Piedmont, t * The Pennine Alps and the Apennines derive their name, apparently, from the Celtic Pen (or Ben), a head or sum- mit ; as we have in Great Britain, Pen-maen Mawr, Ben Lomond, &c. On the Great St. Bernard (Summo Pennino), the aboriginal inhabitants are said to have adored the god Pen, whom the Romans converted into Jupiter Penninus; but they probably mistook the name of the mountain for that of a god. In like manner, the Graian Alp, or Little St. Bernard, not improbably derived its name from the Celtic Craig, a rock. The Roman writers tell us, that the pass took its name from the Graian (or Grecian) Hercules, who traversed the Alps by that route. The absurdity of this etymology shews that they were ignorant of its real deriva- tion. The Cottian Alps are known to have received their name from Cottius, an Alpine chieftain, the ally of the Romans. Mont Genevre was also called Mons Janus, and Matrona Mons. The word Alp is itself Celtic, signifying mountain; but, as now in use among the natives, it always denotes an elevated pasture land. f The Alps lie between the parallels of 43° 30' and 48" b 24 ITALY. .Through the centre of the Peninsula, but gene- rally nearer the western coast, runs the long chain of the Apennines. This chain, which extends 270 leagues in length, and attains an elevation of from 4000 to 9000 feet, is divided into three parts : the Northern Apennines, extending from the neighbourhood of Urbino to the Adriatic ; the Central, terminating near the banks of the Sangro; and the Southern, which stretch at an equal distance between the two seas as far as Muro, where they divide into two branches,—the smaller one sepa- rating the district of Bari from that of Otranto, and the loftier range traversing both Calabrias, and terminating in the promontory of Aspromonti. It is this same branch which, entering the sea, re- appears in Sicily. The Corsican and Sardinian mountains appear to be a collateral branch con- nected with the same central system. Italy is naturally divided, by its variety of surface and climate, into four distinct zones or regions, which are thus distinguished. The first, compris- ing the whole of Lombardy and a part of Ro- magna to the slopes of the Apennines on the side of Florence, is about 260 miles in length, and 150 at its greatest breadth, from the Alps to the Gulfs of N.; and the length of the line, from Mont Ventoux in Dauphiny to Mount Kahlenberg in Austria, is 600 miles. That portion of the great range eastward of the Pennine, which extends from the Simplon to the St. Got hard, along the Haut Falais, and in which the Rhone and the Rhine have their sources, was anciently called the Lepontine Alps. The Rhaetian and Tridentine Alps comprised the country of the Grisons, the Tyrol, and Trent; and the Julian, Carnic, or Venetian Alps designated the chain extending through Friuli, Lower Austria, and Istria.ITALY* 5 Genoa and Venice, and the Apennines ; lying be- tween the parallels of 46° 30' and 43° 30'. The cold in winter is here often very severe, the thermo- meter falling occasionally several degrees below the freezing point; and neither the olive-tree nor the orange-tree flourishes, except on the sheltered shores of Genoa, the borders of the lakes, and some other favoured spots. The second zone ex- tends over Tuscany and the Papal dominions, from Florence to Terracina and the course of the San- gro; descending two degrees of latitude nearer the Equator. In this region, the winters are mild enough to allow the olive-tree and wild orange-tree to flourish ; but the sweet orange and other delicate fruits cannot be brought to perfection in the open air. The summer heat, at Florence and Rome often rises to 90° Fahr.; but in the former city, the winter is prolonged by the vicinity of the Apennines. The third climate, lying between the parallels of 41° 30' and 39° 30', comprehends the northern part of the kingdom of Naples. In this region, the Seville orange and the lemon thrive almost without culture and without shelter. Yet, in winter, frosts occur in places raised but little above the level of the sea; and at Naples, the thermometer occasionally descends a few degrees below the freezing point, while in summer it often rises to 96°. In the fourth region, that of the Further Calabria and Sicily, the thermometer very rarely sinks to the freezing point, and snow is seldom seen, except on the volcanic summits of Etna. The palm, the aloe, and the Indian fig-tree flourish in the open air, and the sugar-cane thrives in the low grounds. The vegetation resembles6 ITALY. that of the finest parts of Africa. The south wind is extremely disagreeable in this burning climate; but the sirocco, or south-east wind, is in the highest degree oppressive; vegetation droops and withers beneath its influence, and the human frame is afflicted with languor and dejection. * The climate of Italy might, perhaps, be con- sidered as, upon the whole, the finest in the world, were it not for the mysterious scourge which, during great part of the year, hangs over its most fertile plains, and which has converted large tracts of country, once cultivated and populous, into pas- toral deserts. The origin of the malaria has hitherto escaped detection. In Lombardy, it in- fests the most improved and productive districts; chiefly, however, in the neighbourhood of the rice-grounds, where the nature of the cultivation seems to produce the same effect that has been attributed to the want of cultivation in other parts. Stagnant water, under certain latitudes, is always found to generate miasmata, when exposed to a high temperature of atmospheric heat, more especially when reduced by exhalation to the con- * Malte Brim. Book 131. Ency. Metrop., art. Italyr— M. Chateauvieux divides Italy into three regions, according to the systems of agriculture which prevail in them respec- tively. The difference of climate, of productions, and of rural manners, is, he says, so obvious, as to strike every traveller. The first is that of Lombardy, where a rich soil admits of a regular rotation of crops in constant succession. The second extends over all the southern declivities of the Apen- nines, from the frontiers of Provence to the borders of Cala- bria : this is designated as the region of olive-trees, or of the Canaanean cultivation. The third, extending along the Mediterranean from Pisa to Terracina, is entirely pastoral, and is the region of malaria.tTALY 7 sistence of mud. Consequently, the alluvial soil deposited by the inundations of level plains, must be particularly liable to send forth these pestilent exhalations.* The high mountains which over- look: all Lombardy, pour down an immense number of streams, which art has not yet com- pletely controlled, but which, by an infinite num- ber of canals of irrigation, are conveyed in all directions, so that there are scarcely any farms or meadows which have not the benefit of a canal and a sluice, t These mountain-rivers, when swelled by the rains, rush down with destructive fury, charged with sand or clay; and the wide inundations which periodically take place, are continually extending the marshes further into the sea, by the formation of new land. The course of the Po lies, for the most part, through a soft, calcareous soil; and by the deposites which it has brought down, the bed of the river towards its mouth has been astonishingly raised. Since the year 1604, when strenuous attempts were made to confine the river within dikes, it has accumulated so much debris within its channel, that, in its lowest part, the surface of the water is higher than the roofs of the houses at Ferrara. J * See Sir G. Blane's Select Dissertations, p. 99. Speak- ing of the islands of Zealand, which appear to be entirely formed by the detritus carried down by the Rhine and the Scheldt, Sir Gilbert remarks, that ' there is a poison in the exhalations from such soils, the nature of which is entirely unknown. Water in a state of stagnation, without any ascertainable principle of contamination, seems t® generate these miasmata, particularly after it has undergone exhalation, so as to be brought to the consistence of mud.' f Chateauvieux by Rigby, pp. 14, 15. J The ancient port of Adria is now eight leagues from8 ITALY. The tract extending from Ferrara to Bologna is, perhaps, the most unhealthy in all Italy. The malaria is found to prevail to an equal degree in the great plains to the west of the Apennines. The most extensive of these ma- remme reaches from Leghorn to Terracina, a dis- tance of 192 geographical miles, with a breadth of forty miles in the Campagna di Roma. Through- out this region, there is nothing in the face of nature that betrays the dangerous character of the cli- mate. The sky is as clear and the fields as verdant as elsewhere; but the few inhabitants who remain in these tracts, are sickly and emaciated; and those who visit the plains in the summer, during the temporary labours of harvest, frequently fall victims to the distemper, or have their constitutions injured for life. The number who perish from malaria in the whole extent of the insalubrious tract, is reckoned, Mr. Simond says, at between fifty and sixty thousand a year.* The shepherds who keep the flocks in the Campagna di Roma, are obliged, during the summer season, to repair every night to the city, to take shelter within its walls: to sleep in the country, would be fatal. To travel at night through the Pontine marshes, is, at that season, highly dangerous; and to doze in the the sea; and it has been calculated, that, from the earth carried down by the Po, the land gains annually on the sea a distance of 230 feet. The Brenta threatens Venice with the fate which Adria has suffered from the deposites of the Po. * Simond, p, 354. In one autumn, Mr. Forsyth says, four thousand persons died victims to it in the Roman hospitals.—Forsyth, vol. ii p. 3.ITALY. 9 carriage, heightens the peril. The Campagna of Naples is also subject to malaria. The low and sheltered hollows near Pozzuoli and Baise are un- healthy in the extreme; and the plains of Paestum have been rendered a desert by the same cause. The climate of these regions was always subject to endemic fevers; and the numerous temples raised to Esculapius or to Hygeia, of which the ruins are still to be seen, attest the fears of the ancients. But, under the empire, the public ways to the sea-ports were lined with houses ; and dis- tricts were populous, which it were now death to inhabit. Various causes have been assigned in explanation of this change, and of the continua advance of the malaria upon the habitable region. The destruction of the forests may be con- sidered as one main cause. 4 In ancient times,' remarks Mr. Simond, 4 Latium was shady and comparatively healthy: it is now bare and un- healthy.* To the destruction of the woods of Latium, the increase of solstitial fevers has been clearly traced.' It seems to be when the moist earth is directly exposed to the fiery beams of the summer sun, that it acquires the high temperature which be- comes, under such circumstances, from the rapi- dity of evaporation, a source of disease. But for the abundance of moisture, the tracts thus laid bare would have been long since converted into sandy * The valley of the Po, which, in the time of Polybius, was a marshy country shaded by forests, the haunt of wild boars, does not now furnish timber sufficient for the wants of the inhabitants B 510 ITALY. deserts. The destruction of the woods, which, by a wise policy, were held sacred in ancient times, has been prejudicial in other respects. They formed, in many instances, a rampart or shelter against the advance of the mephitic vapour; and it is probable that they might not merely arrest, but absorb or consume it, in some measure, in the process of vegetable respiration.* Another cause of the increase of malaria, is that sandy ridge gradually thrown up by the sea along the coast, for many leagues above and below the Tyber. Various outlets, natural and artificial, have by this means been choked up; and the Pontine marshes, formerly confined to a Harrow space near the promontory of Monte Cir- cello, now extend, under different names, all along vhe coast. 4 Possibly,' says Mr. Simond, 4 the very efforts made to drain those marshes, have increased the evil; first, by lfeaving bare and ex- posed to the action of the sun, those parts of the surface which were before under water, and there- fore less liable to the production of noxious * 1 By clearing the woods of Nettuno, in the Campagna,' says Mr. Forsyth, ' which the ancients wisely held sacred, Government has lately removed one defence against the «ea-vapours, which now, mixing freely with those of the land, render them doubly noxious.'—Forsyth, ii. 3. That the mephitic air, being heavy and low, may be stopped by low hills, woods, and even buildings, seems well ascertained; but that the winds blowing from the sea, bring noxious vapours with them, is a notion, ancient indeed, but probably erroneous. M. Chateauvieux asserts, that' the air is equally deleterious on the mountains and in the middle of woods, p. 256. But he stands alone in this assertion.ITALY. 11 miasmata; secondly, by too quickly drawing off and discharging into the sea, those waters which, like the stream of the Tyber, carry a great deal of earth. If suffered to overflow occasionally% they would, in process of time, have covered with a new and wholesome stratum, the volcanic soil of the Pontine marshes, which is believed to be deleterious per se; and at any rate, w@uld have raised and regulated their general level.'* The Tyber is supposed to carry out to sea a greater quantity of earth, in proportion to its volume and length of course, than any other river. Were its waters spread over the surface by artificial inunda- tions, and detained upon the land till they were clear, not only would the marshes be prevented from spreading further into the sea, but the alluvial soil thus o'btained would serve to elevate and drain them. Whether the soil be in itself deleterious, may be questioned; t but both the form of the surface * Simond, p. 358.—The Val di Chiana, in Tuscany, once a pestilential marsh, has been drained upon this principle, which was first suggested by Torricelli, the learned suc- cessor of Galileo. The general level has been raised about eight feet, by this occasional folding of water,' in the course of about three centuries; and the whole accumula- tion is estimated at 867,000 cubic metres of earth. Fos- sombrone, who for many years successfully directed these works, was of opinion, that the Pontine marshes might be thus drained by elevating the surface, in the short period of five years.—Siiaond, p. 129. | M. Chateauvieux asserts, that the soil of the Maremme is nothing but mere clay, the whiteness of which is a Jittle changed by the mixture of sulphur.' ' Since they have ceased to produce vegetables for the use of man some12 ITALY. and the composition of it promote the stagnation of water. ' In the variety of earths peculiar to volcanic ground,'-Mr. Forsyth remarks,' some subterranean pools have found a hard stratum for their bed, and a loose one for their cover. Thus retired from his reach, these invisible enemies attack man with exhalations which he cannot resist.' It is well known to persons acquainted with the shores of the Mediterranean, that con- cealed water, lurking as it were beneath the sur- face, is the enemy most to be dreaded as the source of fatal miasmata. High grounds are in general safe; but this is because they are gene- rally dry.* When water has been conveyed to them by artificial means, and afterwards suffered to stagnate and soak into the earth, or whenever chemical phenomena have been going on within the soil. The consequence is, an immense accumulation of sulphur, salt, and alum.' Unlike the Pontine marshes, the maremme of Tuscany and Rome, he says, include neither marsh nor stagnant water. 4 I cannot help attributing this deteriora- tion of the air to the chemical constitution of the soil itself, which it has gradually acquired in this land of volcanoes, in the course of nature, and from circumstances unknown to us. It is obvious, from the nature of the elements which compose it, that sulphurous hydrogen gas is evolved at the surface of the soil, independently of the constant presence^ of water.' pp. 100, 102, 108. We have not found these statements confirmed by any other traveller. # Knolls and bluffs, in a marshy country, have often been found far more unhealthy situations, than the imme- diate margin of the river; but this must be because they are within reach of the miasmata. In the Pontine marshes, an elevation of 200 feet is barely sufficient to ensure safety. Frequently, the infected atmosphere does not rise higher than 100 feet, and rarely higher than 500; nor is it carried to any great distance by the wind., ITALY. 13 there happens to be moisture in the soil from other causes, fevers are generated. Gardens, in low situations, often become the source of malaria ; and it may be partly for this reason, that, in the East, they have been excluded from the closely-built cities. Mr. Simond remarks, that, in the low but healthy parts of Rome, those houses which have a garden are not safe, while the neighbourhood without gardens, is safe. The outskirts of towns thus situated are always par- ticularly unhealthy, while, within the walls, the inhabitants are secure. In the pine-barrens of South Carolina, where, during the sickly season, it is deemed hazardous to pass a night, there are some healthy spots where the overseers of plan- tations reside with impunity; but it is found that, in order to be safe, not a tree must be cut down, except to leave room for the house; and the smallest garden would entail some risk. Even broad streets, notwithstanding the apparent benefit of a freer ventilation, are neither a luxury nor an advantage in southern climates; and it is not without reason that Tacitus repre- sents Nero as having spoiled Rome by widening the streets. Before his time, they were, in gene- ral, very narrow, and the wider ones were the least healthy. It is still found, that the heart of the modern city, where the houses are contiguous, notwithstanding the lowness of the ground, and how near soever to the river, is quite exempt from the malaria which reigns in the gardens and vineyards of the Seven Hills. All these facts concur to prove, that the danger originates in laying bare the soil to the direct14 ITALY. action of the sun; and that, when shaded by either woods or buildings, the plague is stayed. Although moisture is necessary to generate these noxious exhalations, they arise not from the water, but from the soil. Consequently, tracts covered with water, but not reduced to marsh, are rendered harmless, although their immediate neighbourhood may be highly insalubrious. The exemption from endemic fever, which Venice enjoys, has been at- tributed to the salt water; but experience has taught the Indians of Venezuela to build their huts on piles amid their great fresh-water lake, in order to escape the noxious atmosphere which constantly envelops its borders. * It is the vapour of stagnant water only that is in- jurious, because it then becomes charged with vegetable or mineral effluvia. Ships, indeed, have been affected by noxious exhalations from swampy shores, at a considerable distance, in tropical climates; f but this must be owing to the wind setting in that direction. The exhalations of the soil extend further in proportion to their greater density and malignity; and these appear to be according to the greater intensity of atmospheric heat. Under the climate of Italy, the endemic pestilence is so strictly local, that an ascent of ten minutes will often place you above its reach, while a narrow street will sometimes divide the healthy from the infected district. Notwithstanding this serious drawback, and * Hence the name of Venezuela, or Little Venice, given by the Spaniards to the territory. See Modern Traveller, Vol. xxvii. p. 211. f Sir Gilbert Blane says, 3000 feet, and even further.ITALY. 15 other circumstances unfavourable to the increase of population. Italy is still one of the most thickly inhabited countries of Europe; there being a popu- lation of twenty millions 011 a surface of 15,000 square marine leagues. * The average of health and strength, however, Mr. Simond remarks, is below what it is on the other side of the Alps, t Its ancient population must have been far more considerable. The millions of ancient Rome have dwindled down to less than one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants ; the cities of the Etruscan League have left only their ruins ; and the flourish- ing republics of the middle ages were situated in * The following estimates furnished by Humboldt, (Pers. Narr., vol. vi. 339, 340,) will shew the comparative density of the population in different parts of the Continent. Inhabitants to the square marine league. Europe (as far as the Oural) . . 639 Spain ..... 763 Austrian monarchy . . * 1324 Holland.....1330 Italy.....1333 Germany.....1432 France with Corsica . . . 1790 British Isles . . . . 2120 Humboldt, indeed, rates the population of Italy as high as 1967 to the square league, which would make it to be more thickly inhabited than France; a calculation which carries inaccuracy on the face of it. The fact is, that he has under-rated the superficial extent of Italy by one-third.— See p. 24. f It has been calculated from ancient documents, that the mean term of life among the Romans was thirty years; and at Florence, on the whole population, the mean is not higher in the present day. Among the easy classes at Paris, the mean term is forty-two : in England, fifty years.—Hawkins's ' Medical Statistics.'16 ITALY. districts now depopulated and uninhabitable from the malaria. In the midst of the deserted plains of the Maremma, are the sites of towns which once contained from seven to eight thousand inhabitants, 'and which now serve only as the retreat of wolves and wild boars.* Pisa, which is said to have numbered one hundred and fifty thousand citizens in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, contains at present only about twenty thousand inhabitants. Massa, which once contained from twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand, now affords shelter, in summer, to no more than three or four hundred, and, in winter, to about two thousand. Yolterra and Grosseto have experienced a similar decay; and the depopulation of the plains since the fall of the Republics, has been still greater. The whole of Tuscany, a territory of more than ten thousand square miles, does not contain a population equal to that of London ; and the States of the Church, extending over twice that surface, contain only about two millions and a half, being about one hundred and thirty to the square mile. Italy, in the middle ages, was divided into * 1 Populonia and Vetulonia, of which the ruins are still visible, were built in the most pestilential site of the Ma- remma. Luna, in the Lunigiana, was in an equally unfavour- able situation. Volterra and Pisa, though enjoying a more wholesome air, were in the midst of a country not less in- salubrious. Yet they were then populous, rich, and flourish- ing cities: under the emperors, they disappeared.'—Sis- mondi, Agric. Tosc., p. 289. M. Chateauvieux states, that 1 the inhabitants of the Mareinma date their decline about the time of the plague in the sixteenth century, which destroyed a great part of the population. From that period, it became unable to oppose the influence of the foul air.'—Chateau- vieux, p. 99.ITALY. 17 Upper, Middle, and Lower Italy. The first com- prised all the states situated in the basin of the Po; the last corresponded to the kingdom of Naples; and tlie intervening territory formed the remaining division. This natural partition has become in great measure lost in the political sub- divisions of the country; but, as it corresponds so nearly to that physical distribution into distinct regions, which has already been described, it may be considered as stiU existing in fact, and as sufficiently accurate for familiar use. The ancient divisions were more complicated, and the different names bestowed upon the same territory have contributed to involve the classical geography of Italy in some obscurity. Augustus, after he had extended the Roman frontier to the Maritime Alps and the river Arsia, divided the country into eleven regions; but this division has been dis- regarded by the geographers in favour of an arrangement more convenient for the purposes of history.* We shall exhibit both in the following Table. * Cramer's Ancient Italy, vol. i. pp. 17, 18.Early Names. j II. III. Tyrrhenia. IV. V. •i< [ III &0 3>» A VI. VII. VIII. IX. XI. 1.3 f XII. § 3 \ XIII. I * Flamima Roman Divisions. Liguria. Gallia Cisalpina. Venetia, including the Carni and Histria. Etruria. Umbria and Picenum. The Sabini, vEqui, Marsi, Peligni, Vestini, and Marrucini. Roma. Latium. Campania. Samnium and the Fren- ) tani. Apulia, including Dau- [ nia and Messapia, or I Iapygia. Lucania. Bruttii, Under Augustus. I. Liguria. I II. Flaminia.* I III. Transpadana. J IV. Venetia, with Istria, &c. V. Etruria. Picenum. VII. Umbria. Samnium. I VL jvill. Modern. Piedmont. f States of the Church, t Modena, &c Government of Milan. Govern*, of Venice. Tuscany. States of the Church. IX. Campania. X. Apulia, including part Samnium. of XI. Lucania and Bruttium. Kingdom of Naples. extended fxom the Apennines to the Po, and Transpadana comprehended what remained between Venetia and the Alps.ITALY 19 At present, Italy is politically divided into nine independent States,* which are unconnected by any tie of alliance or confederation; viz., the three Kingdoms of Sardinia, Lombardy, and Naples, the Papal dominions, the Grand Dutchy of. Tuscany, the three Dutchies of Parma, Modena, and Lucca, and the little Republic of San Marino. The last four are, however, too inconsiderable to be regarded as primary geographical divisions; nor can they pretend to any thing more than the name and forms of political independence. In the following statistical Tables, therefore, they are exhibited as mere provincial subdivisions. Table A. I. CONTINENTAL ITALY. i. Sardinian Italy. ncient Namet 1. Division of Savoy. I ,r ^a^ia , J I Narbonensts. 2. „ Aosta. 1 ~ ... 3. „ No vara. f — a. !a 4. „ Alessandria. J tsa Pin ' 5. „ Turin or Torino. ^ 6. „ Coni or Cuneo. I 7. „ Nice or Nizza. rLiguria. 8. „ Genoa. I 9. Principality of Monaco. ' ii. Austrian Italy. Lombard- ( 1. Government of Milan. \ Gallia Venetian 1 „ (Lombardy.) j Cisalpitia. Kingdom. [ 2. „ Venice. Verietia. Indepen- | 3. Dutchy of Parma, f 1 Gallia dent. \ 4. „ Modena. J J Cisalpina. * The dutchy of Massa forms at present a tenth, but is ultimately to be annexed to Modena. f The states of Parma consist of the dutchy of that name20 ITALY. II. PENINSULAR ITALY. i. Tuscany. 1. Province of Florence. ^ 2. " Pisa. I 3. " Siena. I 4. " Arezzo. c Etruria» 5. il Grosseto. 6. Dutchy of Lucca.* 7. " Massa.f ii. States of the Church.J 1. Province of Bologna. ■> G(Ma Ferrara. \Cimlp>na, Foriinna' j°r Flaminia- Pesaro and Urbino. Umbria. Ancona. ] Macerata and Ca- )Picenum. merino. Fermo and Ascoli.) r Umbria Spoleto and Rieti.^ and Sabine Country. 2. * 3. 4. » 5. 6. 7. v 8. » 9. »> and the territories of Placentia and Guastalla. They have the Po for their northern boundary, and must therefore be considered as belonging geographically to Lombardy or the basin of the Po. J Modena, which has belonged at different periods to the Emperors, the Popes, the Venetians, the Dukes of Mantua, and the House of Este, is now a fief of the Austrian empire. * Lucca was granted to the ducal house of Parma in 1815, but was to be eventually annexed to the Grand Dutchy of Tuscany, by which it is almost surrounded. f The dutchy of Massa does not exceed fifteen square leagues in superficial extent. It formerly depended on Modena, and is to revert to that ducal house; but it is geographically connected with Lucca and the Sardinian ♦States, extending along the Mediterranean. J The States of the Church were divided into eighteenITALY. 21 10. Province of Viterbo and Civita Vecchia.* 11. „ Perugia. 12. „ Fronzinone and Ponte Corvo. 13. „ Benevento. 14. Republic of San Marino.f | Etruria. Umbria. Latium. Samnium. iii. Kingdom of Naples. 3. Principato Citerior, or Lower 1 Campania Principality. J and Lucania 4. „ Ulterior, or Upper 1 Samnium Principality. land Apulia. 5. Abruzzo Ulterior (Primo and) Second°)- {Pe/igni, &c. ^ ri-i. • -f Veztini and 6. „ Citerior. \ Marrusim. 7. Samnio or Molise. Samnium. 8. Capitanata. iDaunia. 9. Terra di Bari. Peucetia. 10. Otranto. J yMessapia. 11. Basilicata. Lucania. 12. Calabria Citerior, or Lower (Lucania and Calabria. \ Bruttium. 13. „ Ulterior (Primo and) „ ... Secondo), or Upper Calabria.) ru mm' provinces in 1824, but, by a subsequent arrangement, they are now reduced to thirteen 4 delegations.' * This delegation comprehends the city and territory of Rome. f This insignificant republic, inclosed by the States of the Church, is now under the protection of the Pope.22 ITALY. III. ITALIAN ISLANDS. Capo di Sotto, or Province of Ca- gliari. Capo di Sopra, or Province of Sassari. i . Sicily.* slcilia. 1. Intendancy of Palermo. Panormus. 2. „ Trapani. Drepanum. 3. a Girgenti. Agrigentum. 4. Caltanisetta. Enna. 5. Syracuse. Syracusce. 6. )} Catania. Catana. 7. » Mussina. Messana. III. ITALIAN ISLANDS. ii. Sardinia.f 1. Prefecture of Cagliari. 2. „ Busachi. 3. „ Iglesias. 4. „ Isili. 5. j, Lanusei. r 6. „ Nuoro. 7. „ Sassari. 8. „ Alghero. 9. „ Cagliari. .10. „ Ozieri. iii. Corsica. iv. Elba. v. Malta. Corsica, llvci. Melita. * In the Sicilian Intendancies are included the ten adja- cent islands of Alicudi, Baliluzzo, Felicudi, Lampeduza, Lipari, Panaria, Pantellenia, Salina, Stromboli, and Ustica ; the whole of which are generally included under the name of the Lipari Islands. f Sardinia is divided, by an irregular line, into two pro- vinces, the Northern or Capo di Sopra, and the Southern or Capo di Sotto, having for their respective head towns, Sassari and Cagliari. Each province comprises two of the ancient judicatures: the Capo di Sopra, those of Torres and Gallura; the Capo di Sotto, those of Arborea and Cagliari. They were formerly subdivided into fifteen prefectures, which, in 1821, were reduced to ten.—Smyth's * Sardinia,'ITALY. 23 Table B. I. Austrian Italy. Square Leagues. Population. 1. Government of Milan. 2. „ Venice. 3. Dutchy of Parma. „ Modena. 288 440,000 260 350,000 II. Kingdom of Sardinia. 1. Piedmont and Savoy. 2. Sardinia. 2635 3,406,100+ 1100 490,087 p. 66. Besides these various divisions, there is a distinct ecclesiastical distribution into the eleven dioceses of Cagliari (archbishopric), Ogliastra, Sassari, Iglesias, Gastello and Nuoro, Alghero, Bosa, Bisarcio, Ales, Oristano (arch- bishopric), and Ampurias and Civita.—M. Brim. vol. vii. p. 759. * The population of Austrian Italy, divided according to the origin of the inhabitants, is stated as follows: the census is that of 1825. f The population of the Sardinian States, classed ac- cording fo their origin, is as follows: Italians Germans Jews Greeks Armenians 4,163,700 66,500 5,600 . 700 500 4,237,000 Piedmontese Savoyards Sardinians Jews? 3,010,000 386,00ft 490,000 3,700 3,889,700 Of the above, 3,864,000 are rated as Roman Catholics, and 22,000 as Vaudois.24 ITALY. Square Leagues, Population. jjt tiicn i\rv Cinlvi t n/*an ^ IV. Papal Dominions. 2260 2,597,000 V. Kingdom of the Two Si- cilies. 1. Continental Provinces. 2. Sicily and the Islands. 3910 5,690,000 1610 1,730,000 300 r 175,000 VI. Corsica. VII. Elba. 14,000 15,897* 20,576,488 Thus divided into kingdoms and principalities of the second and third order, Italy is without any central point, nor can any of its cities be regarded as the capital. The short-lived kingdom of Italy was an abortive attempt to unite under one crown, a country which, though it may be brought for a time to acknowledge a common master, seems to oppose physical obstacles almost insur- mountable, to such a political consolidation. Al- though, in religion, language, and manners, the people of Italy appear as one nation, they have never been united by the bond of a common national feeling. The name of Italian is lost in the civic or provincial appellatives by which the natives are distinguished and severed from each * These measurements are taken from Malte Brun, vol. vii. b. 136. Humboldt estimates the surface of Italy at only 10/240 square marine leagues; a vast difference, if he means to include the islands.ITALY. 25 other. Italy may possibly recover its independence, but it can scarcely ever again become one king- dom. It might, indeed, in the former event, be united in a federative republic,—the favourite idea of some political writers; and Milan, Venice, Flo- rence, Rome, Naples, Cagliari, and Palermo might then, M. Malte Brun supposes, be the six principal towns in the United Italian States. Hitherto, however, the experience of mankind affords little reason to hope, that such a system of government, if established, would bid fair for perpetuity: how far it is capable of uniting the liberty of a small commonwealth with the safety of a powerful empire, has never yet been ascer- tained by a satisfactory experiment. The history of the Italian Republics, as well as that of the Grecian States, is altogether opposed to such a conclusion ; and the question must be regarded as still open, 4 whether America may triumph in having solved the problem that has defeated the ingenuity of other statesmen and the virtues of other nations.'* To a foreign traveller, the territorial divisions of the country are matters of little interest; nor does he concern himself with other boundaries than such as intersect the lines of route. To his imagination, the chief cities become, as centres of attraction, the basis of a new distribution of ter- ritory, in which, as in ancient times, each capital stands for a kingdom or community. Were we to divide Italy according to this imaginary ar- rangement, the table would stand as follows: * The language of Chancellor Kent. See Mod. Trav. vol. xxlv. p. 117. VOL. I. C26 ITALY. Northern Italy. Turin Genoa. Milan. Venice. Central Italy. Florence. Pisa. Lucca. Bologna. Rome. Southern Italy. Naples. Palermo. Catania. Messina. This topographical arrangement will serve at least as a general table of contents to the ensuing de- scription of the country ; in which it will not be so much our object to take a statistical or scien- tific survey of the whole region, as to supply the tourist with a better itinerary than the common guide-books, and to furnish the reader who may not be disposed to undertake the passage of the Alps or the voyage to Genoa, a correct delineation of the characteristic features, the natural curiosi^ ties, historic sites and scenes, time-hallowed mo- numents, and living manners of Italy.savoy. 27 CHAPTER II. Physical Geography of Savoy—Chambery—Aix—Route of M. Cenis—Route of M. Genevre—Route of the Little St. Bernard—Annecy—Chamounix—Mont Blanc. It is not till he has passed the Alpine barrier which encircles Piedmont and Lombardy, that the traveller from northern or western Europe feels himself to be in Italy. But the transalpine terri- tories of the House of Savoy, which extend west- ward to the Rhone, and northward to the Lake of Lausanne, must now be considered as an Italian province. The rugged highlands of Savoy form, in fact, a border country, the character of which is neither French, Swiss, nor Italian, but, like the patois of the natives, partakes of all. The Alio- broges, its ancient inhabitants, were a Celtic race ; and when subjugated by the Romans, in the reign of Augustus, their country was annexed to the province of Gallia Narbonensis. From the Romans, it passed under the dominion of the Burgundians in the beginning of the fifth century; and it formed part of the kingdom of Upper Burgundy, which in the tenth century, became subject to the German Emperor.* The present * The name of Sapaudia or Sabaudia} of which Savoy appears to be a corruption, first occurs in Ammianus Mar- c 228 SAVOY. royal family of Sardinia trace their genealogy to a prince of the House of Saxony, who was viceroy of the kingdom of Aries, under the emperor Henry II. Amadeus II. in 1108, was the first count of Savoy. In the early part of the fifteenth century, the reigning count acceded to the prin- cipality of Piedmont, with the title of duke of Savoy. The dutchy of Montferrat was added to the possessions of the house of Savoy, in 1631. The political importance of this State was much increased by the contest between France and Austria, for the north of Italy, in the latter part of the same century, and the beginning of the eighteenth ; and the eventual successes of the allies put the reigning duke (Victor Amadeus II.) in possession of the island of Sicily, in 1713. In 1720, he exchanged it for Sardinia, and assumed the royal title. Savoy, having been conquered by the French Republic in 179*2, was made a department of France, under the name of Mont Blanc ; and the possession of it was confirmed to France by the treaty of Paris, in 1814. But in the following year, the king of Sardinia, having taken part with the allies, obtained its re-annexation to his domi- nions, with the exception of the small commune of St. Julien, ceded to the Swiss canton of Geneva. The Genoese territory was added to the Sardinian possessions by the congress of Vienna, in 1815; and the present King is sovereign, therefore, of Sardinia, Savoy, Piedmont, and Genoa. cellinus, a writer of the fifth century, as comprehending the country which has retained the name, with some of the neighbouring districts. Caddl's 4 Carniola,' vol, ii. 161.SAVOY. 29 The surface of Savoy is, for the most part, rugged and mountainous; but, within its snow- covered boundaries, are embraced many a beau- tiful valley and romantic region rarely visited by strangers, who, for the most part, hurry through its most barren district, the valley of Maurienne, in their way to or from Mont Cenis. The most interesting part of the dutchy is the province ol Tarentaise, consisting chiefly of the long valley watered by the upper part of the Is ere. This fine stream has its source in the glaciers of Mont Iseran, not far from those of its tributary, the Arco, which flows through the Maurienne: their waters, uniting a few miles above Montmelian, fall into the Rhone near Valence. Excepting when swelled by the melting of the snows, the Is£re is, however, a much smaller river than might be ex- pected, when it is known, that it ultimately receives all the waters that flow northward or westward, from the west of Mont Joli and the Col de Bon Homme, the Little St. Bernard, Mont Iseran, Mont Cenis, and the mountains west of the Maurienne, along a waving line of 120 miles, comprising all the higher Alps in the south of Savoy. 4 When standing on the bridge at Montmelian,' says Mr. Bakewell, * we may see all the waters of the south of Savoy, comprising an extent of 2000 square miles of the highest Alpine land in Europe, pass under our feet in a stream not broader than the Thames at Richmond.'* * Bakewell's Travels, vol. i. pp. 102, 3. 1 If this fact were not sufficient to make us doubt the truth of the gene- rally received opinion, that lofty mountains are essential to the formation of large rivers, we may also instance,' $dds c 330 SAVOY. The only other river of importance in the dutchy, is the Arve, which rises from the glaciers of Chamounix, and after receiving all the waters from the northern declivity of Mont Blanc and a number of lateral valleys, joins the Rhone about a mile below its issue from the Lake of Geneva. The whole of Savoy, therefore, may be considered as belonging to the basin of the Rhone. What is called the Great Valley of Savoy, extends fifty miles in a south-westerly direction, from the western side of the mountains near Sallenches to the frontiers of France. The river Arley runs along the upper part of the valley, and is joined in its course by the Doron from the district of Beaufort, and by the Is£re from the Tarentaise. The junc- tion with the latter river is at Conflans, where the Arley loses its name in that of the Isdre. *■ I/H6- pital, on the northern bank of the Arley, is the chief town of Upper Savoy. The lower part of the valley of the IstSre, is called Savoy Proper, in which the capital of the dutchy, Chambery is included. Annecy, the second city in Savoy, at the northern extremity of the lake of the same name, is the head town of the Genevois. The territory which forms the southern bank of the Lake of Geneva, and which is traversed by the Simplon road, is called the Chablais: it contains Thonon, Mr. B., 'the Rhone as it enters France at the Fort d'Ecluse, after receiving all the waters from the Haul Palais, bounded by the highest Alps in Switzerland, the streams from the Pays de Vaud and the southern declivities of the Jura, and the waters of the Arve from Mont Blanc and the north of Savoy ; yet, these united currents form a river scarcely wider than the Severn at Worcester.' * Bakewell, vol. i. p. 95.SAVOY. 31 the third tfown in point of population. The upper part of die valley of the Arve is the province of Faucigny, which has Bonneville for its chief town; and St. Julien is the head town of the district of Carouge. * The dutchy of Savoy extends, from north to south, about eighty-five miles, lying between the parallels of 45° and 46° 21', and its average breadth is from fifty to sixty miles. No part of it can be called a level country; but, on the western side, some of the valleys open out to the breadth of several miles. There are other valleys so en- tirely bounded and closed in by mountains, as to be insulated by nature from the world, having no outlet except, a deep gorge or chasm, through which the waters have forced a channel, but which was too narrow to admit of an entrance, until the labour of man had widened the passage. As the mountains recede from the central chain of the Alps, their summits come below the line of per- petual snow; the fir grows nearly to their highest points, and the intermediate declivities, though too elevated for culture, afford a summer pasture. The lowest hills and slopes, and the bottoms of the valleys, are the only parts that can be cultivated by the plough or the spade. In the Maurienne and the Tarentaise, two of the most Alpine districts of Savoy, the proportion covered by bare rocks, stones, and glaciers, is equal to one half of the * Malte Brun, vol. vii. p. 757. The latest and most complete description of Savoy is the ' Viaggio in Savoya, per Davide Bertolotti,' 2 vols. 8vo. Turin, 1828. See a brief notice of this work in For. Quart. Review, No. x. p. 712.32 SAVOV. surface capable of cultivation. * Had Savoy been placed under the same latitude as England, Mr. Bake well remarks, nearly the whole country would, on account of its elevation, have been doomed to eternal sterility, as the lowest valleys are more than 1000 feet above the level of the sea, and an increase of 1Q north corresponds in temperature to about 300 feet in elevation, f The Taran- taise is especially rich in mineral productions. The whole population of Savoy was estimated, in 1826, at 467,080 souls, of whom about a fourth were concentrated in Savoy Proper. Since then, it lias been on the increase. The people bear, in ge- neral, the character of being honest, industrious, and more civil and sociable than the blunter Swiss. As in many other parts of Europe, the women take almost as large a share in the labour of hus- bandry as the men. The inhabitants of the moun- tains are richer and more industrious than those of the plains, being chiefly proprietors of the soil they cultivate. Though the peasantry are very poor, yet, their condition is by no means abject or miserable. In the neighbourhood of towns, Mr. Bakewell says, their situation is worse than at a distance ; and not far from Chambery, a few families may be seen, that might almost vie with the poor of Ireland in squalid misery; but their * Bakewell, vol. i. p. 7. f lb. In Savoy, the line of trees extends to the height of 6700 above the level of the sea, and that of shrubs to 8500 feet. Vines will grow at the height of 2380 feet; the oak, at 3518 ; barley, 4180 ; the larch, 6000; the pinus cembra, 6600; the rhododendron, 7400; some plants, on a granitic soil, 10,600 feet; above which are a few lichens up to 11,000.SAVOY. 33 general appearance is respectable. They are cer- tainly, he elsewhere says, 4 the greatest talkers in Europe.' French is very generally spoken, and what is remarkable, with greater correctness by most of the Savoyards than it is by the peasantry of France. The mountaineers of the Alpine dis- tricts are in the practice of annually migrating at the fall of the leaf, to Piedmont, France, or even Germany, where they pursue their respective trades, and in the spring return to attend to the labours of husbandry. The principal routes which traverse Savoy, are, 1. the great road from Lyons to Chambery, and thence through the Maurienne to Mount Cenis; 2. the two routes from Geneva to Chambery, by Annecy and L'H6pital, and by Rumilly; 3. the route from Grenoble to the pass of the Little St. Bernard; and 4. the Simplon road, which runs along the northern extremity of Savoy, by the side of the Lake of Geneva. The first of these routes, which passes through the heart of Savoy, will first claim our attention. Savoy is divided from France by a prolongation of the Jura chain, which, until the opening of the 4 Road of the Grotto,' presented an almost insur- mountable barrier. In former times, travellers generally reached Chambery by a considerable detour, either from Geneva or by Grenoble. There were, however, three paths across the mountains, practicable for mules : two passed over the moun- tain de l'Epine, viz..from Pont Beauvoisin by Aigue-bellette, and by St. Genix and Novalese; and the third crossed the Mont du Chat, at the northern extremity of the range, from Yenne to Bourget. The former two were the most direct,34 SAVOY. but were extremely difficult. The latter must cer- tainly have been known to the Romans, as the remains of a temple and inscriptions have been found on this passage over the mountains. The Authors of the 4 Dissertation on the Passage of Hannibal across the Alps,' have adduced strong reason for concluding that the Mont du Chat was the first Alps at which he arrived, and the spot on which he encountered the Allobroges. At Pont de Beauvoisin, on Le Guierre (or Guiers vif), a mountain stream which forms the boundary line between France and the Sardinian territory, the douaniers of the respective Govern- ments are stationed. The road from Lyons to the frontier lies over a high and wide-spread plain, richly wooded, and bearing all the peculiar cha- racter of France. * But, after crossing the bridge, the road ascends the right bank of the river, and, at the end of about six miles, enters abruptly the defile of La Caille (La Chaille or Echelles). Here, * Mr. Brockedon. in his very interesting i Illustrations of the Passes of the Alps,1 recommends, as the best route to Lyons, that which leads from Paris by Dijon, the C&te d'Or, and Chalons sur Saone, and thence to Lyons by the coche d'eau. The road from Lyons through B our join, as far as Tour du Pin, he represents as dull and uninteresting. Mr. John Bell, who took this route in 1817, describes the country between Lyons and Tour du Pin as a pleasing succession of rich plains, and woods, and cultivated grounds, interspersed with rural villages. ( But France,' he says, ' is like a mari- time country, broad, flat, and unprotected; the soil is com- paratively barren ; the sky cloudless; and there are no moun- tains to have effect on the landscape or influence on the air.. . .no mountains to attract clouds, no valleys to give currents of air and changeful variety to enliven the land- scape.'—Bell's Observations, pp. 43, 4.SAVOY. 35 the traveller should turn to enjoy the last view of la belle France. The road ascends the mountain side, and then enters a ravine at a considerable heigM above the stream, which foams beneath in its narrow and often concealed bed. The route thence leads to the little town of Les Echelles, which de- rives its name from the terrific stair or ladder which was formerly the only path over the mountain. The traveller had to ascend by this means the per- pendicular face of the rock to the height of a hun- dred feet. He then entered a cavern, and after climbing more than eighty feet through it, re- gained the day in a deep cleft of the mountain; whence a path, of which some vestiges remain, like a Roman pavement, conducted him with com- parative ease and safety to the summit of this ex- traordinary passage. This was not only a danger- ous undertaking to the unskilful, but it was only at certain seasons that it was practicable; for the cavern was the embouchure of the waters from the ravine above, and had evidently been formed by the melted snow and torrents which often occupied the channel. When the policy of a more intimate intercourse with France suggested itself to the enterprising mind of Charles Emmanuel II., Duke of Savoy, he determined to make a road here practicable for carriages ; and the most celebrated act of his reign was the accomplishment of this great undertaking, which was called the Route of the Grotto. By lowering the cleft in the mountain, and terracing a descent to Les Echelles, he made a road which was long considered as one of the most extraordinary achievements of human effort. A monum nt in35 SAVOY. the road bears the remains of an inscription com- memorative of the construction of this road, which, though narrow, steep, and difficult, did honour to its founder, and served its purpose above % hun- dred and fifty years. In 1805, this road was con- demned, however, by the French engineers; and Napoleon, by one of the most extraordinary of his great works, superseded the old road, and left it, with its monumental record and the old cavern of Les Echelles, to be visited only as curiosities. The present road, which avoids altogether the direction of the old one, sweeps round the little valley above the village of Les Echelles, rising by a gradual ascent to the level of the road formerly attained by the route of the Grotto ; it then enters at once the perpendicular face of the limestone rock, and a magnificent gallery, twenty-five feet in height and the same in width, proceeds a thousand feet through the rock. * The entrance to this gal- lery presents an extraordinary appearance from below. On the face of the vast rocks which rise abruptly from the valley, a speck is seen to termi- nate the line of the road; and the traveller can scarcely persuade himself that this is the only exit, so small does the opening appear from the magni- tude of the surrounding objects. This gallery was begun in 1803, and was opened to travellers in 1807. Many interruptions occurred from its com- mencement ; and after the work had been re- peatedly suspended and renewed by the French, the Sardinian Government had the honour of com- * Mr. Brockedon says, 27 feet in height and breadth, and 960 feet in length.SAVOY. 37 pleting it. To a traveller from Savoy, the scene which presents itself on emerging from the gallery, must be particularly striking. ' Travellers who visit the passage of Les Echelles for the scenery/ says Mr. Bakewell, ' should approach it from Cham- bery, not from the western side. On the one side, you emerge from the earth to behold a sudden vision of glory ; on the other, you leave a splendid valley, to plunge into a cave that opens only on barren rocks.. . The galleries cut through the rocks on the Simplon route, produce no surprise, for, before entering them, you discover what the scene will be when you are passed through. But the traveller who arrives at the passage of Les Echelles from Chambery, sees nothing on his approach, but barren precipices, that seem the confines of the habitable world; when, after a few minutes of gloomy twilight, villages, churches, corn-fields, vineyards, and forests, are all before him, bounded by a range of mountains, whose sides are covered with verdure, though their summits are capped with perpendicular walls and turrets of limestone of amazing height.'* Mr. John Bell, who entered Savoy by the Pas- * Bakewell's ' Travels,' vol. i., p. 169—172. We may refer our readers to these volumes for an interesting account of the geological structure of the singular valley of Les Echelles and of the adjacent country. The key to these pheno- mena is, that the limestone rocks rest upon an immense sandstone formation, and are interstratified with it. The valleys, instead of being excavated by the waters, appear to have been formed, at least in some instances, by the sub- sidence of the ground, and the disintegration of the softer strata. VOL. I. D38 SAVOY. sage de la Grotte in 1817, gives the following description of the extraordinary scene. ' The road formed by Emmanuel, * mounts by a steep and difficult ascent. On the left, a low parapet guards it from the deep precipice which overhangs the river, while on the right, the moun- tain rises perpendicular as a wall. After a little space, which yet, from the labour of the mules, seems long, you strike all at once into the rock, the entrance to which gives you the impression of the gateway into some strong and almost inac- cessible fort. A few steps further in this deep pass, which lies before you in a long and gloomy line, you look back on a view truly magnificent. In the centre of the opening, and dividing the entrance, stands a huge mass of rock, as if de- signed for the sculptured form of a giant. On the right, but on a level considerably lower, is a por- tion of rock resembling a tomb-stone, bearing an inscription in memory of the founder, Prince Em- manuel ; and on the left, the mountain rises in stupendous basaltic pillars, straight as the stem of a cathedral column. On either side, you look down from a vast perpendicular height, as from the walls of a fortress, on a smiling country, rich, varied, and of great extent, in which the village of Echelles forms a picturesque feature, t Climbing upon the * When this gentleman travel-led, the new road seems not to have been completed, and his description applies only to the road made by Duke Charles Emmanuel. f Beyond the village and valley of Les Echelles, may be seen the mountains of the Grande Chartreuse. An excursion to the Grande Chartreuse can be accomplished easily ip a few hours from Les Echelles; and it is the best point to start from, on a visit to that secluded spot.savoy. 39 natural parapet of the great central stone, and again looking down from the dizzy height, you see, far beneath, the steps of the Eehelles entering the mountain, through a vast arched chasm of nearly 300 feet in height. Turning from this prospect, and proceeding onwards, you continue to traverse a channel more than half a mile in length, and so narrow as to oblige the passenger, on entering, to ascertain by loud hallooing, that no returning car- riage impedes the way. It is difficult to divest your- self of the first impression received on entering it, of its being a great fortress: its causewayed path, the hollow echoes from the horses' hoofs, its walls of dark, gloomy, and dripping rocks, rising perpen- dicularly to such a height as greatly to impede the light, combine to give it the aspect of an inclosed building. On the left, where the rock seems to bear an elevation of about *200 feet, you pass the mouth of the chasm where the Eehelles (or stairs) formerly opened. On emerging from the pass, we looked down on the Guierre, so lately seen dashing from rock to rock, now gently gliding in a full and quiet stream through a rural plain, its waters giving motion to several mills romantically situ- ated on its banks. We continued to travel along a beautiful road bordered by pine-trees, occasionally deepening into thick woods, and traversed a bridge which crosses the Orbanne, a broad, rapid, and powerful river. From this bridge, a steep ascent leads to an elevated summit; and here, the eye rests on most enchanting scenery. The mountains of the pass which you have just left, stand high and dark in the outline, forming an imposing back- ground to the small, richly-cultivated valley spread d 240 CHAMBERS out below; while the bridge, far beneath, lies in one long, flat line, crossing the river, which is now seen winding its way in various bends, and gathering its tributary waters from the adjacent rocks.' * The country through which the remainder of the road to Chamberv lies, is sterile and unin- teresting ; but near that city, it opens and improves. Chambery stands in a fertile and well cultivated plain, near the confluence of the Orbanne (Alba- no, or D'Albans) with the Aysse (or L'Eysse,) which, rising in the high mountains to the west and south-west of Chambery, flows northward into the lake of B our get. The rapid melting of the snows on those mountains, has frequently occa- sioned such violent and sudden inundations of the river, as nearly to destroy the city.f To protect it against these floods, an immense stone embank- ment has been built, extending several miles, till it joins a low range of rock that projects into the valley. Chambery is supposed to represent the Lemin- mm of the Romans: a little village a few miles from the city, still bears the name of Lemenc. Another village, a mile and a half to the north- ward, is called Vieux Chambery. The present capital of the Dutchy, is of no very high antiquity. Mr. Simond describes it as 4 a small town, not old, not ugly, and rather clean, which is saying a * Bell's 1 Observations on Italy/ pp. 27—30. -j- Eight great inundations are on record, between the years 1348 and 1808. The most formidable occurred in 1550 and 1551, when the hospital of St. Francis and a great portion of the city walls were thrown down.CHAMBERY. 41 great deal, in a country where neither the works of man nor man himself are distinguished by out- ward advantages/ The population was estimated, in 1820, at about 10,000 ; it has since increased, and is now rated at upwards of 12,000. The walls of the town have been removed, and the space they occupied is laid out in gardens. The streets are gloomy and crowded, Mr. Bake well says ;* and none of the public buildings are worthy of notice, except the hospital of L*Hotel Dieu, the Caserne, or barracks, and the manufactory for silk gauzes, for which Chambery has long been celebrated. The palace is an old castle in no way remarkable. The churches exhibit an approach to the Italian or Spanish style of gaudy decoration; and here, the Protestant traveller is first met with the re- pulsive spectacle of the Virgin decked out in embroidered taffeta, with paste necklace and crown of roses. The church near the castle contains some good painted glass. Viewed from the hills on the side of Aix, Chambery appears to great advantage, almost environed with gentle eminences, covered with vineyards, pastures, and wood, while in the back- ground are seen extensive forests and lowering Alps. In the neighbourhood of the city is Les Charmeltes, once the residence of Madame de Warens and J. J. Rousseau. The house is the last in a retired and beautiful valley, which bears a striking resemblance, Mr. Bakewell says, to some of the wooded glens in Hertfordshire: the Jofty mountains in the neighbourhood are not seen * ' Broad, handsome, and lively,' savs Mr. Pennington. Journey, &c. vol. i. p. 245.42 CHAMBERA . in ascending the valley, and the character is truly English. Another object of interest in the neigh- bourhood of Chambery, is the cascade called Le Bout du Monde, formed by the Doria,* one of the branches of the Aysse, at the termination of a valley which has no outlet, being closed by a perpendicular wall of rock, over which the river throws itself. Were it in a more favourable situation, it would be a very striking object. Be- sides the grand cascade, the water has penetrated the horizontal strata of the rock, and formed numerous jets d'eau, which appear like the work of art. The mountains above the Bout du Monde, form part of the almost impassable barrier which sepa- rates from the rest of Savoy the district of Bauges, (formerly Boviles, i. e., the district of cattle,) con- taining thirteen communes, and about 10,000 in- habitants. Surrounded with a wall of calcareous mountains, it is accessible only through certain cols or mountain passes, which at certain seasons are entirely closed. The inhabitants are chiefly occu- pied with pastoral labours. Oats, barley, rice, and potatoes, however, are cultivated: they export a considerable quantity of butter and cheese. About five miles S. of Chambery, there is a very remarkable scene of physical ruin, called, Les Abymes de Myans, occasioned by one of those tremendous catastrophes to which, from the struc- ture of the rocks, this region is exposed. In the year 1248, a part of Mont Grenier (a moun- tain which terminates the chain extending from * Doria, a name common to many streams, is the Celtic dur, water, answering to the Greek vbup.ABYMES DK MY AN 5, 43 Grenoble to Aix) fell down, and entirely buried five parishes and the town and church of St. AndrtL* The ruins extend over a surface of about nine square miles, and present a singular soene of desolation. 4 The catastrophe,' Mr. Bakewell remarks, ' must have been most awful, when seen from the vicinity; for Mont Grenier is almost isolated, advancing into a broad plain, which extends to the valley of the Ist^re. It is several miles in length, and is connected with the mountains of the Grande Chartreuse; but it is very narrow. Its longitudinal direction is from E. to W. Near the middle, it makes a bend towards the north, forming a kind of bay or concavity on the southern side; and there is a corresponding convexity or projection on the northern side. It has been generally believed, that the part of the mountain which fell down, was from the middle, and that the eboulement formed the concavity on the southern side ; but the direction of the ruins, and the form of the mountain, indicate that it was the south-eastern side which fell. 1 Mont Grenier rises very abruptly upwards of 4000 feet above the plain. Like the mountains of Les Echelles, with which it is connected, it is capped, with an immense mass of limestone strata, not less than 600 feet in thickness, which presents on every side the appearance of a wall. The strata dip gently to the side which fell into the plain. This mass of limestone rests on a foundation of softer strata, probably molasse (soft sandstone). Under * The ancient chronicles do not inform, us whether the fall of the mountain was preceded by any forewarnings which allowed the inhabitants time to escape.44 ABYMES DE MYANS. this are distinctly seen thin strata, probably of limestone, alternating with soft strata. There can be little doubt, that the catastrophe was caused by the gradual erosion of the soft strata, which undermined the limestone above, and projected it into the plain. It is also probable, that the part which fell, had for some time been nearly detached from the mountain by a shrinking of the southern side ; as there is at present, a rent at this end, upwards of 2000 feet deep, which seems to have cut off a large section from the eastern end, that now 1 Hangs in doubtful ruins o'er its base,* as if prepared to renew the catastrophe of 1248. ' The Abymes de Mycins are hills (or rather monticules) of a conical shape, varying in height from twenty to thirty feet. Each of these monti- cules may be considered as a detached heap of ruins, composed of fragments of calcareous strata, some of which are of immense size. They have been projected to the distance of three and four miles from the mountain. The largest masses have evidently fallen from the upper bed of lime- stone with which Mont Grenier is capped. The velocity they would acquire by falling from so great a height, could not be less than 300 feet jper second ; and the projectile force they gained by striking against the base of the mountain, or against each other, has spread them far into the plain. In the course of years, the rains, or cur- rents of water from dissolving snows, have fur- rowed channels between the larger masses of stone, and, washing away part of the loose earth, have left the immense number of conical hills which areABYMES DE MYANS. 45 seen at present. The devastation stopped a little short of the church at Myans, dedicated to the Virgin; hence that church acquired great celebrity. But it may be seen, that the elevation of the ground assisted the efforts of the Virgin in arresting the calamity. St. Andrew could obtain no favour for his church or town, though it was one of great note in those days, being the ancient seat of the deanery of Savoy. Pilgrimages are now made to the church of N. Dame de Myans; and on the day of the festival of the Virgin, her shrine is visited by several thousand persons from distant parts of Savoy. 4 Notwithstanding that a great part of the Abymes de Myans is planted with vines, they still present a most impressive scene of wide spread- ing ruin, far exceeding in magnitude any of the eboulements that I saw elsewhere in Switzerland or Savoy. To form some idea of the quantity of matter that fell, if we calculate only what covered the part now called Lcs Abymes de Myans, the average depth of which cannot be estimated at less than six yards, spread over an extent of nearly nine square miles, this would amount to upwards of 150,000,000 cubic yards; and we may suppose an equal quantity of earth and smaller stones to have fallen near the foot of the mountain: these, together, would be more than 400,000,000 tons in weight. Such an immense quantity of matter precipitated from the height of three quarters of a mile into the plain, must have produced a shock inconceivably vast and awful.'* * BakeweJl, vol.i. pp. 195—202.—Mr. Simond mentions a mountain eboulement which has covered a couple of miles, D 516 AIX. Between nine and ten miles from Chambery, on the Geneva route, are the mineral waters of Aix les Bains, the Aquce Allobrogum and Aquce Gratiancd of the Romans. The road passes along the fertile valley of the river Aysse, which is the principal feeder of the Lake of Bourget; having on the west, the narrow and lofty ridge of the Montague du Chat, and on the east, the steep escarpement of the calcareous mountain called Chaparillon. The lake in front is concealed from view by a low range of wooded hills. Mr. Simond describes the ride from Chambery to Aix, as passing through one of the most beautiful coun- tries he ever saw. * The town of Aix has nothing but its baths to recommend it. It is built in a bottom, under a calcareous mountain (between 3000 and 4000 feet high), at the foot of which, two abundant sources of hot water spring up; and the place in summer is extremely close and hot, owing to its injudicious situation, and the quantity of warm water constantly running through the streets. Aix was formerly a walled town with three gates, but is now mean and inconsiderable. over which the road passes soon atter leaving S. Thibault de Coux, in a delightful little valley. ' This accident,' he says, ' happened about forty years ago.' (He travelled in 1817.) ."THE MAURIENNE. 65 Brockedon says, to attain the site of an old tower, and look over the little plain and the course of the Arc below. Soon after passing Modane, the road becomes so steep as to require additional horses; rising high above the bed of the river, to skirt the moun- tain of Bramante, under a dense forest of pines. The scenery here assumes a savage wildness. The road is terraced over a gulf of frightful depth; on the opposite brink of which, overhanging the ravine, the fort of Lesseillon rises in a formidable succession of ramparts which command the pas- sage : some defensive works are also constructed on the road side. A little beyond, the fort com- municates with the high road, by a bridge thrown across the gulf at a fearful height above the torrent. Beyond Bramante, the country becomes more sterile, and the stunted corn scarcely repays the labour of the husbandman. At Termignon,* the straight valley through which the Aisse de- scends from its source in the Vanoise, is abruptly left; and the road continues, by a zig-zag ascent on the right bank of the Arc, through a glen which extends from Termignon to Lans-le-bourg, the last town in Savoy, at the foot of the passage over Mont Cenis. The inhabitants of Lans-le-bourg, from time immemorial, were inkeepers, muleteers, and car- riers, whose entire occupation it was, to convey passengers and merchandise across the mountain, under the regulation of a syndic appointed by the * Near La Verney (before the traveller reaches Termignon), a short distance from the road, is the double cascade of St. Benoit, ' one of the finest waterfalls in the Alps.' £ 366 MONT CENIS. Government. Carriages were here taken to pieces, and conveyed to La Novalese on the backs of mules, while the traveller proceeded thither in a chaise a porteur,—a sort of sedan, borne by eight porters: the passage occupied about four hours. Their occupation is now gone, the fine new road having rendered their services unnecessary. Some of them, however, still find occasional employment as cantonniers, to assist those who are regularly appointed by the Sardinian Government to keep the road in order by removing the new-fallen snow. Near the Hotel Royal (an excellent inn built by order of Napoleon) a barrack has been built, ca- pable of accommodating 3000 men. This, to- gether with the appointments on the plain of the Cenis, gives to the pass a military character. A bridge, close to the Caserne, is thrown over the Arc; and the road, leaving that stream,* winds up the mountain by a succession of finely-con- structed ramparts or galleries. The traveller as- cends with ease at a rapid pace, as the road from Lans-le-bourg to the summit of the pass, rises at the rate of only one foot in fifteen; and it is not till he has proceeded about two miles, that he reaches a point where he suddenly perceives that he has ascended a complete precipice. * The course of the river Arc is from Mont Iseran, where it rises; and at the foot of Mont Cenis, Mr. Brockedon says, in the valley of the Arc, there is nothing to indicate a passage over this mountain. Mr. Bell, on leaving Lans-le- bourg, ' crossed the Soliglia on a low bridge, and proceeded by the course of this stream, rapid and furious as the Arco.' The floods seem to have rendered this detour from the direct road necessary. The Soliglia is a mere gutter, and is not crossed in ascending by the new road, as it falls into the Arc below the bridge of Lans-le-bourg.MONT CENIS. 67 Not far from the highest point, is a place called La Ramasse, from which, during the winter, be- fore the new road was made, venturous travellers coming from Piedmont were accustomed to slide directly down the snow-covered steep to Lans-le- bourg, in a sledge guided by a mountaineer ; per- forming the distance of two leagues in seven minutes. The practice of descending en traineau, is still in use in winter; but the velocity of the descent over the new road is of course consider- ably less ; and with the danger, the ze$t of the fearful amusement is proportionably diminished.* The highest point of the pass is 67 8 metres (about 2250 feet) above Lans-le-bourg, and 2100 metres (6773 feet) above the level of the sea.f From this elevation, the road descends to the plain of the Cenis, which extends two leagues in length, encircled with the loftiest peaks of Cenis, covered with perpetual snow. In the centre of the plain expands a broad lake, reported to be unfathomable, and famed for its delicious trout. This lake is 6280 feet above the sea, while the highest summit of Mont Cenis (Rock St. Michel) attains an elevation of 11,460 feet. During six months of the year, the lake is frozen, and the * They tell a story of an Englishman who staid eight days at Lans-le-bourg, for the express purpose of risking his neck three times a day in this amusement, or, as they express it, of being ramasse tous les jours. The slide down the Cuesta de Concual in the cordillera of the Andes, is performed by the peons with the help of only their staff. See Brand's Voyage to Peru, p. 96—161. f M. Brun, vol. vi. p. 29. Bell, p. 37. Brockedon, p. 8. The elevation above the sea is stated bv Mr. Bell to be 1077 toises; Mrs. Starke says, 5898 feet.68 AlONT cenis. peasants drive their herds across it. On the side of the road are seen the houses of refuge erected to shelter the traveller who may be so unfortunate as to be overtaken by fog or a snow-storm in tra- versing this plain,when he might otherwise perish in the snow, or be driven by the furious blasts into the depths below. Posts (in the form of crosses, to prevent their being stolen for firewood) are placed at intervals, to indicate the road in the winter snows. The numerous buildings on the plain suggest the idea of a larger com- munity than is actually to be found there, and somewhat relieve the extreme dreariness of the scene. Besides these houses of refuge, are seen the post-house, the inn, the hospice with its church, the barracks, and a station for the carabineers who examine the passports. These establishments are abundantly provided with ex- cellent wines, bread, and meat, with fish from the lake, and, during the season, grouse from the mountain. The intercourse with the plains of Piedmont is so constant, that fruits, fresh and delicious, are found at the inn. Persons being encouraged to reside on the mountain by ex- emption from the taxes, it is anticipated that the inhabitants of Cenis will become as numerous as those of Lans-le-bourg. Already the build- ings form a little hamlet about half a mile from the lake, to which has been given the name of Tavernettes, as most of the houses receive travellers. From the Grand Croix at the extremity of the plain of the Cenis, the road winds down in terraces to the little plain of S. Nicolo, in the middle ofMONT CENIS. 69 which is the barrier of Piedmont, where a custom- house is established. Formerly, the road, after crossing a torrent, skirted the mountains on the southern side of the plain, and passed through a gallery cut in the rock. There was also a covered way, strongly built, to guard the traveller against the avalanches which frequently fall from the mountain on this side, and which have actually worn it smooth. But against'these, the power of man could provide no effectual security. Dread- ful accidents occurred; the avalanches crushed the covered way ; and it was at length determined to form the present line of road, which is perfectly exempt from danger with respect to the avalan- ches, but lies close to the brink of precipices, and is therefore not safe, either in the dark or after heavy snow-storms, without a guide. The bridge across the torrent, which led to the gallery, has been destroyed, lest travellers should be tempted to take that as the shortest route. The difficulty of constructing the carriage road, was much greater on the Piedmontese side ; and in several places, it has been necessary to excavate the galleries in the hard and almost precipitous granite rock. On the Savoy side, the road runs over a soft lime- stone. Soon after entering Piedmont, the road winds round the side of the mountain which overhangs the deep valley of Novalese ; and near a turn leading to the hamlet of Bart, the traveller looks down upon the miserable village of La Ferri&re. The old route must have been a fearful one, judg- ing from the ruggedness and steepness of the de- clivity. The new road descends gradually, follow-70 SUSA. ing the sinuosities of the mountain. From La Molaret (or Molaretto), the view of the valley is very striking from its extent, although not of a picturesque character. The line of the old road may be traced from La Ferrifcre to Susa; and on the opposite side of the valley, the enormous mountain of Roche Melon shuts out from view the plains of Italy. * Soon after leaving La Mo- laret, however, near St. Martin's, the valley of the Doria opens, and the scene terminates in the plains beyond Turin. From St. Martin's, the route winds along the borders of a precipice with a descent so gentle, and over a road so admirably constructed and defended by parapets, that the traveller pro- ceeds without any sense of danger. A part of the road above the village of Yenaus, is exposed to avalanches; but accidents can scarcely happen, unless the traveller is imprudently venturesome. Before arriving at Susa, even in the combe of * 4 The vast mountain called the Roche Melon, which bounds the eastern side of the valley of Novalese, rises 9500 feet above Susa, and formerly had on its summit tlie little chapel of Notre Dame des Neiges, which contained an image of the Virgin held in great veneration, to which a pilgrimage was annually made in the month of August, from Susa and its environs. But the path which led to this chapel was so dangerous, that fatal accidents frequently happened, and the lives of many were sacrificed to their devotion. Unable to breathe in an air so rare, they fell over such dreadful pre- cipices, that, to use the language of the Rector of Mont Cenis to Saussure, " Ccux qui tomboient la etoient tellement hrises, que V or eille etoit la plus grande piece de leurs corps qui demeurat dans son entier /" These dangerous pilgri- mages are now discontinued: and the revered image, the object of this devotion in high places, has been transferred to Susa.'—Brockedon's Illustrations.SUSA. 71 Giaglione, the traveller is sensible of his approach to Italy. Beneath him lie the valley of the Doria and the plains of Piedmont; and the fore-ground of this beautiful landscape is rich with the foliage of chestnut and walnut trees, vines, and other pro- ductions of a fertile soil. The road is lined with fine aged trees $ and at every turn, the little city of Susa, with its surrounding rocks and ancient castle, is presented anew through arches of far- spreading boughs. The Doria-Riparia (the Duria Minor of Strabo), which has its source on Mount Genevre, comes dashing and foaming among the rocks, and, passing through Susa, seeks its way along the plains below. The approach to the city is by a narrow gorge. Upon # hill which com- mands it, stands the castle called Fort La Bru- nette ; once considered as one of the strongest fortresses in Europe, and guarding both the roads to the Cenis and the Genevre.* It was dis- mantled by the French, but has been again put in repair by the present King. Below this, through an opening in the rocks, you enter by a military gate, where passports were formerly required ; but it is no longer a frontier. Susa, the ancient Segusio, the capital of Pied- mont under its marquesses, was formerly called the Key of Italy; and the possession of this fron- tier town was deemed of great importance under the old military tactics. In 1704, it was taken by * It was in failing to attain this post, that the celebrated Mareschal de Belleisle, in 1747, met with so many disasters. In its days of power, it was so cautiously watched, that a stranger, on being observed to stop and look at it for a mo- ment,/was ordered to pass on.72 SUSA.. the Duke de Feuillade, who demolished the citadel with its other fortifications. It is a small, clean- looking town, containing about 4000 inhabitants, who consist chiefly of priests, soldiers, and beggars. The houses are adorned with balconies in the Spanish fashion ; and the walls even of the meanest buildings are adorned with pious frescoes, some of them ancient and not ill executed. Alto gether, the place has a striking appearance; and its situation, surrounded with noble crags, is highly romantic.* The cathedral is an old build- ing, raised upon the ruins of some vast Roman edifice. Among the vestiges of its ancient im- portance, is the triumphal arch raised by Cottius in honour of Augustus, on the route leading to Mont Gen^vre.f It stands in the garden belong- * In the mountains on one side, is found the famous marble called Vert de Suse. + ( Cottius was an Alpine chieftain, who held a kind of sovereignty over several valleys in these mountains. It appears to have been hereditary, as we hear also of king Donnus, his father. Cottius is represented as lurking in the fastnesses of his Alps, and even defying the power of Rome, till Augustus thought it worth while to conciliate him with the title of prefect. Claudius, however, restored to him the title of king. Under Nero, the Cottian Alps became a Roman province. The extent of the territory which Cottius possessed, cannot now be easity defined; for, though all the people which composed his dominions are enumerated in the inscription of the arch at S usa, many of them remain un- known. Enough, however, of them is known to make it appear, that the territory of Cottius extended much further on the side of Gaul, than that of Italy. In Gaul, he seems to have held under him all the eastern part of Dauphine, and the north-eastern portion of Provence. The great road over the A/pis Cottia (Mount Genevre), which finally became the most frequented passage between those two countries, wasSUSA. 73 ing to the governor of the city, and is in a perfect state, having been recently repaired. By the gate of Savoy is a very antique tower, which was also, probably, built by the Romans. On leaving Susa, the road crosses the Cenisella, a stream which descends from the Cenis, and flows into the Doria. That river is passed at Busolino, whence it flows to the left of the road, until it reaches the Po below Turin. Among the feudal remains which the traveller passes in the valley of the Doria, below Susa, are those of the picturesque chateau of S. Jorio. But the most extraordinary ruins in this valley are those of the magnificent monastery of San Michel, perched on the Monte Pirchiriano, above St. Am- brogio. This singular hill, rising in the narrowest part of the valley, its pinnacle crowned with the monastery, forms a very striking feature in the landscape from the pass above Susa. The diffi culty of erecting such an edifice in such a situation, must have been very great. It requires an hour and a half to reach its site. When attained, the mass of ruins appears enormous. There are many ancient tombs of the monks. Some of them are open, and the bodies are seen in a dry state, like the mummies of the Guanches. On one of its towers, there was, till lately, a telegraph belonging to a series which communicated between Paris and Milan. The view it commands, is described as principally constructed by Cottius, and led through the heart of his principality, the valleys of the Doria and the Durance. Segusio (Susa) was his capital, if we may judge from the inscription, and from the circumstance of his being buried there.'—Cramer's Ancient Italy, vol. i. pp. 33, 4. VOL. I. F74 SUSA. magnificent, extending from the vast ramparts of the Cenis, through the lower valley of the Doria, which winds beneath the monastery, to Turin, the Monte Superga, and the extensive plains which, beyond them, melt into the horizon. The founder of this once splendid establishment was a certain Hugues de D^cousu, who, to expiate some crime he had committed, performed a pilgrimage to Rome, obtained absolution of the Pope, and, on his return, built this edifice in fulfilment of his vow of gratitude. Privileges were conferred upon the new establishment by Pope Sylvester (Sylverius ?); and it soon became, under the rules of St. Bene- dict, so celebrated for its splendour and power, that its abbots boasted of having founded or re- stored 140 churches and rich abbeys in France and Italy.* From Ambrogio, the road passes through Avigliana to Rivoli, finely situated on a hill at the opening of the great valley of the Po, and commanding a most magnificent prospect in both directions. Here is a chateau belonging to his Sardinian Majesty, the only grandeur of which, however, is derived from its noble situation. Mr. Bell describes it as 4 a coarse, bulky brick house, as like a cotton-mill as a palace.'f A splendid avenue two leagues in length, extends in a direct * Mr. Brockedon, from whom we borrow these details, has given a view of the monastery as seen from St. Ambrogio. Saussure and Millin both describe their visit to the ruins; and the latter has given an interesting sketch of its history. t 'Partly unfinished and part.y in ruins,' says Lady Morgan, ' it epitomizes Italian villas royal and noble, being vast, desolate, dreary, and neglected.'mont cenis. 75 line from Riyoli to Turin. Before, however, we enter this 4 charming little city,' we must notice the other passes which have been referred to, as leading from Savoy into Piedmont, premising a few observations respecting the grand pass of Mont Cenis, which has now been traced. Although this has been, for ages, the most fre- quented passage of the Alps between France and Italy, there is no certain evidence that it was known to the ancient Romans. Neither in the 4 Antonine Itinerary,' nor in the ' Theodosian Tables/ is there any mention of the Cenis; and those writers" who have represented the passage of the Cenis as the route of a Roman army, have confounded this pass with that over Mont GentSvre, which meets it at Susa, terminating at the arch of Cottius. The historians of Charle- magne are the first writers who name the Cenis; and they relate, that Pepin crossed this mountain to attack Astolphus, king of the Lombards, and to assist Pope Stephen III. Charlemagne often crossed the Cenis during his wars with the Lom- bards ; and his son, Louis le Debonnaire, is re- ported to have been the founder of the hospice on its summit. From this period, the pass appears to have become the usual route for travellers from France into Italy ; and frequent mention is made of it in the military annals of Piedmont. That it should not have been so early known or adopted as that over the Cottian Alps, admits of satisfac- tory explanation. ' In seeking a passage across the Alps,' Mr. Brockedon remarks, ' the general and most obvious course seems to have been, to ascend the valleys and courses of rivers on f 276 MONT CENIS. one side, and descend by the nearest valley on the other. The Cenis, on the side of Lans-le- bourg, offers no valley to explore ; for the course of the river Arc is from Mont Iseran. There is no doubt that the pass of the little Mont Cenis, from Bramante to Exilles, and that of the Col de la Rue, from Modane to Bardonneche and Oulx, were known very long before the present pass of the Cenis ; but both those passes have valleys descending to the Arc, which would tempt the traveller to explore them. The latter, Mons Rudus, seems to have been one of the routes adopted by Julius Caesar, when he crossed the Alps to suppress the inroad of the Helvetii; and troops often crossed by these passes during the wars of France and Savoy. It may be said, that the ascent to thb Mont Cenis might have been made by the course of the river Cenisella, which offers on the Italian side the usual appearance of a passage. It must be considered, (however,) that the Alps were not explored by the Italians, but by their invaders, the Gauls, who poured their hordes into the fertile country of Italy, to luxuriate in a soil which claimed from them less labour as a recom- pense for its enjoyment.'* But it was reserved for the Emperor Napoleon, to make the pass over Mont Cenis practi- * Brockedon, N°. iii. p. 14. From a passage cited from Simler's De Atpibus Commentarius, it appears, that the name of the mountain was written by some, Cinisium ; by others, Cinerum. That writer describes it under the name of Mount Dionysius, which name it derived, he says, from an idol of the Gauls, who was worshipped in the valley Morienna. The Italian name is Monte Cenisio.MONT CENIS. 77 cable at all seasons of the year; and with this road, as well as that of the Simplon, his name will ever be honourably associated. ' In 1802, the First Consul decided upon opening a com- munication by a grand route between the Mau- rienne and Piedmont; and after a careful survey of the different cols which lead from one of these countries to the other, that of the great Mont Cenis was chosen. In 1803, the works of the new road were begun; and they were so far completed in 1810, that, during that year, 2911 carriages, 14,037 carts and waggons, and 37,255 horses and mules traversed the mountain. Not more than five months of effective labour could be accomplished in a year. * Generally, the works began about the middle of May, and ended in the beginning of October. The expense of these astonishing works has been estimated at 7,460,000 francs (nearly 300,000/. sterling). From Lans-le- bourg to Susa, about nine posts and a half, this magnificent road is everywhere thirty feet wide, and so easy of ascent on either side of the moun- tain, that, from Susa to the plain of the Cenis, the journey can be accomplished in four hours in a carriage, and from Lans-le-bourg to the Taver- nettes, in little more than half that time.'f The establishment of the (twenty-six) houses of refuge * This statement will explain the marvellous story re- ported by Mrs. Starke, that the new route was formed in Jive months, by the aid of 3000 workmen. f After heavy falls of snow, Mrs. Starke says, carriages are sometimes from six to seven hours in ascending on the Savoy side, and from four to five hours in descending on the side of Piedmont. But it has been crossed in eight hours, even in winter, by traineanx.78 MONT CENIS. along the line of road, in the most elevated and exposed parts of the route, renders the passage safe even in winter. They are provided with bells, which, during the prevalence of fogs, are rung to guide the traveller from one refuge to another. These little inns are tenanted by the cantonniers whose business it is to keep the road in good con- dition. The number instituted by Napoleon has been reduced by the King of Sardinia; but there are still kept up two companies, amounting to about fifty men $ and to defray the expense of the establishment, and of the hospice, a toll is levied upon every carriage, horse, or mule that passes over Cenis.* The pass of the Mont Gen£vre, which meets that of the Cenis at Susa, leads from Cesanne, the frontier village of Piedmont in that direction, to Brian^n in Dauphiny. Prior to 1802, the only road was a mule-path. In that year, the present road was begun by the communes of the Brian^onnais ; and it was opened on the 12th of April, 1804. To commemorate the event, an obelisk sixty-five feet high was raised in 1807, on the highest point of the pass, on the line of demarcation between France and Piedmont, bearing inscriptions which were destroyed by the Austro-Sardinian army in 1817. This road was named by Napoleon, la route 1 rary.124 CHARACTER AND MANNERS the Dukes of Savoy, is now a considerable silk- manufactory. There is a foot-path across the mountains from Faverge to L'Hopital, which is only about seven miles distant in a direct line. The carriage road makes a long detour round the mountain, so that it is a journey of six hours. About three miles from Faverge, it crosses a low col or pass, which divides the basin of the Lake of Annecy from that of the Isere. Near the village of Marlens, it winds through a valley covered, by an eboulement, with blocks of dark slate- rock. It then passes through the town of Ugine, beyond which it descends rapidly to the river Arley, which waters the upper part of the great Valley of Savoy. The vale of the Arley resembles, Mr. Bakewell says, the most picturesque valleys in Cumberland and Westmorland, but on a grander scale. Of the peasantry in this part of Savoy, this Traveller, who passed some weeks at Chateau Duing, gives a favourable character. Though generally poor, yet, as the land is much divided, most of them possess a little plot of ground suffi- cient to supply their families with potatoes, which is their principal food. This gives them a feeling of equality and independence among themselves ; and they are courteous and communicative to strangers, without being obtrusive, like the in- habitants of Chamounix, who have been spoiled by the influx of visiters, and who follow the stranger everywhere, begging, under the pretence of offer- ing fruit, flowers, or milk.* The numerous little * This is not peculiar to Chamounix. Begging has spread among the Swiss peasantry, whom Mr. Latrobe, in hi aOF THE SAVOYARDS. 125 flocks and herds are tended chiefly oy women or girls, who are always seen busily employed, either knitting, plaiting straw, or spinning wool or flax with the primitive distaff. Nothing can be more picturesque than the pastoral groupes which are seen winding down among the rocks, when they are conducting home the flocks in the evening. Almost every article of dress worn by the peasant, is of domestic manufacture. The wool of their sheep is dressed and spun by themselves, and woven by the village weaver. Black sheep are very common in Savoy, and, by mixing the black and white wool, a greyish-brown cloth is produced, which saves the expense of dyeing. The flax is also dressed and spun by themselves, and woven in the neighbourhood. Itinerant tailors and shoemakers make the clothes and shoes of the peasantry under their own roofs, as waa the prac- tice in some districts of England in the last century. The walnut is the olive of the country, supplying the inhabitants with oil, not only for home con- sumption, but also for exportation to Geneva and France. The kernels are crushed by a mill, into a paste, which afterwards undergoes the operation of pressing, to extract the oil. The best oil, which is used for salads and cooking, is pressed cold; but an inferior oil, for lamps, is extracted by heat- ing the paste. Sixty pounds of the paste yield interesting sketches entitled ' The Alpenstock,' charges with ' abusing the beautiful flowers of their mountains, and the old and simple customs of their forefathers,' by making them ( the excuse for an idle life, and desire after the batzen of the stranger.'126 CHARACTER AND MANNERS about fifteen wine quarts of oil. The paste, after it is pressed, is dried in cakes, called pain amer, which is eaten by children and poor people. The walnut-shells are frugally burned for the ashes, which are used in washing; but the alkali is so caustic as frequently to injure the linen. The Savoyards are far more devout than their neighbours the French; and 4 if a Roman Catholic wished to shew his religion under its most attrac- tive form,' Mr. Bakewell says, 1 he should lead us to the remote villages of Savoy/ The influence and authority of the cures, are very considerable; and they are for the most part of exemplary cha- racter. The priest of the village is the only schoolmaster, and teaches the children of the peasantry to read without any remuneration. Though the church service is of course performed in Latin, the sermon and the examinations in the catechism are always in French, and are delivered in a familiar style, adapted to the capacities of the audience. Most of the congregation at Duing were able to read, and made use of French prayer- books. The men stood near the altar, and assisted in chanting, and in other parts of the service; the women sat on benches in the middle of the church; and all had the appearance of great seriousness and devotion. The Savoyard, before going to his labour, generally visits the church, if it be near, to offer up his orisons. And in short, if this Traveller's account be applicable to the general character of the people, their ex- emplary discharge of religious duties, condemns, and might shame, the professors of a purer worship and more enlightened creed. The natives of theseOF THE SAVOYARDS. 127 parts are at the same time lively, loquacious, and fond of noisy mirth. They are well made, and their features are frequently handsome and rather delicate; but, owing to poverty and deficient nourishment, they have a sallow complexion and a famished look; and as age advances, the poor become pitiable objects. The abolition of the monasteries has left them no refuge or resource.* From Annecy, a new and very fine road leads to Bonneville, the capital of the Faucigny, through which the tourist must pass in his way to the far- famed Vale of Chamounix. There is a more direct road from Geneva to Bonneville, along the valley of the Arve. A description of this route will close our account of Savoy. On leaving Geneva, Mont Blanc and some of the Aiguilles of Chamounix are seen towering over the intervening mountains; but they soon disappear, and are not seen again till the traveller reaches St. Martin, a distance of forty miles, after a drive of seven hours and a half. At the village of Ch&sne, half a league from Geneva,f the tra- veller enters Savoy ; and beyond the Pont de Menage, thrown over a torrent which rises at the base of the Voirons, and joins the Arve, the road approaches the latter river. An extensive view of its valley is obtained near the village of Contamine, bounded by the bare and broken summits of Mount Brezon. Beyond that village, the road passes near the towering ruins of the Castle of Faucigny, and at the end of four leagues over a beautiful * Bakewell, vol. i. pp. 70—89. + At this village, the accomplished Historian of the Italian Republics, M. Sismondi, has fixed his residence128 VALLEY OF THE ARVE. country, enters Bonneville, by a fine avenue of elms. This town, situated in the midst of a wide and well cultivated plain, and containing about 1200 inhabitants, is much better built than most ;>f the towns in Savoy. The market-place and main streets are very broad, and the houses in the environs are surrounded with gardens and planta- tions. The valley of the Arve continues wide till near the town of Cluse, where the dark limestone rocks advance upon the river, leaving but a narrow passage for the road. This little town is quite entombed in mountains. The defile beyond is narrow and winding, presenting some scenes of striking beauty. At length it widens, and spreads before the eye the picturesque beech-groves of Maghlans, scattered in some meadows of a broken or waving surface, edging the Arve, while enor- mous rocks of fantastic shape tower on all sides through the foliage. A waterfall called the Nant £Orli* showers down from one of the rocks. About three quarters of a league beyond Magh- lans, on the left, is a fine cascade called the Nant dHArpcnas, more remarkable, however, for its height than for its beauty. It falls over a broad face of naked rock, very curiously stratified, 858 feet above the road. The Cavera of Balme is another object pointed out to th3 notice of tra- vellers ; but it will scarcely repay for the labour of the ascent, Mr, Bakewell says, any one who has seen the caverns in Derbyshire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. In advancing towards Sal- lenches, the road passes through the lower part of the great calcareous formations of Savoy, which * Nant signifies a brook or rill, in Welsh.BATHS OF ST. GERVAISE. 129 consists of a vast thickness of a dark argillaceous limestone, alternating with thicker beds of grey limestone. Near St. Martin, beds of dark, bitu- minous and argillaceous schist make their appear- ance under the Aiguille de Varens on the left. The river here turns more westwardly, and the valley opens out to a great width, while Mont Blanc bursts upon the view, filling up a large space of the southern horizon. At St. Martin, which is furnished with a good inn, (the Hotel de Mont Blanc,) travellers who are proceeding to Chamounix, usually sleep; and here they must leave their carriage and horses, as the remainder of the route can be accomplished only on foot, on a mule, or by a char-d-banc. Imme- diately opposite to St. Martin, is the town of Sallenches, seated near a noisy torrent, under an eminence called Mont Rosset, from which a fine view is obtained of the surrounding scenery. From Sallenches, a road leads along the valley of the Arve, leaving the river on the left, to the Baths of St. Gervaise, which have, within a few years, attracted strangers from distant parts of Europe, by the fame of their medicinal virtues. The town of St. Gervaise is situated on an eminence at the entrance of the mountain valley of Mont Joy or Jovet (anciently Mons Jovis), along which there is a mule path, that conducts over the Col de Bon Homme and the Col de Seigne, to Courmayeur in Piedmont, descending under the southern escarpe- rnents of Mont Blanc. The passage of the Col de Bon Homme and the valleys leading down to Scez in the Tarentaise, were in the line of march of Henri Arnaud and his 800 brethren on their130 BATHS OF ST. GERVAISE bold and romantic return from the Pays de Vaud, for the 4 glorious recovery' of their native valleys in the Cottian Alps, in August 16S9* The Baths of St. Gervaise are situated in a deep ravine below the town, about half a mile in length, and 300 yards in width at its entrance ; but it narrows as you advance, and terminates in the bed of an impetuous cataract. The baths are a little below the torrent, which, as it descends into the ravine, forms a cascade. On the rocks which overhang the ravine, are a few pine-trees, which rather add to the melancholy of the scene. The valley is constantly damp, from the vapour of the hot springs and the mist from the cataract, even in the middle of summer. A long, low wooden * An adventurous pedestrian traveller, Mr. Latrobe, has given us a description of this route in his f Alpenstock' After crossing the valley in which Scez lies, he entered a ra- vine running up for miles into the heart of the mountain, be- tween vast and bare precipices of rock. In about four hours, he reached the little cluster of chalets that bears the name of Chapui. The last league and a half of this defile presents 1 one of the most marked scenes of that awful and mingled devastation so common among these towering mountains, caused by the triple agency of avalanches, the fall of rocks, and torrents.' A mere track, often scarcely perceptible, led up from this ch&let to the ridge, where a pole fixed in the rock announced to the traveller that he had gained the highest point of the Col de Bon Homme, 8030 feet above the sea. The descent of the mountain to the north, is craggy and broken, but not dangerous. After a succession of al- ternate plains and steep declivities, the Author reached the village of Contamines at the northern foot of the pass, whence he proceeded to Sallenche.—Alpenstock, pp. 294— 301. Mr. Latrobe's narrative sufficiently exposes, however, the imprudence of venturing on these doubtful and perilous tracks, without a guide.VALLEY OF SERVOZ. 131 house, with small windows, facing the entrance of this gloomy ravine, its interior resembling the cabin of a man of war, is the only boarding-house. Health, and not pleasure, must be the inducement for remaining in such a place. The waters have all the qualities of the Harrowgate in full strength, with nearly the temperature of those of Bath. The spring issues from the bottom of the rock behind the house, and supplies five or six baths, but is not nearly so abundant as either of the springs at Aix.* The mountains which tower on the traveller's left, from Cluse to St. Martin, terminate there towards the south, but extend eastward to Servoz, and thence to the mountain called the Buet. They vary in elevation from 7000 to 10,000 feet, and are capped with strata of limestone, which form mural precipices of vast height, resting upon a dark argillaceous schist. The Buet, a mountain nearly 10,000 feet high, is said to command the finest view in Savoy ; and its ascent is considerably shorter and less perilous than that of Mont Blanc. From St. Martin to Servoz, the road is rugged, being much cut up by torrents, and the aspect of the valley is wild and gloomy. A Roman paved road, considerably above the present one, was car- ried along the sides of the mountains, the remains of which are still to be seen. It led from the country of the Centrones in the Tarentaise, into the Valais. A village above the road, called Passy, is supposed to occupy the site of the an- cient Vatiscum, mentioned by Pliny as in the country of the Centrones. Roman antiquities and * Bakewell, vol. i., pp. 340—343.132 VALLEY OF SERVOZ. votive inscriptions have been found there; and among them, a large gold medal of Trajan. The hill on which Passy stands, is under the Aiguille de Varens. It slopes down to the south, and is planted with vines and fruit-trees, which, owing to their sheltered situation, flourish here even in the face of the eternal snows of Mont Blanc. These are nearly the last vines in the valley, which produce what the inhabitants call good wine. About three miles from St. Martin is 4 the magnificent cascade of Chede,' which, Mr. Bake- well thinks, has been much too highly praised; and the same may be said, he adds, of the small lake of Chede, a mile beyond. The most dan- gerous part of the road, which is here carried at a considerable height above the valley , is the passage of the wide and deep ravine of the Nant Noir, a dark mountain torrent. The ravine is partly filled up with masses of rock that have fallen from the mountains above, and this spot has been the scene of many fatal accidents. From this place, the road descends to Servoz, situated in a deep part of the valley, once covered by the lake of St. Michel, which took its name from the castle so called, built on an eminence to the left. According to tradition, this lake was suddenly emptied by the breaking down of a rock which formed its western barrier, at a place now called Pertrui. The an- cient town of Diouza (Dionysia), which was situated in the plain below Passy, is stated to have been buried under a heap of sand and gravel by the inundation. The mountains on the north of Servoz, seem to menace the town and valleyVALLEY OF SERVOZ. 133 with destruction. Frequent eboulements, indeed, have taken place ; * and a deep excavation under one of the mural precipices above the valley, threatens the repetition of a similar catastrophe at no very distant period. The limestone rock here abounds in marine organic remains. Servoz is a small village containing a solitary inn of humble pretensions, where, however, good honey, coffee, and eggs may be procured. A stream of the same name is crossed beyond the village; and for about two miles, to Pont Pelissier, the road lies along the deep valley of the Arve. The bridge called Pont Pelissier, crosses the river a little below the spot where it issues from one of the most striking gorges in the Alps. On the eastern side rise, to an amazing height, the nearly perpendicular faces of slate rocks, their base and summits ornamented with pines, while on the * The most considerable on record is that of 1751. 1 It commenced on a Sunday, when the inhabitants were at church, and continued many days, during which time the air was darkened with immense volumes of black dust, that was at first supposed to be smoke. This dust extended as far as the Priory of Chamouny, and is remembered by some of the oldest inhabitants. A continued succession of reports, like those of the loudest thunder, or peals of artillery, an- nounced the constant falling of the rocks night and day; but the scene was obscured by the dust. The quantity of fragments which fell, was far less than what fell from Mont Grenier (see page 42); nor was the loss of cattle or of human lives great, considering the extent and duration of this eboulement'—Bakewell, vol. i, p. 356. This eboulement was in part witnessed by the Italian naturalist, Donati. Mr. Simond conceives it to have been like the sinking of the under cliff' on the south side of the Isle of Wight, but of much greater extent. The chaos of black slaty fragments extends for several miles. VOL. I. ' I134 CHAMOUNIX. western side is a granitic mountain, over which the road is carried. The river rushes below, a large and impetuous torrent. And towering over the whole, the snows of Mont Blanc are seen in dazzling whiteness, beautifully relieved by the dark-blue sky. Although a part only of that mountain is visible from Pont Pelissier, no where does it present, in the approach to Chamounix, a view comparable in grandeur or beauty to this. The montee (rise) from this bridge, is very steep, and is generally ascended on foot. Boys with long mountain horns lie in wait to waken the echoes in the ravine, and elicit money from the pockets of travellers. The granitic rock of this ridge which separates the valley of Servoz from that of Chamounix, is a remarkable compound of rose- coloured quartz, with a yellowish white feldspar. The Arve passes through this ridge, and is heard raging at the bottom of an abyss. On the summit of the rocks which overhang the ravine on the east, are seen a few cottages, which, during winter, are cut off from all intercourse with any other villages; and the condition of the inha- bitants can be, for the time, little better than that of the natives of Kamschatka. Their stock of fuel and provisions for themselves and cattle, are all brought under their roofs at the commencement of the cold weather. In summer, however, this is a sweet spot. In descending to the valley of Chamounix, a rivulet is passed, which in dry wea- ther scarcely attracts notice ; but a few hours rain converts it into a powerful stream; and in this torrent, the father of Dr. Pacard of Chamounix, who first ascended Mont Blanc, was drowned inCHAMOUNIX. 135 attempting to cross it to visit a patient. The road soon afterwards, turning to the east, enters the far-famed valley through which the Arve first es- capes from the glaciers of Mont Blanc. The Valley of Chamounix * is, according to Mr. Bakewell, twelve miles in length,t and in most parts, exceeds a mile in breadth at the bottom; but, owing to the vast height of the mountains which bound it on each side, the appa- rent dimensions are greatly reduced. Mr. Simond compares it to a street between the splendid, edifices reared by Nature's hand on each side, of which, owing to the comparative narrowness of the interval, little more is seen than the ground- floor. The pines and larches which clothe the lower parts of the mountains, give a sombre ap- pearance to the western end of the valley; and this effect is increased by the unvaried snows of Mont Blanc, which hang over it. But, after passing the Priory of Chamounix, the scene changes, and to this dreary magnificence succeeds a series of majestic pyramids, called Aiguilles, or needles, of astonishing height, and too steep to admit of the snows resting upon them at any season. The most pleasing as well as the most magnificent part of the valley, Mr. Bakewell says, lies between the Priory and the village of Argentine. It is no longer under the dreary and solemn shade of Mont Blanc; the valley, which becomes narrower, * This name is said to be derived from the old Latin name, Campus Munitus, champ-muni. f By others, its length is stated at fifteen and eighteen miles. It contains three parishes,—St. Joire, PrieurS, and Argentine, with a population of about 1500 souls.136 CHAMOttNlX. is richly ornamented with trees; and the Arve, rushing between finely clothed rocks and preci- pices, adds life and beauty to the scene. The little village of Argentiere, with its church and glittering spire, and the two Aiguilles above it, together with the cheerful appearance of cultiva- tion, form a landscape sublimely picturesque. What constitutes the chief interest of Chamou- nix, however, are the numerous glaciers which descend from Mont Blanc and the mountains on the south, to the very bottom of the valley. No where else in the Alps are they of equal magni- tude, or approach so far into the regions of culti- vation. Tne glaciers in the Bernese Oberland are not to be compared with them. Description must fail to convey an adequate idea of these stu- pendous 4 ice-falls'; but Mr. Bake well has given the most distinct account that we have seen of these phenomena. ' Could we,' he says, ' suppose a torrent, nearly a mile in breadth, and several hundred feet in depth, to be descending down the side of a mountain, rolling waves over each other more than fifty feet in height, and the whole to be instantly consolidated and split into angular frag- ments on the surface, we might have a tolerably correct notion of a glacier; but, without seeing it, we should still have but a feeble conception of the impression that such an object would excite.' Coleridge has not less accurately described them, in his beautiful ' Hymn before sun-rise in the Vale of Chamouny.' ' Ye ice-falls ! ye that from the mountain's brow, Adowu enormous ravines slope amain ;— Torrents, methinks, thai heard a mighty voice,CHAMOUNIX. 137 And stopped at once amid their maddest plunge! Motionless torrents, silent cataracts ! Who made you glorious as the gates of heaven Beneath the keen, full moon ? Who bade the sun Clothe you with rainbows ? Who, with living flowers Of loveliest blue,* spread garlands at your feet P God ! let the torrents, like a shout of nations, Answer; and let the ice-plains echo, God These glaciers are principally formed in the high mountain ravines, the bottoms of which slope down towards the lower valleys. The ice is formed by the consolidation of the snow lodged in these high Alpine valleys. 4 As the surface of the snow thaws and percolates through the mass, it is again frozen, and acts as a cement; and, by a repetition of this process, the whole mass is converted into solid ice ; not so compact, however, as that of rivers or lakes, for it is full of air-bubbles, owing to the mode of its formation. As the ice descends from the higher into the lower valleys, there is a certain point at which the equilibrium between the two forces, heat and gravity, that act on the gla- cier, is established.' That is to say, the ice at the lower end of the glacier, which is exposed to a warm temperature, is dissolved as fast as it is pressed forward by the superincumbent weight of tiie ice above, which, resting upon an inclined plane, puts the whole mass in progressive motion. Thus, the lower termination generally remains nearly stationary. After a series of cold seasons, how- ever, the glaciers enlarge and advance further into the valleys ; and after a series of warm summers, * Within a few paces of the glaciers, the Geniiana Major grows in immense numbers, with its flowers 'of loveliest blue.' i 3138 CfcAMQUNIX. they diminish and recede. But, on the average of a number of years, the quantity of ice and snow in the Alps remains the same.* In order to ascertain the rate of their progressive motion, marks have been fixed upon some of them. A block of granite that had fallen upon the Mer de Glace, had been observed to move about three quarters of a league in twenty years: hence, the progressive motion of that glacier appears to be about 180 yards in a year. By this motion, the ice is often rent with tremendous noise, into fissures of vast depth, many feet or yards in width; and the surface of the descending glacier is broken into irregular masses that project a great height above the surface. A newly made fissure may be known by the emerald colour of the ice. 4 As the glaciers are overhung by lofty preci- pices, masses of rock and stones are every year falling upon the surface of the ice, and are carried along by its progressive motion, till they approach the lower extremity, where they fall over. Thus, a heap of stones of vast height is formed at the feet of the glaciers. This is called the moraine. The moraine serves to mark the ancient limits and height of those glaciers that are diminishing; for, when the ice retires, it leaves the heap of stones which it had deposited at its feet; and these remain for centuries, incontestable proofs of the former extent of the ice. Where the bulk of the glacier is diminishing, the moraine which surrounds it is * The constant evaporation from the surface of the snow, in regions so elevated, is sufficient to prevent any accumula- tion in the average of a series of years.CHAMOUNIX. 139 higher than the present surface of the ice, though the stones have originally fallen from it: we are therefore certain, that the height of the glacier must greatly have diminished since the period when the stones were deposited.' * The first glacier that descends low into the valley of Chamounix, is called the Glacier de Boissons. The ice of this glacier is more pure and unsullied by the fall of earth and stones from the mountains above, than that of any of the others. Among the singular forms of the ice upon its surface, Mr. Bake well noticed one, about fifty feet in height, resembling the steeple of a church. The guide said, it had been observed fifteen months, but would probably fall in the ensuing summer. The glacier of Taconay is also passed on this side of the town of.Chamounix. Beyond it are those of Montan- vert, De Bois, d'Argentine, and De la Tour. The glacier De Bois is the most considerable; it is a continuation of the one in the mountain valley above, which is called the Mer de Glace. Near the foot of it, the Arveiron has its source. This is a considerable stream issuing from a large cavern in the ice, the mouth of which is full sixty feet in height, and more than that in breadth, although it seems much smaller at a distance. The river carries off a great part of the lower water which runs from the glacier; and as the ice of the glacier is, in summer, continually melting at the bottom, the roof of the cavern would sink to the level of the river, were it not that large segments of ice detach themselves from the upper part of the arch, and * Bakewell, vol. i. pp. 364—3J57.140 CHAMOUNIX. enlarge the excavation as much as it is reduced by the dissolving of the ice. The cavern varies in size at different times of the year: in winter, it is very small.* It changes its position also, accord- ing as there is a greater or smaller quantity of ice dissolved in the course of the year. There is another very large ice-cavern at the bottom of the glacier d'Argentine, which, Mr. Bakewell con- cludes, must have been formed since Saussure visited the Alps, as he describes that from which the Arveiron issues, as the only one of any mag- nitude in Chamounix. The glacier de Bois is more than seven miles in length, and, in some parts, more than a mile in breadth. It divides into two branches above, and is connected with other glacieis. At its termina- tion, Mr. Bakewell found it to be composed of three distinct beds of ice, with seams of earth between, comprising a total thickness of ice above the moraine^ of about 200 feet in height: it ends in three perpendicular precipices, one behind the other, over which a very considerable waterfall was passing down into the valley. On the edge of the precipice of ice were several large masses of rock, partly projecting over it; one of which fell, with a crash like thunder, soon after this Traveller had withdrawn from the place where it fell. This gla- cier had been latterly advancing, and had covered an orchard in the valley the preceding spring. A pear-tree was growing almost in contact with the ice. From the upper part of this glacier, which is * Mr. Sheppard states, that this vault is destroyed annually, and generally renewed by the month of August. The arch is at times 100 feet in height.CHAMOUNIX. 141 several thousand feet above the valley, avalanches are very frequent after a warm day in August. In approaching the glacier de Bois from the inn at Chamounix, after passing through a wood of pines and larches, the glacier is seen stretching down into the valley from the Mer de Glace; while, over it, in the back-ground, rises the Aiguille de Druy behind which is the Aiguille Verte. The former is, next to the glaciers, the most striking object in the valley. It is a taper spire of granite, apparently detached from all the surrounding mountains, shooting up to the height of 11,000 feet above the level of the sea. The upper part or spire terminates, apparently, almost in a point, and consists of a solid shaft of upwards of 4000 feet. It is utterly inaccessible, its sides being rounded and polished. No pinnacle of granite in the Alps, Mr. Bakewell says, can be compared with it for the elegance of its form or the length of its shaft. The Geant, it is true, is nearly equal to Mont Blanc in height, but it does not rise so far above its base as the Aiguille dc Dru, and when seen at a distance, its form is like a bended finger. The Aiguille Verte also nearly rivals Mont Blanc in height, and presents a very striking escarpement of bare rock towards Cha- mounix, while its back, which is rounded, is covered with snow. When seen from Geneva, it appears a perfect pyramid. Although the summit of Mont Blanc is seen from Chamounix, the appearance of this sovereign of the Alps is somewhat disappointing, its height being lost in its enormous bulk. To have a dis-14i CH A.MOUNIX. tinct view of Mont Blanc as a whole, it is neces- sary to ascend some of the neighbouring moun- tains. The Col de Balrne, at the eastern end of the valley, over which lies the direct passage into the Yalais, affords a full and magnificent view of the whole gigantic groupe. Mr. Bake well ascended to this col, which is upwards of 3000 feet above the valley, and he thus describes the view it com- mands. ' Looking to the west, Mont Blanc is seen in profile, from its summit to its base, and its different parts rise above each other in their just proportions. The summits of the principal Ai- guilles, those of Charmos, the Aiguille Verte, the Aiguille de Dm, the e?Argentiere, and dela Tour, are seen nearer, and in the same range. These peaks rise from 11,000 to 13,000 above the level of the sea, and would, in any other position, be regarded with astonishment; but the effeot of their amazing height is diminished by the superior elevation and magnitude of Mont Blanc. On the north side of the valley are seen a lower range of mountains, which, from their red colour, are called the Aiguilles Rouges. Beyond these is Mont Breven; and nearer, on the north-west, rise the mountains of the Valor sine. The valley of Cha- mounix appears deep and narrow, and is seen from one end to the other, with the Arve winding along it. The Col de Balme, on which we stand, closes the eastern end of the valley; and a mountain called the Vaudange, closes the western extre- mity. The length of the valley is about fifteen miles. When viewed from hence, there can be little doubt of its having once formed a lake, beforeCHAMOUNIX. 143 the waters of the Arve escaped, as at present, through a lateral chasm, to Pont Pelissier.' * On the eastern side of the Col de Balme, the travellers saw below them, at a greater depth, the upper valley of the Rhone, and the mountains which border it as far as St. Gothard ; but, owing to a slight haziness in the eastern horizon, the out- line was not well defined. There is a hill above the pass, which commands a still more extended view of the Valais. The Col de Balme, which is only 3000 feet above the valley of Chamounix, is about 4700 feet above the upper valley of the Rhone at Martigny, which is only 1700 feet above the sea. The descent towards Martigny is very steep.f The Priory of Chamounix is 3463 feet above the level of the sea: it is, therefore,as elevated as the summit of Seafell in Cumberland, the highest mountain in England. All the mountains on the southern side of Chamounix may be regarded as united, and forming one mass, from which detached pinnacles and summits rise as from an elevated plain. The average height of this mass is 5000 feet; and from the central part, which is granite, nu- merous pyramids and spires of granite shoot up to twice that height above the valley. The height of Mont Blanc above the level of the sea, according to barometrical and trigonometrical measurements, i * This chasm, which extends upwards of four miles in length, from near Ouches to Pont Pelissier, has been worked by the waters in a rock of soft slate, near its junction with a very hard granite. f Bakewell, vol. ii. pp. 9—13.144 CHA.MOUNIX. 15,766 feet,* and consequently, upwards of 12,000 feet above the valley. Monte Rosa, in the same range, is only 400 feet below Mont Blanc. The Geant is at an elevation of 14,080 feet, Mont Cervin, or the Matterhorn, is nearly 14,000 feet above the sea. The Furca, in the St. Gothard groupe, some of the summits of the Helvetian chain between Bern and the Yalais, and Monte Viso and some of its sister peaks in the Maritime Alps, approach nearly to the same height. The southern side of Mont Blanc, facing Italy, is an escarpement of bare rock, so steep, that, on that side, no snow can rest. Perpetual ice com- mences at an elevation of between 7000 and 8000 feet, forming in the centre of the Alps, to use M. Malte Brim's expression, ' frozen seas like those at the poles.' The ice disappears at a height ex- ceeding 10,800 feet, and the atmospheric vapour, congealed as it descends* covers the ground with eternal snow.t Many ineffectual attempts had been made during the last century to scale the summit of Mont Blanc; but the first persons who succeeded in achieving the daring enterprise, were Dr. Pacard and Joseph Balma, in 1786. These resolute adventurers were followed by M. de Saussure, accompanied by an English gentleman, in the ensuing year ; and his atmospheric observations have formed the basis of the calculations that have since been made respect- ing its height. In 1825, Dr. Edmund John Clark, * Malte Brun, on the authority of Saussure, Tralles, and Pictet. Mr. Bakewell says, 15.680 feet. -j- The thickness of the snow on the summit of Mont Blanc, was estimated by Saussure at 500 feet.CHAMOUNIX. J 45 of London, in company with Captain Sherwe]], succeeded in performing the perilous ascent, and brought off in triumph a bottle of snow from the utmost pinnacle of Europe.* He was followed, in 1827, by Mr. Fellowes, who discovered a new route to the summit; and in the same year, Mr. Auldjo achieved the same rash adventure. He found considerable difficulty, however, in pro- curing a sufficient number of guides, and had to sustain the bitter reproaches of their wives and relatives for tempting them to an enterprise of such complicated danger. Not longer ago than 1820, a party of thirteen were swept away by an avalanche, after passing the Grand Plateau, and three perished, the survivors escaping with great difficulty.f And Mr. Auldjo's expedition must have had a termination not less tragical, had not his guides taken advantage of the newly-discovered track to the east of the Rocher Rouge, by follow- ing which they escaped an avalanche that passed directly in the old line of ascent. J Altogether, there have been about sixteen successful, among a greater number of unsuccessful efforts to accom- plish this unprofitable expedition. Less venturous travellers content themselves * An account of this ascent, as given in & lecture before the Royal Institution by Dr. Clark himself, will be found in the 1 Quarterly Journal of Science and Literature,' No. x. pp. 385-9. The Ausonia butterfly was observed to fly over the very summit. f This catastrophe is said to have been owing to the guides being induced to undertake the ascent against their own judgement. | See ' Narrative of an Ascent to the Summit of Mont Blanc,1 by John Auldjo, Esq. 4to. plates. London, 1828. - VOL I. K146 CHAMOUNIX. with climbing over the Montanvert to the Mer de Glace, or with ascending the Chapeau, an emi- nence opposite to Montanvert, from which a view is obtained of the smooth margin of the frozen sea, with the immense glacier descending from it. The Mer de Glace is eight leagues in length by about one in breadth. The waves of ice, which, from the top of Montanvert, look like furrows in a corn- field, are, in fact, hillocks from twenty to forty feet high. Tremendous crevices occur, which must sometimes be crossed by a narrow ledge of ice, or by a more treacherous bridge of snow. Ropes, six yards in length, connecting every two (or even three) individuals together, are found a necessary precaution in attempting to traverse the rugged and slippery surface ; as, in case of falling, there is the greatest danger of gliding into some yawning crevice, or down an icy precipice, into the dark abyss. These clefts are of various dimensions, from twelve feet to eighty feet in width. The ice within them is of a deep clear blue, and their depth cannot be sounded. It is possible to proceed from the Montanvert, by first skirting the Mer de Glace, and then crossing it, to much higher and remote glaciers, among which is situated the Jar din, a green oasis in this frozen desert, which is covered in August with fine verdure and a variety of Alpine flowers.* But these efforts re- * The Jardin is one of the loftiest patches of vegetation in Europe, upon an islet of rock in the midst of a wilderness of snow and ice. Dr. Clark brought home specimens of various plants collected here, chiefly varieties of saxifrage, ranun- culus, azalea, alchemilla, &c. See ' Quart. Journal,1 No. x. p. 386.chamounix. 147 quire botli strength and hardihood. Having sur- veyed the Mer de Glace, and trodden its frozen surface, travellers usually re-ascend the Montan- vert, and take some refreshment, either at the Hopital de Blair, built by an English gentleman of that name, or at La Pierre des Anglais,—an im- mense block of granite, so called because Messrs. Windham and Pocock made it their dinner-table, when, in 1741, they penetrated without a guide into this almost unknown region. The descent from this place to the source of the Arveiron, by a short but extremely steep and rugged path, called "the Chemin des Chevres, affords a beautiful variety of prospect, which repays the traveller for the toil- some march. Up to the year 1741, when the two English gentlemen above-mentioned first explored the won- ders of this romantic region, the valley of Cha- mounix is said to have been so little known beyond its immediate precincts, that even the natives of Geneva, though only eighteen leagues distant, had never heard of it.* As early, however, as the eleventh century, Aymon, Count of Geneva, * f An account of their journey appeared in the Mer cure de Suisse, 1743, as a great event. These two first adven- turers went with an escort well armed, and slept under tents with fires lighted, and a watch all night! In 1760, M. de Saussure visited Chamounix for the first time; and his great work on the Alps, published about fifteen years after- wards, together with M. Bouret's Description des Glaciers de la Savoie, made the country so famous, that as many as a thousand travellers used to visit it every season. Now, the number is probably not less than four or five thousand.'— Simond's ' Switzerland,' vol. i. p. 270. k 2148 CHAMOUNIX. founded there a monastery of Benedictines, by whom the district was cultivated; and from this establishment the principal village in the valley is still called the Priory. It w as afterwards annexed, by a bull of Leo X-, to the Chapter of Sallenches. The parish church was rebuilt in 1707. But it had not at that time become the fashion for tourists to traverse mountains and explore remote valleys in quest of panoramic views and picturesque scenery ; and hence the neglect in which Chamounix so long remained. It has recently attracted, however, even more than its due share of admiration, being the only part of Savoy that has been much frequented by the English. The two inns here are conse- quently more like English inns than those in any other part of the dutchy. One effect of the influx of strangers has been already adverted to, as re- gards the inhabitants of this district. They have lost much of the simplicity of manners, we are told, that characterises the Savoyards in less fre- quented parts. They possess a most annoying kind of ubiquity, following travellers up the moun- tains, and descending with them into the valleys, to offer fruit and milk, or flowers, as a pretence for begging; and you are thus surrounded with a crowd wherever you would wish to contemplate in quiet abstraction the magnificent objects before you. On the other hand, the Chamounix guides are justly celebrated for their intelligence and activity, and their careful attention to strangers. Almost all the accidents which have occurred, Mr. Bakewell says, have been occasioned by in- attention to their advice, or by urging them tcCHAMOUNIX. 149 undertake excursions when the season was not favourable.* 4 A picturesque traveller, above all an English traveller, or a person supposed to be one. cannot/ Mr. Simojid says, ' approach Cha- mounix without being waylaid and beset with guides. And really there is no resisting a Balma, a Paccard, a Cochet, a Coutet, when you are at all read in Saussure, and remember his honourable mention of those and other names among his bold supporters up the highest summit of Mont Blanc in 1786, till then deemed inaccessible.' In company with three of these veterans,f who, * It has already been stated, on Mr. Bakewell's authority, that this was the case with respect to the catastrophe of 1820. Near Servoz, is a monument erected to the memory of Eschen, a Danish poet and naturalist, who perished in a crevice of the glacier of Buet, in August 1801, in conse- quence of his having ventured heedlessly in advance, in contempt of the precautions of his guides. f ( One of them, Jacques Balma, dit des Dames, oil ac- count of his particular attention to ladies climbing under his guidance, gave us, on our return in the evening, after so many hours of hard labour, a proof of his undiminished strength, spirit, and perhaps rashness, at the age of sixty. A party of young men, on a botanizing excursion, spied a very fine plant (saxifraga pyramidalis) blooming in apparent safety out of reach, on the top of an inaccessible rock. Jacques Balma considered a few minutes, then took off his shoes, and securing a foot here, a hand there, holding once by his teeth to a twig, springing from one shelving place to another like a chamois, or writhing like a snake among stones and bushes out of sight, without once hesitating or looking back, worked himself up to the pyramidal bunch of flowers, and threw it down to the wondering spectators. That was not enough. Another bunch of flowers bloomed over his head in a still more difficult and hazardous situa- tion : he sprang for it. We joined our entreaties to those of the other guides, who warned him of his danger, and150 CHAMOUNIX. for the moderate pay of five francs a day, would climb, and talk, and fight their battles over again, this Traveller ascended to the summit of the Bre ven, the nearest neighbour of Mont Blanc. At nearly 3000 feet above Chamounix, there is a chalet, where travellers may procure milk, and find some sort of shelter under the miserable roof. The view of Mont Blanc from this spot, is nearly as good as from the summit of the Bre ven; and as all the difficulty of the ascent is yet to come, there is really no sufficient inducement to go further, unless it be 4 pour la gloireThere is no serious difficulty till the traveller comes to the first field of snow, which is very steep and slippery. What is called the Chimney would seem, however, to be a truly ap- palling part of the ascent. After climbing a steep rock 4 with very little difficulty and no danger, pro- vided you do not look behind,' Mr. Simoncl reached 1 a chasm, or recess, full of ice, which, melting first where it touches the rock, had left a vacant space of about two feet. With your back against the smooth ice, and plying diligently with feet, knees, and hands, against the rock, in the manner chimney-sweepers do, you may work yourself up with tolerable ease and comfort to the top, some twenty or thirty feet, in a very few minutes. There then turned away, not to appear to encourage the mad attempt. A general exclamation induced us soon after to look again. We beheld him in equilibrium on his breast, plucking the flower with the toes of an outstretched leg I How he came down, I know not; but, in a few minutes, we saw him again by our side, not even out of breath.'— Simond, vol. i. pp. 261-2. This race of veterans must by this time be nearly extinct.CHAMOUNIX. 151 you find another field of snow-ice, not at all steep; then a very steep ascent; and the last, wholly composed of broken schist, which brings you to the signals, two rude constructions like altars on the top of the Br^ven.' The view here obtained is, indeed, a most ex- traordinary one. Placed full in front, and about mid-height of Mont Blanc, sufficiently far off to embrace the whole at One glance, sufficiently near to distinguish every detail, the traveller beholds this stupendous object ' like a full-length picture hung up before him/ filling at once his eye and his mind. The chief difference of the prospect from that which is gained from the chdlet below, is, that the summit, 'the bosse du dromedaire appears less fore-shortened, and the whirlwinds of snow-dust upon it may be clearly distinguished athwart the dark blue of the sky, moving round with great violence on particular spots. 4 When we began to ascend the B raven,' says Mr. Simond, 4 and half way up to its chalet, we could not turn round and look at Mont Blanc, without experienc- ing the terrific sensation of its falling down over us; but, as we ascended higher, this impression ceased. From the summit, Mont Druet and its glacier seemed about the same distance north of us as Mont Blanc south: the valleys of Chamounix and Servoz, and all the space we had travelled the preceding day, appeared within a stone's throw/ * Travellers returning to Geneva, who may wish to vary their route, may pass over the Col de Balme ; from the summit of which, they may take a * Simond, vol. i. pp. 263—5.152 CHAMOUNIX. last view of this stupendous scene, before descend- ing into the Valais. There is also a lower route, leading from Argentine, the third and last parish in Chamounix, through the mountain valley of Va- lorsine, to the wretched hamlet of Trient, near which it joins the path from the Col de Balme. Soon after crossing the Eau Noire, a torrent flow- ing from the glacier de Buet, the traveller passes the limit of Savoy. A gateway, in a massive old wall built across the defile, marks the entrance into the Valais. The route afterwards passes over the Forcla, from the summit of which the valley of the Rhone begins to open ; and at length, the whole course of the river, with the towns of Sion and Martigny, and the Alps of the Haut Valais, present themselves in beautiful perspective. A rough and rapid descent leads through several zones of vege- tation, from the pines of the summit, through the walnut-trees of the middle region, to the vineyards of Martigny, which the traveller reaches in about nine hours from the Priory of Chamounix.* There is another district in the neighbourhood of Chamounix, which, although little frequented, is stated by M. Bertolotti to be in no way inferior to it in beauty and grandeur of scenery. This is the valley of the Giffre, called also the valley of Sixt, which runs to the foot of the Buet. It is accessible to chars on the side of Geneva. There is a good inn at Samoens, a town of about 4000 inhabitants, and another at the village of Sixt. The valley of the Giffre has, over that of Cha- mounix, the advantage of numerous and magnifi- * Sheppard's Letters, pp. 214—216.TKONON. 153 cent water-falls ; and from the summit of the Buet, is obtained 4 the finest view in all Savoy.' * Another branch of this valley, to the left, leads the traveller to the foot of the Col de Taneverge, belonging to that inaccessible cluster of lofty Alps that rise between Savoy, the Lower Valais, and the Leman, of which the Dent du Midi forms the central summit. At the foot of the Taneverge, the valley terminates in a sort of funnel, called Finimondo (the world's end), in which the sun, on the longest day, is visible for only three hours, t The road from Geneva to Samoens and Sixt, lies through Thonon, the capital of the Chablais, through which also passes the route to the Sim- plon. i Thonon is situated on the shores of the * The first persons who ascended the Buet, were M. de Luc and his brother, in the year 1770 ; and delighted with the prospect it affords, the learned Traveller strongly recom- mended the ascent of this mountain to all men of taste. Dr. E. J. Clark ascended it in 1825, as a sort of preliminary experiment; and he speaks of the scene it presents, as un- paralleled, perhaps, even in the Alps,—1 whether the eye ranges up the valley of the Rhone towards the Furka and Grimsel mountains, or over the Swiss Alps to the Jura, or across the brown crag of the Aiguilles Rouges to the hoary monarch of the Alps, opposing his silvery mantle of glitter- ing snow to the deep, dark blue of heaven, and barring in the prospect towards Italy by a dependent chain of inacces- sible granite peaks.'—( Quart. Journal,' No. x. p. 386. The Giffre, which takes its rise at the foot of the glacier of Buet, runs by Taninge, and falls into the Arve not far from Bonne- ville. f For. Quart. Rev., No. x., p. 714. J There are two routes to the Simplon. One leads through fiie Pays de Vaud, on the Swiss side of the Lake, byway of Copet, Nyon, Rolle, Lausanne, Vevay, and Bex. The other, on the Savoy side, through Thonon and by the rocks K 5154 TH0N0N. Lake of Geneva, at its widest part, where it is three leagues across. A little beyond this town, the road leaves on the left the Abbey of Ripaille, founded by Amadeus VIII. Duke of Savoy, when, after a reign of forty-three years, he relinquished the cares of government to his son, and turned monk. From this seclusion he was called, five years after, by the council of Basle, to assume the papal tiara and the keys of St. Peter, on the depo- sition of Eugenius IV. in 1439. After some demur, he was prevailed upon to recognize the equivocal election, and assumed the name of Felix V. The greater part of Europe acknowledged him; but Italy continued to side with Eugenius IV., and, after his death, with Nicholas V., who was crowned at Rome, while Felix V. kept his court at Basle, Geneva, and Lausanne. Anxious, at length, to heal the schism, he proposed to the rival pontiff certain conditions on which he was willing to abdicate the papal chair. These were agreed to in 14*49; and the ex-pontiff, resuming the name of Amadeus, withdrew again to his abbey of Ripaille, where he died not long afterwards. From Thonon, the Simplon road runs to Evian, celebrated for its mineral waters, nearly opposite to Lausanne; and then, crossing the Dranse, con- tinues to skirt the lake to the rocks of Meillerie. Here the road is carried thirty feet above the waters of the lake, on a terrace excavated in front of the rocks, the bases of which descend almost perpendicularly to a level with the waters of the of Meillerie, is four leagues shorter; and the construction and improvements of this road, in correspondence to those of the Simplon, formed part of that great undertaking.THONON. 155 Mediterranean, the lake being, near this shore, above 1000 feet in depth. The scenery along this shore is very beautiful, and across the Lake; objects of interest rapidly succeed each other, from Lausanne to Yevay, Clarens, and the Castle of Chillon. At St. Gingulph, the traveller leaves the territory of Savoy, and after passing on the left the extensive swamps at the head of the Lake, where it receives the Rhone, arrives at St. Maurice, the natural frontier of the Yalais, where it meets the road from the Pays de Vaud. Having now traversed in various directions the whole of Savoy, we must at once transport the reader across the Alps, and set him down at the capital of his Sardinian Majesty's dominions.156 turin. CHAPTER III Turin—The Valleys of the Vaudois—Pass of the Argen- tine—Monte Viso—Pass of the Tende—Nice—Pass of the Cornice—Route from Turin to Genoa. Turin, being either the first city in Italy at which the traveller arrives, or the last on leaving it, is viewed with very different impressions, according to the scenes through which the visiter has been passing. It is far more regularly built than the Italian cities in general; it is for the most part new and fresh, instead of antique and in decay ; it is also cleaner than, perhaps, any other town in Italy,—an advantage secured by numerous foun- tains, the running water of which keeps the fine wide pavement clean. Its appearance forms a striking contrast, more especially with Milan : a remark- able difference too is observable in the usages and manners of the two capitals, although within a day's journey of each other. But in general, the English traveller is too much in a hurry, when arrived at this threshold of Italy, to prosecute his journey southward or homeward, to bestow much attention upon this princely little capital. The first view of Turin is, however, admitted to be very imposing. No mean suburbs, no moul- dering walls deform its entrance. The spacious and regular streets so intersect each other, as to leave an opening at their extremity, that everyTURIN 157 where admits a view of the fine back-ground of green hills and hanging vineyards.* Towards the centre, the Piazza Reale, formed by the palace and other public edifices, presents one of the most elegant squares in Europe. And in the principal streets, the Contrada Nuova, the Dora Gro.ssa, and the Contrada del Po, which are from 80 to 100 feet in width, a long and regular line of por- ticoes exhibits a striking succession of beautiful architecture ; while the balconies above, canopied with light draperies, have a picturesque and lively appearance. The plan of the city, its rectangular streets, with the royal palace in the centre, is completely in the Spanish taste.f Turin is, in fact, stated to owe much of its regularity to the alliance of a Piedmontese prince with an Infanta of Spain. An incompleteness, however, mars, in some degree, this imposing grandeur: even in faqades of the handsomest architecture, the holes are still left gaping, which supported the scaffold- ing at the time of their erection. 4 Turin/ says Mr. Forsyth, whose architectural criticisms are almost always in good taste, 4 is admired for the regularity of its plan, the symmetry of its squares, the splendour of its- hotels, and the general elegance of its houses. Though the royal palace is not built in the rules of beauty, it is grand enough for a monarch. The palace of the * The space formerly occupied by the fortifications, has been converted into gardens and public walks. f Mr. Bell remarks, that Turin is, in this respect, exactly what a child would design for the model of a city. It is, in fact, the ^simplest of all plans, and has been naturally adopted, when princes have played at building cities. But this applies only to the nov town.158 TURIN. Dukes of Savoy, standing alone in the middle of the principal square, required four fronts equal in dignity ; but three are hideous in themselves, and derive comparative ugliness from the beauty of the fourth. This last front, composed of one Corinthian peristyle, raised on a plain basement, is the noblest elevation in Turin, where it holds the post of honour. The palace Carignano has a curvilinear front, mezzanini above mezzanini, orders that are of no order, and fantastic orna- ments, threatened, rather than produced, on the unplastered bricks. The staircase is a difficult trick of Guarini's, who wasted his architectural wit in many attempts to frighten the world by the appearance of weight unsupported. Guarini and Juvara have profaned the churches of Turin with the same puerile conceits and ostentation of stone- cutting science. Their Carmine, Carmelitaney Consola, &c., evince wonderful talents for the crooked, the singular, and the gaudy. The Santo Sudario, a chapel common to the cathedral and the palace, is entirely composed of a slate-coloured marble. Such materials were in themselves solemn and monumental; but, falling into the freakish hands of Guarini, they have been frittered into a cupola full of triangular windows, which form the wildest lace-work that ever disgraced architecture.' * At the time of the French invasion, Turin, though only three miles in circumference, (the * Forsyth, vol. ii. pp. 214, 15. Mr. Woods thought the church of San Filippo the finest in Turin, yet not very handsome. San Lorenzo is curious from its fantastical dome, formed on ribs, each of which is the chord of three- eighths of a circle. The architecture is bad in all the churches.—Woods, vol. ii. p. 423.TURIN. 159 smallest royal capital in Europe,) is stated to have contained not fewer than a hundred and ten churches ; all splendidly endowed, and rich in marbles, pictures, and other treasures. Few of them, however, are now adapted to strike by their magnificence, unhallowed hands having been laid upon their treasures ; and the revival of superstition under the restored Government, has not yet repaired what sacrilege had spoliated. 4 The metropolitan church, San Giovanni Battista, was once numbered among the richest churches of Italy ; but its vases of pure gold, its forty candelabras, and twenty bishops of virgin silver, its censers of precious stones, ruby crosses, and adamantine hearts, have all disappeared, transmuted and perverted to pro- fane purposes. Some have gone to stem the in- cursions of the Po ; others, to raise the noblest of its bridges; and some have even found their way to Paris, and have contributed to clear the noxious purlieus of the Tuileries, and to build the beautiful rue de Rivoli, the monument of the French con- quest over the royal pleasure grounds of Turin / * One traveller (Mr. Bell) praises the noble aspect of the cathedral, especially its western front, the door-way richly ornamented with well executed basso-relievos, and supported by marble pilasters : he mentions also a beautiful circular font of white marble; and dwells in terms of admiration on the superb chapel of S. Michael, better known by the ilame of its palladium, the Santo Sudario, or Santissimo Sindone; that is to say, our Saviour's winding-sheet or shroud. A long history is * Lady Morgan, vol. i. p. 63.160 TURIN attached to this miraculous relic ; and in the time of Calvin, who was bold enough to call in question its authenticity, it was the cause of many contro- versial publications, some of which are still extant. It is said to have been a gift from Geoffroi, on his return from the Holy Land, to Amadeus I., and was originally deposited in a church at Chambery, which, during a terrible conflagation, was burned to the ground; but although the silver box in which the nndone was deposited, was on that occasion destroyed or melted, the shirt was only singed.* Notwithstanding the just criticism of Mr. Forsyth, this chapel, according to Mr. Bell's account must be well worth visiting. 4 It stands high, like a gallery, above the level of the church; opening from its centre, by a handsome flight of steps, and separated only by a fine marble balustrade, which, as well as two superb columns on each side, are of black marble. The form of the chapel is circular. The cupola is supported by pillars of black marble, grouped two and two; the bases and capitals of bronze richly gilt, producing an admirable contrast to the black marble. The floor is pure white marble studded with golden stars ; the ceiling, formed of trellis-work, is whimsical; but the dark colouring and sedate ground correspond to the richness of the whole. The spaces between the * The female Traveller whose volumes have had the honour of being made contraband, affirms that there are in all, between France and Italy, eight suaires or sindoni, all authenticated respectively by various bulls. That at Peri- gord has the most numerous proofs in its favour, but several learned doctors of Turin have written to prove that theirs is the only true and original sindofie.TURIN ] 61 columns are filled with oval medallions, painted sky-blue, and filled with ex-votos, some of a sin- gular kind. The effect of the whole chapel is grand, solemn, and imposing, without being gloomy. In the centre stands the altar: a low railing in white marble, surrounded with little seraphim, marks the outer circle; and within, at the four corners, stand four angels, executed in a very good style. Hung round the altar are lamps which burn continually night and day. The whole is surmounted with a gilded glory, which, by rendering the height digproportioned, much injures the effect.' * This same traveller was likewise much pleased with the church of Corpus Christi,f (though not generally admired,) on account of the air of melancholy grandeur which characterizes the in- terior. It was built by Villogi, and improved by Count Alfieri in 1753. The church of Santa Theresa, attached to a convent of bare-footed friars, is distinguished by its unsuitable sjjlendour, while its altar-piece, deemed a chef-d'ceuvre of Guglielmo Caccia, deserves notice for its repulsive protaneness. It represents an infant Christ, as Cupid, aiming at the heart of the fair and ecstatic saint, while the Virgin Mother smiles at his efforts, and even the grave features of St. Joseph relax * Bell's Italy, pp. 54—56. t This church owes its dedicatory name to a stupid legend recording the miraculous ascent into the air, just at that spot, of a silver vase containing the host, which a sacrile- gious soldier had stolen from a church at Chambery, and had brought thus far, and its return into a consecrated chalice at the bishop's intercession !1G2 TURIN. into a look of complacency, The statue of the same saint, by Le Gros, in the church of Sta. Christina, is described as 4 still more expressive of the divine love which filled the tenderest of saintly hearts.' For offensive representations of this nature, however, the Protestant traveller must prepare himself. The excuse for them is, that they are allegorical designs. But the language of the in- scriptions and prayers which he will meet with in the churches dedicated to Santa Eosolia, Santa Catharina, Santa Rosa, Santa Agatha, and other virgin saints of the Romish calendar, will not un- frequently startle him by a species of profaneness still more palpable and inexcusable; nor will he be able easily to persuade himself, that the inter- views between Diana and Endymion, or Bacchus and Ariadne, are not the subject of the erotic legend.* But all the churches in Turin yield, in conse- quence and celebrity, to La Superga, which crowns the steepest and least accessible eminence in the immediate vicinity, five miles from the city. This edifice was erected in fulfilment of a vow of grati- tude offered up to heaven by Victor Amadeus, for the signal victory obtained over a French army under Philip, Duke of Orleans, in 1706. On the * See Blunt1 s 1 Vestiges of Ancient Manners in Modern Italy/ pp. 10—12, where some revolting instances are given. One specimen may be sufficient. In the church of Sta. Iio&a at Viterbo, is an altar adorned with such blasphemy as the following; 1 Quis tamen laudes recolat, quis hujus Firginis dotes, sibi quam pudtcis Nuptiis junctam voluit superni. Numen OlympiTURIN. 163 spot chosen for Its site, the Duke of Savoy and Prince Eugene stood, while they laid the plan of the battle. The result was, that not only were the French compelled to raise the siege of Turin, but, in a few months, they evacuated the whole of the North of Italy. On the door of the church is the following dedicatory inscription VlRGINI. GeNITRICI. Victor. Amadeus. Sardinije. Rex. Bello. Gallico. Vovit. Pulsis. Hostibus. extruxit. dedicavitque. In front of the edifice is a portico of eight marble columns of the Corinthian order ; on the sides rise two lofty campaniles; the whole being crowned with a cupola of the most majestic proportions. Marbles, pictures, bronzes, and every species of decoration, have been profusely bestowed in its embellishment; but its chief beauty is derived from its striking situation. In approaching Turin, the aye rests upon this magnificent mausoleum; (for it is here that the royal family of Piedmont are sepulchred;) on leaving the city, you still see it; and as you travel down the valley of the Po, it is again beheld with admiration. The view from the portico is very striking, looking down upon the miniature capital, surrounded with a country richly wooded and studded with villas, in the midst of which the silvery Po is seen 4 writh- ing its stream' through the whole extent of the valley; and beyond the mountain boundaries of the plain, rise the rugged forms of the Alps, capped with perpetual snows. The name of La Superga is said to have been given to this building from its being placed quasi164 TURIN. super terga montivm ; an etymology which seems alike far-fetched and improbable; but we are unable to supply a better. The architect of this edifice was Filippo Juvara. A story is told of his being compelled by the prince, out of economy, to use a quantity of old columns in the erection ; and hence, we are told, the cupola of the church is disfigured by torsos and ill-matched pillars ; but the imputation cast upon the royal builder, comes from a suspicious quarter. Dwellings are provided there for the officiating priests, and a liberal stipend is afforded by Government for the main- tenance of the establishment. The royal palace of Turin contains little in the interior that is remarkable. On the grand stair- case is an indifferent equestrian statue of Victor Amadeus, the king in bronze and the horse marble. The apartments of ceremony are splendidly de- corated, and the walls of all the rooms are enriched with paintings,, chiefly of the Dutch, Flemish, and French schools. Of the few productions of the Italian masters, the 4 Four Elements' of Albani, in the king's bed-chamber, is the most celebrated.* The gallery of the palace has all the splendour that frescoes and gilding can bestow ; and the nu- merous portraits by Vandyke are the most precious treasures of its collection. The University of Turin was founded in 1405 ; but the buildings, which are extensive and well ar- ranged, are of the eighteenth century. The court * We also find mentioned by different travellers, a portrait of Paul III. by Tjfiaii;-1ke Supper at Eramaus, by the same master; Homer, as a blind improvvisatorej by Murillo, and Cattle, by Paul Potter.TURIN. 165 is surrounded witli a double tier of porticoes, under which is a valuable collection of ancient sculp- tures, bas-reliefs, and inscribed marbles of all ages. Many of these have been obtained from the long neglected ruins of the ancient Roman town of Industrial situated eighteen miles below Turin, which were discovered in 1744 by some enter- prising antiquaries. Excavations being made, numerous medals, bronze figures, and other an- tique remains, were brought to light, and deposited in the royal collection. In the Cabinet of An- tiques, there is rather an unusual number of the heathen deities, some of exquisite beauty and great rarity. But what was long considered as the most precious of its curiosities, is the Isiac Table, which has been the subject of more than one learned publication. This remarkable monument is a table of massive bronze or copper, four feet in length by two feet four inches in breadth, and of considerable thickness, inlaid with hieroglyphics in silver. Within the last seven years, however, his Sardinian Majesty's collection has received an extensive and important accession by the purchase of M. Drovetti's splendid collection of Egyptian antiquities, for the not inconsiderable sum of 400,000 francs. Turin can now boast of a Royal Egyptian Museum, which is, perhaps, unrivalled. Besides the historical monuments, which have found so able an expositor in M. Champollion,* there are many objects of great rarity and value. * See Lettres a M. le Due de Blacas (VAulps, fyc. &c., relatives au Mus6e Royal Egyptien de Turin. Par M. Cham- pollion le Jeune. (2 livrations.) Paris, U 24 1826.166 turin. Among these is an ancient cubit measure, made of the wood of Meroe, in texture and colour some- thing between wainscot and mahogany ; the divi- sions and measurements marked in hieroglyphics: it was found at Memphis. There is also a small statue of a priest, carved in the same wood, having on each shoulder the fragment of a god, and a staff in each hand. There are also many paslo- phori, and various specimens of gilding on metal and on wood ; 3000 Roman-Egyptian coins ; one Daric; many papyri of various dates, from the time of Amenophis I. (b. c. 1778) down to Adrian,—one of them sixty feet, in length, and admirably well preserved ; a granite stone bearing a bilingual inscription in the Demotic and Greek characters; thousands of scarabcei; an ancient painter's pallet, with paints, brushes, and paint- box ; a statue of Memnon, and one of Sesostris, valued at 100,000 francs. The museum which contains these treasures is, unhappily, far too small for their accommodation, and so miserably ill-lighted, that it is difficult to distinguish stone from stucco. The Royal Library on the floor above, is also extensive and valuable. Among the biblical and theological works are said to be 300 Latin, 230 Italian, and 120 French copies of the Bible; for what purpose accumulated, we are not informed. A more valuable treasure is a Polyglot, presented by a king of Spain to a duke of Savoy. One curious volume in this vast collection is a Homer illuminated by the monks, in which a procession of Benedictines is represented attending to theTURIN, 167 grave the remains of Hector!* The Cabinet of Medals is said to be one of the richest in Italy. The Cabinet of Physic contains a suf- cient apparatus for the purposes of lecturing and demonstrating; but the most remarkable instrument is the electrical machine of Beccaria, constructed by his own hands. The Cabinet of Natural History in the Academia Reale, a very handsome edifice, contains a good modem collec- tion of crystals, simple minerals, and rocks, ar- ranged according to the system of the Abbe Haiiy. The specimens in the other branches ol natural history are not very numerous, but they comprise most of the indigenous species. There is an ob- servatory, instituted under the French Government, and placed under the direction of Plana, an able mathematician, since made astronomer royal. From the summit is obtained a fine view of the chain of Alps, forming a magnificent crescent to- wards the north, and occupying nearly half the circuit of the horizon. The opening of the nar- row valley of Susa is conspicuous to the west, and further to the south, the snow-capped cone of Monte Viso Piedmont has to boast of some names of de- served celebrity among her native literati. Fa- ther Beccaria stands at the head of these. His celebrated pupil, La Grange, became professor of mathematics in the artillery-school of Turin at the early age of sixteen, and was one of the founders of the Academy of Sciences in his native cit . * e * We regret to have no better account of this library than the superficial statements ol Lady Morgan.168 TURIN. was called to Paris by the French Government in 1787, and died there in April 1813, at the age of seventy-seven. Baretti, the author of an English and Italian Dictionary, who long taught Italian in London; Cerutti, the friend of Mirabeau ; and the learned Abb£ Denina, librarian to Bonaparte, were also natives of Piedmont. The Piedmontese, however, are more proud of their illustrious and eccentric countryman, Count Alfieri,»the greatest name in the literature of modern Italy; of whom it is no mean praise, that having embraced a severe and barren theory of composition, his masculine vigour of mind lent for a time delusive splendour to the exploded rules of French criticism, and seduced even Lord Byron into fatal imitation.* The Al- fieri palace stands at the end of the Piazza San Carlo, opposite to that of the Marquis de Prie, whose noble owner possesses the only private col- lection of pictures of any note in Turin. * Literary criticism does not belong to the present work, but the reader will be gratified with a few observations from the pen of Forsyth. Alfieri, he remarks, 1 is, next to Dante, the Italian poet most difficult to Italians themselves. His tragedies are too patriotic and too severe for the Tuscan stage.' 4 The very strength and compression (of his thoughts), being new to the language, and foreign to its genius, have rendered his style inverted, broken, and ob- scure ; full of ellipsis and elisions, speckled even to affec- tation with Dantesque terms, without pliancy, or flow, or variety, or ease. Yet, where lives the tragic poet equal to Alfieri ?'—Forsyth, vol. i. p. 72. Italian was scarcely Al- fieri's native language, and he complains of having been born in t an amphibious country.' Of Byron's admiration of Alfieri, and imitation of his writings, his later productions teem with instances. Some of these have been pointed out in an able article on Italian tragedy, in the first Number of the Foreign Quarterly Review, p. 138.TURIN. 169 The Frencn language, which is only understood at Genoa, is correctly spoken by most persons at Turin ; but the common language is a patois, one characteristic of which is, that few of the words terminate in vowels. Genoese money does not pass current at Turin, notwithstanding the poli- tical union of the two states under one monarchy. Turin was formerly distinguished for its excellent silk-manufactures, which employed 1400 looms in the city alone. Under the French, its trade and manufactures greatly declined.* The Piedmontese were indebted to Napoleon for some beneficial in- stitutions, a few of which have survived the restor- ation of the old Government. Under the French, mendicants were at first taken up and confined to labour in a work-house; but, for want of funds, the doors were afterwards thrown open, and the wretched inmates were let loose upon public charity. Beggars are now numerous, yet, less so than in southern Italy. ' When the King regained possession of the government,' says Mr. Simond, 4 he puzzled him- self for some little time in examining the Code Napoleon, with a wish to extract something good from it; but finding it difficult to adjust any part to his old system, his first minister advised him, as the easiest and readiest way, to issue an edict, declaring, that everything was restored according to the almanack of that year in which he was com- pelled to abandon his dominions. The ancient state of things, however, had some good points; for the Government was eminently frugal, and * Velvets, sjlks; chamois gloves, perfumes, and the eau de mille jleurs, are the chief articles of external trade. VOL. I. u170 TURIN. found means, without oppressive taxes, and with a revenue of just one million sterling, to keep up an army of 30,000 men and thirty fortresses. The salary of ministers was only 500/. sterling a year. In short, it was a paternal government in good humour. But now, it is a paternal government angry with its children, and mistrustful of their love and obedience, which makes a wide difference/* The population of Turin has been variously estimated, and it of course fluctuates in some de - gree, according to whether it is the residence of the Court or not. Thus, one traveller tells us, that 4 the liveliness of this beautiful ^ city is inconcei- vable ; you meet vast numbers in all parts, and the cries of Turin remind an Englishman of those of London, beginning at seven in the morning.'t And Mr. Simond says: 4 Turin has a sort of courtly appearance very striking all about the royal palace. People are seen in the formal old bag and sword, with powdered heads, going to and fro, full of business, or standing in nooks and corners, seemingly waiting for something or somebody, feeding on hopes and expectations, and in the mean time bowing to great people as they pass.' In the Geography of Malte Brun, on the other hand, we are told, that 4 the" large and straight streets of Turin are dismal and deserted > * Simond's Italy, pp. 607, 8. We cite this intelligent Traveller with a confidence that cannot be given either to Eustace, the virulent calumniator of the French, or to Lady Morgan, the idolater of liberalism. Her ( fearless and ex- cellent' work upon Italy, as Lord Byron styled it, abounds with lively description and copious information, but so dis- torted and coloured, that we can never rely upon its accuracy. f Pennington, vol. i. p. 282.TURIN. 171 they are animated only on festivals.' According to the census of 1819, the inhabitants of Turin numbered 88,658. They are now rated at 114,000;* a remarkable increase, if the state- ment can be depended upon, but the aggregate requires analysis. A very large proportion of the population formerly consisted of ecclesiastics. These are still numerous, as well as two other classes not usually included in statistical esti- mates, the soldiery and mendicants. The citadel of Turin is a regular pentagonal fortification, mined and countermined, with very extensive subterraneous galleries. It was planned by the celebrated Urbino in the sixteenth century, and has been strong; but Turin is now an open city. ♦The gardens and the glacis of the citadel, and the long promenade on the banks of the Po, are very pleasant. The arsenal is a fine and spacious building, containing some ancient armour and a foundry for brass cannon ; and several can- non are shewn, which were given by the English. Among the chief objects of interest without the city, is the aristocratic cemetery,—a small plot of consecrated ground surrounded with arcades, under which the nobility alone are interred ;— and the royal villas. Of these, describing them as they were in 1802, Mr. Forsyth remarks, that they had all lost their original character. * The pretty Vigna della Regina is deserted; the high- roofed Valentino is converted into a veterinary school; the more princely Stapinigi is assigned to the purposes of natural history ; and the vast * Companion to the British Almanack, 1829.172 TURIN. Veneria is visited only as the field of Bruley*s agricultural experiments.'* There is a botanic garden at Valentino. Above the queen's villa, which is beautifully situated, is the extensive con- vent of the Capuchins; and above all, rises the convent of the Camaldoli, recently restored. Altogether, the environs of Turin are acknow- ledged to be extremely beautiful.t The chief drawback arises from the fogs which prevail in the plain, during the autumn and winter, and which render the city at those seasons an undesirable residence to strangers. Turin has scarcely had justice done to it by most of our English travellers, who seem to seek for an excuse for hurrying away. Mr. Bell, for instance, asserts, that 4 there is nothing in this city from which the traveller can derive much interest or pleasure. It can be regarded only as an elegant place of repose for a few days. To the antiquary, it presents no object of inquiry ; to the artist, no pictures, statues, or buildings worthy of particular notice.'J If this is true to a certain extent, its Museum forms a noble exception. On the otlaer hand, Lady Morgan says : 4 I pity those * Forsyth, vol. ii. 213. f f The memorable winter of 1709 did them the good service of killing their plantations of olive-trees, which, in a region so near the Alps, yielded but a very precarious revenue, and wholly spoiled the beauty of the country. Much to its ad- vantage, they were replaced by the picturesque walnut-tree. All round the town, ancient trees of luxuriant growth oppose their impenetrable shade to the intolerable heat of the sun; and the views of the Alps are magnificent.'—Simond, p. 605. * . I Bell, p. 53.TURIN". 173 wiio pass through Piedmont without pausing on its capital. The impression which we received on the threshold of Italy, shed the light of promise on the rest of our journey. The localities of Turin are by no means destitute of interest; and its active and intelligent citizens well merit to be studied with attention ; while there are few places in Italy, where the stranger, well presented, will find a more frank and hospitable reception, enlivened by gayety, and tempered by information and kindly feeling.'* Piedmont, during the time that it wTas incorpo- rated with the French empire, was divided into the departments of the Stura, the Tanaro, the Po, the Sesia, the Dora, and Marengo. The present divisions are those of Torino, Cuneo, Alessandria, Novara, and Aosta, to which have been annexed those of Nizza and Genoa. The superficial area of Piedmont has been estimated at 13,000 square miles, containing a population of about 2,250,000, all of the Roman Catholic faith, with the ex~ ception of between 22,000 and 23,000 Vaudois, concentrated in the valleys between the Pelice * Lady Morgan, vol. i. p. 108. The Authoress of a lively volume, entitled, 1 A Spinster's Tour in France,' thinks that Turin might * satisfactorily engage the traveller a fortnight, the opera being in good repute, the society particularly ani- mated, and strangers courteously received. Thef paved streets, spacious squares, bonneted women, and neat carts and car- riages,' have, according to this fair writer, an English ap- pearance, and la Place de Carigncui is a sort of Grosvenor- square. For the benefit of those whom it may concern, it should be added, that Turin contains two small theatres, ' dark and dirty,' and a grand opera, which ranks as the third salle de spectacle in Italy. L 3174 TH!<: VAUDOJS VALLEYS. and the Clusone. As these valleys are most easily accessible from Turin,* we have reserved for this place a brief account of that highly in- teresting district. The valleys which the Vaudois have raised into celebrity, lie between the Piedmontese province of Pignerolo and the Brian^onnais; having on the north, the marquisate of Susa, and on the south, that of Saluzzo. La Tour, the capital, is about thirty-six miles from Turin, and fourteen from Pig- nerolo. The valleys are three in number,—that of Lucerne or the Val Pelice, the Val Pragelas or Perosa, and that of the Germanasca, or Yal St. Martin; occupying a superficial area of about twenty-four French leagues. The valley of Lu- cerne, the chief town of which is now inhabited by Roman Catholics, is the most extensive and beau- tiful of the three, containing the live parishes of Rora, St. Jean, La Tour, Yillar, and Bobbi. Through the last three runs the rapid Pelice, which has its source near the Pra Alp, and falls into the Po. The valley of Perouse (or Perosa), called also the Yal Pragelas, which is traversed by the Clusone, is about twelve miles in length. In this valley also, the chief town, as well as all the villages on the Italian side of the river, are entirely inhabited by Roman Catholics, the Yau- dois possessing at this time only Pramol, Pomaret, * The route over Mont Genevre to Pignerolo, has already been described. Travellers taking the route from Nice to Turin, may, 011 reaching the plains at Borgo St. Dalmazio, make a detour by Saluzzo and Cavour to these beautiful valleys, and thence proceed by Pignerol to the capital. At Saluzzo, Mr. Brockedon says, there is an excellent inn.THE VAUD0IS VALLEYS. 175 and St. Germain. Between these two valleys, is the parish of Prarostin, comprehending Roche Platte and St. Barthelemi, which belong to neither of them. The third valley, that of St. Martin, is scarcely wider than the bed of the torrent Germa- nasca, which runs through it. It extends from the valley of Perouse to that of Queiras in Dauphiny, and contains the parishes of Prali, Maneille, and Ville S£che. Perrier, the capital, is now inhabited by Roman Catholics alone. The parish of Prali is so elevated as to be covered with snow during nine months in the year. This valley, which was the scene of the heroic defence made by Arnaud's patriot band, is entirely envi- roned with lofty mountains and rugged rocks, forming the most formidable natural defences ; and the only entrance into it is by a pass so narrow, that a few men might defend it against a large force. The churches in these valleys were formerly much more numerous. Tliere are now only fifteen parish churches ; but in the ancient re- cords, mention is made of several other parishes, to which pastors were attached: these are now annexed to the fifteen. In the valley of the Clusone, there were, as late as 1727, six flourish- ing Yaudois churches, which were sacrificed to an exchange of territory between France and the House of Savoy; all who remained faithful to their religion, being forced into exile.* The Vaudois were also numerous in the valleys of Queiras, Mathias, and Meane, near Susa, until * The valley of Barcelonette, which then belonged to Sardinia, was ceded to France in exchange for the valleys of Pragehs »uul Exilles.376 THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS. entirely extirpated there by Duke Charles Emma- nuel in 1603; as they were in the marquisate of Saluzzo in 1633, where they had many churches. Five villages and the town of Lucerne, formerly attached to the parish church of St. Jean, have also been taken from them in the valley of Lucerne. Indeed, in the year 1560, the Yaudois had churches in Pignerolo, Quiers, and Turin.'* Pignerolo is on the post-road to Nice, four hours and a half from Turin ; and a diligence runs there twice a day. From this place, there is a good carriage road to La Tour; but it is inter- sected by torrents, which, in winter, must be formidable. Travellers may procure horses at Pignerolo, where there is a tolerable second- rate Italian inn and post-house. There is, also, at La Tour, a very clean little inn, where a per- son wishing to explore these valleys should take up his head-quarters. The communes of St. Jean and Lucerne may be conveniently reached from * ' Authentic details of the Valdenses.' 8vo. pp. 101, 2. In the fourteenth century, the population of these valleys, swelled by emigrants from Lyons, becoming excessive, many families withdrew to Provence; others, to villages in the marquisate of Saluzzo. But the most considerable colonies formed at this time, sought an asylum in Calabria and Apulia, where they built Borgo d' Oltramontane, near Montalto, and, fifty years afterwards, on the increase of new settlers, San Sisto, Vacurisso, Argentine, and St. Vincent. The Marquis of Spinello also allowed them at last to build on his land, near the sea, the fortified town of Guardia. This colony continued to flourish when the Reformation dawned upon Italy; but, after subsisting for nearly two centuries, was basely and barbarously exterminated by the court of Rome. See M'Crie's ' Reformation in Italy,' pp. 3—6, 257, 266, 282, 344.THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS. 177 this spot; the whole valley of Rora may also be explored ; the commune of Angrogna will occupy at least one day from La Tour; one morning will be sufficient to enjoy the scenery of Villar and Bobbi; but the Yal St. Martin will fully occupy a long day. La Tour (or Torre) is beautifully situated at the foot of the Vendelin, near where the Angrogna stream falls into the Pelice. The declivities of the ' huge green hill' behind the town, are covered with vines and corn, intermingled with mulberry and chestnut trees ; and the summit (formerly crowned with a ruined tower) commands a beautiful view over the vale as far as Bobbi. The Pelice runs with much velocity through the Vale of Lu- cerne, collecting in its course the tributes of a hun- dred mountain torrents; the snowy summits of the Cottian Alps are seen towering above the wooded hills on the banks of the stream ; and the cottages, looking like nests amid the trees, form, at every turn, a beautiful picture. The Protestant church is placed (perforce) a mile from La Tour, at a place called St. Marguerite. The first Pro- testant church in the valley, however, is that of St. Jean, prettily situated on a hill, amid woods crown- ed with snowy peaks. ' This church,' says Miss Morton, who visited these valleys in 1827, 4 looks as if it had been built in the time of Buonaparte's liberality, resembling very much the French church of La Trinita at Rome. Before this church, the Catholics have erected a screen, that they may not be polluted by seeing the Protestants go to wor- ship.' Four times in the year, the Vaudois receive the Eucharist; and this Traveller had the gratifi-178 THE VAUDOIS V ALLEYS. cation of being present, when about 500 partook of the sacrament at the church of St. Marguerite. The scene is thus described. 'The service began by reading two chapters, one from the Gospel of St. John, the other from the Acts of the Apostles. The men and women sat separate ; the women in neatly-plaited fly-caps, with all their hair strained back, and entirely dis- guised, as human beings, by goitres.* No rags, no filth, as at Naples; but all were neat, clean, and quiet, modest, and attentive. They sang several hymns in the old canon style, always going on with all their might and great seeming devotion. Two children were christened. The godfathers advanced to the table, with a large square of rich brocade silk pinned to their shoulders, and hang- ing down in front, beneath which was hidden their little charge. On the table was a small stand for the Bible of the reader. After an exhortation to the sponsors from the pulpit, the minister came down. The godmother then took from her pocket a little phial of water, and poured it into the hands of the minister, who let it drop upon the forehead of the child : no sign of the cross was made. He said: " I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost." The chapters read, were from the Lausanne version, with very suitable reflections. There was then a confession, very similar to, or the same as that I heard at Lausanne; then followed a hymn in very old French, and then the sermon ; then another hymn, * Not one in 500, however, Mr. Brockedon assures us, is afflicted with this complaint.THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS. 179 and an exhortation to the communicants. The little reading-stand was then removed, and two high, ancient silver cups were put on the table, with a large quantity of bread in a napkin. The minister then approached the table, (which was where our reading-desk is generally placed, under the pulpit,) and said: 4 4 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ ?" The men then approached in pairs, put a small piece of money into a plate on the table, and made a bend to the minister. He then presented to them the bread and wine, applying to each some verse of Scripture, not doctrinal, but what is usually termed practical. They then bent again. Two more succeeded, and thus, till all approached, partook, and passed on, to the number of 500; the men first, and then the women. We were told, that there were but few comparatively to- day, on account of the number of women who, at this season, attend their silk-worms night and day, and thus earn a livelihood. As they passed in slow and solemn files up to the altar, and the chanter led the voices - of those who were not engaged in communion, the tones, the pace, the air, brought at once to my mind the various passes in which the brave ancestors of these men, with Henri Arnaud at their head, had placed themselves to faqe death and maintain their faith. I contrasted this peaceable procession, these hymns of praise, with the war-notes that were heard in these valleys, when they were the arena on which Christian firmness exhibited its con-ISO THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS. quermg power; and I delighted to join with such a people in commemorating that Love which, before the mountains were brought forth, con- templated our redemption.'* Above La Tour, is the pretty little village of Villar, and still higher up, is Bobbi (or Bobbio), the last of the Protestant villages in this direction that can be reached with wheels. Embosomed in hills, overhung by vast mountain-peaks, and sur- rounded by rushing torrents, the campanile stands insulated on a rock. The church is a neat little building, with a burying-ground, interesting from Its extreme simplicity. Unhewn stones from the brook, are placed at the head of the graves ; and, 4 if they can afford it, the name is cut.' The pastor has, during the winter, a parish school of seventy children, and educates young men for the minis- terial office. Near this spot, two small streams fall into the Pelice, one flowing down the Col d'Abries, and the other from one of the vast but- tresses of the Col de Yiso. On the picturesque hill which overhangs the Subiasca torrent, are seen a few cabins, occupying the site of Sibaud, from which Henri Arnaud and his gallant band made their attack upon Bobbi, after forcing the passage of the Col de Julien f. Towards the south, the lofty peak 0f Monte Viso is seen towering above all the other mountains, a * glittering pyra- mid.' In the fore-ground is a beautiful wooded height. A mill is turned by the Subiasca tor- rent ; above it is seen the campanile; while little * Morton's Protestant Vigils, vol. ii. pp. 253—5. f Glorious Recovery, p. 80.THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS. 181 hamlets peep out from amid the wood and rock, and the lofty hills are seen backed by the Alpine chain which stretches westward into France. The parish of Rora, the most southerly of all the Yaudois villages, is situated near one of the heads of the Lucerne stream, which, flowing from the south, through part of the marquisate of Saluzzo, joins the Pelice below La Tour. The parish of Angrogna lies in the little valley which opens into the vale of the Pelice, running up to the northward from La Tour ; it contains two churches. The lower parts of this parish are very beautiful, in many places covered with woods of chestnut-trees ; in others, opening into little glades, cultivated with corn or hemp, and having a range of bold mountains in the distance. The narrow ridge of the Vachere separates the valley of An- grogna from the Val Perosa. On ascending this ridge, above the chestnut-trees, the traveller finds himself on a bare hill of rough slate, which the unwearied industry of the peasants has formed into fields of corn and hemp, and occasionally, by irrigation, into meadows. The inhabitants live in miserable huts among the crags; and some of them, in the summer, occupy little hovels of stone in still loftier situations, for the sake of cultivating the highest land. These hovels 4 consist of two small chambers, built of loose stones, like Oxford- shire walls, and roofed with large, rough slates found on the hills: no cement being used, light and air are admitted by a number of chinks and openings in the roofs and walls. In some of these huts, is a second story, formed by a floor of loose VOL. I M182 THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS. planks. In these eases, the ground-floor is occu- pied by the pig and cow. The lower cottages are built of the same materials, but with cement, and have generally an open portico in the centre, where wood is kept, and where a few stone steps lead to the second story, consisting of two rooms like the lower one. In the lower story, the floor is of clay; the windows are formed of lattices, and, in the very best houses, of paper. There are, perhaps, about six houses near the churches, a little superior to those described; but the rest of the two thousand inhabitants of Angrogna live in the above men- tioned huts. ' The ridge of the Vach^re,' continues this Tra- veller, 4 though not nearly so high, reminded me of Malvern. On the north, are the crags of Castel- luzzo, hills over La Tour, and the bold heights which form the narrow valley of the Pre du Tour; beneath, are corn-fields, torrents, and chestnut-trees. On the south, are seen the well-wooded and fertile valley of Perouse, the vast plain of the Po, and its winding stream, as far as the hills towards Marengo, and the superb Superga. But this scene had a superior interest. Here, the poor Barbets (as the Vaudois are called) always retired on the attacks of their enemies of the plain; and here, some of the noblest feats of Henri Arnaud's troops were performed; one, in particular, when they attacked the enemy in their entrenchments, and drove them from their camp, though six times more numerous than themselves/ * * Authentic Details, pp. 24—6.THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS, 183 The mountain road (a mule track) to Perouse, winds among low hills, the woods and glades of which resemble English park scenery. Prarustin is embowered in trees, and Roche Platte is almost washed away by its useful stream, which turns mills, and irrigates meadows. St. Germains, a larger village almost on the Clusone, is equally divided between Roman Catholics and Protestants. A handsome bridge over the river leads to the pretty town of Perouse, where there is a wretched inn, a contrast in every respect to that at La Tour. There is a good carriage road from La Tour to Perouse, going round by Pignerolo, but the route is far less interesting. The Yal Pragelas has already been in part de scribed. It is divided along its whole length by the Clusone, to the western side of which the Protestants are now confined. In ascending this gloomy defile, their villages are concealed by the natural barriers which rise with forbidding aspect on the western bank. Near its confluence with the Germanasca, the Clusone divides itself into a variety of channels, and rushes over masses of rocks that have been brought down by the torrents, and which lie in confusion in every part of its bed. Crossing these streams by a series of wooden" bridges, the traveller, in about half an hour from Perouse, arrives in sight of the first Vaudois village in this direction ; that of Pomaret or Pomaretto, the parish of the late Rodolph Peyrani, 4 the venerable moderator of the ancient church of the Waldenses.' The Rev. Mr. Gilly, who paid a visit to these valleys in the year 1823, thus de- ar 2184 THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS, scribes the spot. 4 Seen as it was in its wintry aspect, never did a more dreary spot burst upon the view. Tt is built upon a declivity, just where the mountains begin to increase in height and number, with rocks above and torrents below. There is such a scene of savage disorder in the immediate vicinity of Pomaretto, that one would imagine it had been effected by the most violent convulsions of nature. Huge fragments of rock encumber the ground on all sides, and it seems as if the mountains must have been rent asunder, to produce so much nakedness and desolation. The street which we slowly ascended, was narrow and dirty; the houses, or rather cabins, small and in- convenient ; and poverty, in the strictest sense of the wrord, stared us in the face at every step we took. In vain did we cast our eyes about in search of some better-looking corner, in which we might descry a habitation fit for the reception of the supreme pastor of the churches of the Waldenses. The street was every where no better than a con- fined lane. At length we stood before the pres- bytery of M. Peyrani; for by this name the dwell- ings of the ministers are known. But, in external appearance, how inferior to the most indifferent parsonage in England, or to the humblest manse in Scotland! Neither garden nor bower enlivened its appearance, and scarcely did it differ in con- struction or dimension from the humble cottages by which it was surrounded. The interior was not much better calculated to give us an idea of the otivm cum dignitate which usually appertains to the dignitaries of the church; and had we notTHE VAUDOIS VALLEYS. 186 known it before, we should soon have discovered, that additional labour only distinguishes the ap- pointment of Moderator of the Vaudois.'* Two years after, when another English traveller visited Pomaret, the venerable Peyrani was no more. 4 Even in death/ says the narrator, 4 the demons of oppression and poverty seem to have shaken their wings over the departed Moderator. While the prelates of Piedmont sleep in marble state, he can claim no sacred roof, nor even a con- secrated sod. A few pebbles from the next brook separate his grave from the rest; and on a rough bit of slate at its head, are scratched these words: " J. R. L. G. Peyrani, Pasteur et Moderateur. N'e 11 Dec. 1752. Mort le 26 Avril 1823." Another rough slate precisely similar stands near, and marks the grave of his brother : u S. H. F. Peyrani, Pasteur a Pramol. Ne le 21 Nov. 1760. Mort le 9 Oct 1822." These are the only tomb- stones of Pomaret; and the last had already so sunk, that it was only with young Peyrani's assis- tance I could make out the date. "Around, the rude forefathers of the village sleep." The stones which were ranged about their graves, were mostly displaced, and the rank grass waves high over all, as if in the triumph of oblivion. Not even a wall or a rail separates the remains of the dead from the surrounding corn-fields. The French had all the cemeteries walled ; but this one was neglected, and solicitation from high quarters would be necessary to obtain such a favour from the present Government. Nature has, indeed, favoured this * Gilly's Narrative, pp. 65—68.186 THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS. unprotected spot: it is on a rising ground above the hundred little streams which pour down from the hills, and surrounded with magnificent chestnut and walnut trees. It commands a view of the valleys of Clusone and Perouse, and of the pretty town of Perouse, as well as of the mountains of Pramol and Val St. Martin. The church is here indeed militant, and a pastor can hope only for a soldier's sepulchre.'* The Yal St. Martin, near the entrance of which Pomaret is situated, is narrow and rugged; and for some miles, as all the cultivated lands are very high up, the traveller is at a loss to conceive how the population can be supported. Now and then, he passes a pretty grove of chestnuts, or a bold turn of the Germanasca gives interest to the scene. Chestnuts are, in fact, an essential article of sub- sistence in these valleys: they are made into a paste like the pain amer of the Savoyards.f One of the boldest passes of the Val St. Martin, is between Pomaret and Perrier. Not far above Perrier, the wild and narrow valley of Prali * Authentic Details, pp. 34—36. f Even this resource has sometimes failed. 'In these valleys/ says Miss Morton,' the occurrence of famine seems scarcely credible. Luxuriant vines, mulberry-trees, fruit- trees of every description, beneath which are corn and maize, offer rich harvests to the imagination; but sudden winds (and hail storms) often cut off these hopes; and we saw many fields in which the corn has been broken quite off. Mr. B. told us, that potatoes often saved them from famine, when the chestnuts and corn failed.'—Prot. Vigils, vol. ii. p.J264. Many of the inhabitants gain a scanty pittance from their silk-worms; but, when the immediate product fails, they are left, owing to their extreme poverty, without resource.THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS. 187 branches off, and conducts to the village of That name, the highest and most remote of all, where all the severities of an Alpine winter are felt, and little cultivation can go on during the very short summer. A mountain path, practicable for ani- mals all the summer, leads in six hours from Prali to Bobbi, affording a means of returning to I^a Tour without descending the Val St. Martin. The scenery above Perrier is not very remark- able j but every traveller will wish to visit the famous Balsille, where 367 Vaudois, entrenched in this natural fortress for six months,—during which tney existed on vegetables, water, and a scanty allowance of bread, ' lodging, like corpses, in the earth/—succeeded in repelling and driving into disgraceful flight 10,000 French and 12,000 Piedmontese.* The route from Perrier turns up a lateral valley, watered by a stream flowing from the Col de Pis, which joins the Germanasca near that village. It is a rapid ascent to Maneille, a retired but popu- lous village placed among a few corn-fields at a great height. An hour and a half further, proceed- ing along the mountain, is Masseille (or Macel), now united to the parish of Maneille. Thence it is a ride of two hours to the Balsille. The valley becomes more bold and wild as the traveller advances, the cliffs rising into mountains capped with snow, while the declivities are covered with nothing but brushwood. At length the valley divides, and a vast precipice rises in front, half way up which is a little corn-field of two acres, formed, * Acland, p. 202.188 THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS. probably, by an ancient eboulement. The Balsille (or Balsi) is thus described by HenrLArnaud, in his most interesting narrative of the ' Glorious Recovery.' 4 The Balsi, or, as it was called, the Castle, is a lofty and very steep rock, rising by three different terraces, on the top of each of which is a small, flat space, in which a sort of barracks had been excavated in the ground. It possesses also three springs. Three intrenchments having been con- structed, these were pierced with loop-holes. Each post was also provided with a large store of stones to hurl on the heads of the assailants. The access to it is every where difficult: the side on which it is least so, is from a torrent which runs from its feet. As this was the only side on which an attack could be made, Mons. Arnaud had caused it to be fortified by good palisades and parapets of dry wall. Moreover, trees had been cut down, and so disposed that the branches should be op- posed to the assailants. A layer of trees was loaded with large stones, on which were again placed trees, secured in the same manner, and so on/* Five hundred picked men of the enemy, covered by the fire of their main body, gallantly gained the first barricade of trees ; but tlus their utmost efforts were unable to remove, and the Vaudois having opened a tremendous fire, the greater part were soon stretched on the ground. When the confusion of the assailants was com- plete, the besieged sallied from their entrench^ ments, and cut to pieces the remainder of the * Acland, p. 157.the vaudois valleys. 189 detachment, with the exception of the colonel, who was taken prisoner, and about ten or twelve, who escaped to report to the French commander the disastrous result. The most astonishing fact was, that the Vaudois did not lose a single man in this affair. This was the second attack on the Vaudois strong-hold : a former, under the direction of Monsieur de TOmbraille, had been equally un- successful. The French and Piedmontese armies fell back the same evening, and a short breathing-time was allowed to this brave band ; but in about ten days, the French returned to the attack, and again sur- rounded the Balsi with five different encampments. Batteries were now constructed by the besiegers, the destructive fire from which soon reduced the loose walls of the lower entrenchment to a state of utter ruin. The overwhelming force which now pressed upon the Vaudois, in spite of their utmost efforts, compelled them to desert ' the Castle,' and they retreated to an inner intrenchment called the Cheval La Bruxe. Their destruction now seemed inevitable, but no one thought of a surrender. In fact, the French, enraged at the obstinate resist- ance they had met with from such a handful of men, had resolved to hang all they should take ; and they are said to have actually brought execu- tioners with ropes for the purpose.* 4 While the * £ The day before the attack, they had proclaimed with the sound of the trumpet, that all who wished to witness the end of the Vaudois, should come to Pignerol on the morrow, where the Vaudois would be hung two by two. But, alas ! this promised spectacle was changed for the mortifying one of the arrival of many waggons full of their own wounded.' <—Ac!and, p 185. m 5190 THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS. enemy were minutely examining every fresh position which was abandoned by the besieged, the latter thought of nothing but how to make good their escape. The immense fires kept burning in the French encampment, seemed to preclude all hope of their being able to retire under cover of the night; and well were they aware that the hand of God alone could deliver them in this hour of peril, as he had already done from so many former dangers. But, at the very moment when a most cruel death seemed to be preparing for them, a fog arose before dark, thus assisting to lengthen the night, which at that season was in itself too too short for their purpose. Captain Poulat, who was a native of La Balsille, offered to be their guide ; and they resolved to march, under the protection of God, and the direction of this brave man, who had a perfect knowledge of the country; and having accurately observed the situation of the enemy's fires, he declared the only chance of escape to be across a frightful precipitous ravine. They followed him down this chasm, some sliding on their backs, others scrambling with one knee on the ground, holding by the branches of trees, occasionally resting, and then feeling their way with their hands or feet. Poulat made them take off their shoes, that they might the better perceive whether they placed their feet on any thing capable of supporting them. In this manner, they passed close to one of the French out-posts; and a Yaudois soldier, in trying to assist himself with his hands, let fall a small kettle, which, in rolling over some stones, made noise enough to disturb a sentinel, who cried out " Qui trive?" but this kettle, happilyTHB VAUDOIS VALLEYS. 191 not being one of those feigned by the poets to have spoken, and to have delivered oracles in the forest of Dodona, returned no answer, and the sentinel took no further notice. Meanwhile, the Yaudois continued to gain ground. They as- cended the mountain of Guignevert, in the direc- tion of Salse ; and two hours after daylight, they were still climbing the mountain by steps which they cut for themselves in the snow. The French, who were encamped at Lantiga, discovered them at a distance, and sent a detachment in pursuit of them; but they descended by the Pausettes of La Salse, on the other side of the mountain, where they stopped to rest and refresh themselves.'* The fugitives made good their escape into the Val Pelice, with the loss of only six killed. There, to their surprise and joy, they were met with the intelligence, that a rupture had taken place between the Duke of Savoy and the French; and the Vau- dois, being received into their Sovereign's favour, did good service against the common enemy. Some little remains of Arnaud's intrenchments are still to be seen, together with some tracks cut for the oannon in the rocks. The points also are shewn, where the French batteries were placed, and the terrible precipices by which the besieged effected their escape. The little hamlet of Balsille is just below c the Castle/ Nothing but the most positive proof could convince a person who visits the spot, that these affairs actually took place, so marvellous and romantic do they appear. It was in these same recesses of the Cottian * Authentic Details, pp. 369—371.192 THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS. Alps, that the Celtic chieftain whose name they bear, was able to bid defiance so long to the Roman armies. The language of the present inhabitants of the valleys, is a patois closely re- lated to the Provencal ;* and as the Vaudois carry back the history of their church no further than the time of Claude o*f Turin, there is every reason to believe that they are the descendants of re- fugees who fled from the persecutions directed against the followers of that great Reformer in the tenth century. The alleged heresies of the Bishop of Turin are stated by Roman Catholic writers to have been maintained in these valleys throughout the ninth and tenth centuries. Long before his time, indeed, the same sect of primitive Protestants, under the name of Cathari, or Puritans, were numerous in many parts of northern Italy and southern France ; but necessity or persecution, and not choice, must originally have led them to retire into these Alpine recesses. The Vaudois claim to be considered, therefore, not as a local, isolated community perpetuated in * A peculiar interest attaches to the relics of a language, once spoken throughout Languedoc, Provence, and Cata- lonia, which could boast of an infant literature, while the greater part of Europe was still in the grossest barbarism. The birth-place of the Provencal muses was the country of the Albigenses. Some of the earliest remains of the poetry of this dialect, are those of the heretic Vaudois; and many of the last efforts of troubadour song were employed in vin- dicating the rights of humanity against the cruelty and corruption of Rome and its retainers. It is a curious fact, also, remarked by Dr. M'Crie, that i the first gleam of light at the revival of letters, shone on that remote spot of Italy (Calabria) where the Vaudois had found an asylum.'THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS, 193 these valleys, so much as in the light of a scattered remnant of a pure and primitive church, who are to be traced at different periods, under various names, and in various countries bordering on the Mediterranean ; comprising individuals and com- munities of different nations, but forming essen- tially and successively one sect, the sect of the true church. These same mountain recesses afforded an asylum to Albigensic refugees in the thir- teenth century, as they had done in former troubles to their predecessors,—perhaps their ancestors. Others took refuge in the province of Guienne, then belonging to the English, whence their doctrines spread into our own country. The name of Lollard was taken from that of a Wal- densian pastor who flourished about the middle of the thirteenth century ; and 4 your Wickliffe,' said M. Peyrani to his English visiter, Mr. Gilly, 4 preached nothing more than had been advanced by the ministers of our valleys four hundred years before his time.' It is remarkable enough that, in this little corner of Piedmont, where Cottius defied the arms of Augustus, should be found the only surviving remnant of the Church of the Refor- mation in Italy, who have been able to maintain their stand against the power of papal Romel Before we take leave of this part of Piedmont, it will be proper to advert to the opinion which has recently found a fresh advocate,* that Hanni- bal's passage of the Alps was effected by a route which led him over Monte Yiso. According to the theory of the writer alluded to, Hannibal, re- * Hannibal's Passage of the Alps. By a Member of the University of Cambridge. 12mo. London, 1830.194 PASS OF THE ARGENT!ERE treating from Scipio towards the East, crossed the Ise?re at Grenoble, and proceeded along the river Drac to the Durance. Crossing the latter river near Tallard, he marched up the plains of the Durance to the valley of the Ubaye, and ascended this valley, which would have led him over the Col d'Argentine. But the mountaineers who had tendered their services as guides, treacherously led the Carthaginians up the deep gorges of the river Guil, away from the right patn. In this diffi- cult and dangerous ravine, their loss was immense, as the barbarians hurled down masses of rock upon them as they advanced. On the ninth day from entering these Alpine defiles, the remains of the army encamped on the summit of the pass of Monte Viso, whence Hannibal could point out to his dispirited troops the fertile plains of the Po. Such is this Writer's version of Livy's narrative, which he adopts as the basis of his theory. The valley of the Ubaye, which Hannibal is supposed to have entered, has been illustrated by the pen and pencil of Mr. Brockedon. It was bv this route and the Col d'Argentine, that Francis 1. crossed the Alps in 1515. In 1692, Victor Amadeus II. invaded France by the same pass. And in the war of 1744, when the Spanish and French armies under Don Philip and the Prince of CondtS invaded Piedmont, they also passed by the Col d'Argentine. Denina, upon authority somewhat obscure, mentions a second iEmilian •way as having run in this direction. The facility with which a good road, always practicable, might be made across the Argentiere, Mr. Brockedon says, is obvious; and both France and PiedmontPASS OF THE ARGENTIERE. 195 would gain advantage from the increased facilities of communication which it would afford. From La Broule, about fifteen miles below Embrun, the chemin royal lies up the course of the Ubaye.* In many places, however not a vestige of a chemin appears; 4 for the violence of the Ubaye and the streams which fall into it, is so great in winter, as to leave the entire valley, for miles (above Meolans), a bed of stones and black mud, with here and there a cluster of stunted willows; and the road is at the choice of the traveller in the whole breadth of the valley, to ford the torrents where they are most passable, and to wind about through the mud-beds, where the willows grow, to find the hardest path.' The pretty village of La Lauzet, 4 the Goshen of the valley,' with its little lake and cultivated fields, is an exception to the dreariness of the general scenery. The hill of St. Vincent, too, is a fine object, surmounted with forts which formerly guarded the valley of Barcelonnette, when it belonged to the Sardinian dominions. From Barcelonnette, the road ascends by Chastellon, through an uninteresting country, to the junction of the Ubaye and Ubayette. t * There is a more direct mountain path, over the Col de la Vachere, to Barcelonnette. f From this confluence, there is another route to Embrun up the deep gorges of the Ubaye, by the strongly intrenched Camp de Tourneaux, which formerly guarded the entrance to France from the Barcelonnais when the latter belonged to Sardinia; passing over the Col de Vars, by the deep ravines of the Rioumonas, a torrent which falls into the Ubaye a little below St. Paul. When Francis I. invaded Italy, the main body of his army appears to have taken this route, viz., from Mont Dauphin, by the Rock of St. Paul into the valley of the Barcelonnette, and thence over the Col d'Argentiere.196 PASS OF THE ARGENTIERE. The latter torrent flows from the Mont d'Argen- tine, and the road ascends by it to VArche, the station of the French douane. From the summit of the pass, an extensive view is obtained towards France. A little below the highest point of the col, the road skirts a small lake called La Made- laine, the source of tke Stura; and then, by an easy descent, leads to the villages of Madelaine and Argentine, situated amid the most wild and rugged scenery: the mountain presents only bare pinnacles of rock, but the pasturage is rich, and barley is cultivated in the valley. Below Bersesio, is a fearful defile called the Barricades. The road is carried along a shelf of rock above the river, cut out of the precipices which over- hang and darken the ravine, forming an almost impregnable post in the defence of this frontier of Piedmont, which has been repeatedly the scene of desperate conflicts. On emerging from this defile, the route crosses the Stura at Pont Bernardo, and thence continues to lie sometimes close to the river, and sometimes along the perilous edge of precipices high above its bed, till, at Venadio, the Alpine wildness of the scene disappears, and the valley opens, affording a beautiful view down almost its whole extent. In the distance is seen, on its conical hill, the ruined fort of D&nont, memorable for its sieges in almost every war be- tween France and Sardinia. The river, the vil- lages, and the rich vegetation of the valley, bounded by mountains, some sterile, others richly wooded, form, Mr. Brockedon says, one of the finest scenes in the valleys of Piedmont. The hill on which the fort of Dt^mont stands, is so situated in the midst of the valley, that the road onPASS OF THE ARGENT1ERE. 3 97 one side, and the river on the other, pass its base. Beyond D&nont, there is some highly picturesque scenery, especially near Rocca Sparviera. At Borgo San Dalmazio, four leagues from DtS- mont, the route falls into the road which leads from the coast, over the Col de Tende, to Coni and Turin. The route we have been tracing will admit of a light carriage, in ascending the Stura, as far as Venadio; but the remainder of the route to Em- brun is at present impracticable for carriages of any kind. When Francis I. crossed the Alps by this route in 1515, he was obliged to make the most extraordinary efforts to carry his army over mountains which had never been passed except by the people of the country. Leger, in his 4 His- toire des Eglises Vaudoises,' affirms, that Francis caused a passage to be cut through Monte Yiso for this purpose 5 but none of the historians of the time, it is remarked, say any thing of this pas- sage ; and the difficulties, Messrs. Wickham and Cramer assure us, are such as to make it certain, that Francis I. could not have carried any part of his army over it. If so, it must be regarded as the more certain, that Hanni- bal never marched his elephants over it. Of the route to Monte Yiso, we regret that we have no distinct account. Messrs. Wickham and Cramer, who have examined the pass, give no distinct account of the route.* The river * They reached the Col from the Italian side, and ex- plored the source of the Po; descending, apparently with the Guil, to Mont Dauphin, and thence proceeding to Gap and Grenoble.198 MONTE VISO Guil, which falls into the Durance near Mont Dauphin, appears to afford the entrance to this pass on the French side ; but it is so little fre- quented at present, that it was found difficult to procure, even on the Italian side, guides ac- quainted with the road. On the western side, it was quite unknown ; for from Abries, travellers go into Italy by the Col de Croix and Fort Mirabouc. To reach this defile from the valley of the Ubaye, it would seem to be necessary to cross the Col de Vars. The Col de Viso must, indeed, at one time, have been a pass more in use ; as there is a gallery cut by a Marquess of Saluzzo for the purpose of facilitating his intercourse with Dau- phiny by this route. It is, however, too high up the mountain, we are told, to have ever been of material service; and is now impassable. The Col de Viso is a most difficult passage, but the view from it over the plains of Piedmont, is so magnificent as amply to repay the fatigue neces- sary to accomplish it. The route to the CoZ, be- tween Saluzzo and Paesana, passes through the most beautiful country that can be imagined. Nothing, indeed, we are told, can exceed the rich- ness of the valleys of the Po and the Stura.* The height of the Col does not appear to have been ascertained: that of the summit of Monte Viso is upwards of 12,000 feet above the sea; and from the plain of the Stura, near Borgo San Dalmazio, where the Alps sweep round in the form of a magnificent amphitheatre, its bright pinnacle appears towering over the snow line, as high above the other mountains, as they are above the plain. * Wickham and Cramer, p. 23 .MONTE VISO. 199 That the Carthaginian General crossed the Alps by this route, is, however, a supposition which must be regarded as utterly incredible and few persons, after reading the elaborate disserta- tion so repeatedly referred to, will hesitate to adopt a conclusion which best accords, on every point save the view from the summit of the pass, with the text of Polybius, is supported by many topographical indications, and agrees with the local tradition. Upon the authority of Livy, or rather upon his theory, the Authors have sufficiently shewn, that no dependence can be placed; and Mr. Brockedon, after having three times visited the Little St. Bernard, as well as explored almost every other pass, ' cannot conceive how any one acquainted with the Alps, and especially with that pass, can withhold his conviction, that this was the route by which the Carthaginian army entered Italy.' The route from Turin to Nice, over the Mari- * It is a fatal objection against this hypothesis, that it requires us to suppose the pass of the Col de Viso to be the only road known to Polybius, as conducting into the country of the Taurini. Is it conceivable, or possible, that the pass of Mont Genevre, the lowest of all the Alpine passes, the shortest and most direct passage from Spain, and that by which the Gauls are believed to have made their first descent into the fertile plains of Italy, should not have been even noticed by a writer who had himself explored the Alps ? Yet, such would be the fact, were we to suppose that Monte Viso was intended by the Saltus Taurinus. That Hannibal, when prevented from passing through the Li- gurian territory, did not take the route over the Cottian Alp, could have arisen only from the necessity under which he found himself, of retreating to the northward. But, in that case, he must equally have overshot the supposed pass over the Col de Viso.200 PASS OP THE TENDE. time Alps, is a post-road only as far ,as Cuneo, (by the French called Coni,) a clean, airy, plea- sant town, situated at the confluence of the Stura and the Gesso, passing through Carignano and Sa- vigliano. Cuneo, which is the seat of a bishop, was a place of great strength, till dismantled by the French after the battle of Marengo. It carries on a considerable trade, being a sort of entrepot to Turin and Nice. The road from this place runs for six miles between the two streams, to Borgo San Dalmazio, where the plains of Piedmont may be said to terminate towards the south ; for, though the elevation of this place is 1800 feet above the sea, the descent is so gradual towards Turin, that the road is observed to decline, only by marking the course of the stream. Beyond San Dalmazio, the Gesso is crossed, and the road ascends that stream to the beautiful valley of the Vermenagna, through which it passes to Limona. Here is a custom-house station, where the traveller is an- noyed by a rigorous search of his baggage. The town is situated at the foot of the Col, to which the road ascends by a rapid succession of tourni- quets. About two-thirds of the way up is seen 4 a grand work, conceived and begun by Anne, dutchess of Savoy, which, as a public undertaking, is one of the most gigantic ever attempted. Its object was, to pierce the mountain, and carry a road through it, to avoid the often dangerous and always tedious passage of the Col de Tende. Victor Amadeus, in 1782, renewed the excava- tions „and workmen were engaged upon it until 1794, when the French took possession of the pass. Its length, if it should ever be accom-PASS OF THE TENDE. 201 plished, will exceed a mile and a half; a work which, in its magnitude, will leave every similar enterprise in comparative insignificance.'* The crest of this passage of the Alps, is an ah- solute ridge, 6162 feet above the sea. The view from it is very extensive. On the north-west, the range of the high Alps present their rugged pin- nacles and snowy summits as far as the Monte Rosa. Monte Yiso is of course a noble object. In the opposite direction, the Mediterranean is faintly seen in the horizon. This Col is reckoned colder than any other pass of the Alps that is practicable for carriages, owing to its being gene- rally enveloped with clouds ; and about mid-day, there usually rises a strong wind, the serious an- noyance of which travellers may fescape by making their arrangements so as to pass the Col before noon. A little house of refuge on the summit, called the Osteria of Barraconi, is often a welcome shelter in storms. The road descends the southern declivity by a zig-zag of about sixty turns. Half way down is an inn, called La Ca, buiJt by the King of Sardinia ; attached to it is a station for the carabineers who guard the road; and here formerly were stationed the men who carried travellers in a chaise a porteur across the Co/, before the im- provement of the road. Its situation, amid the sterile and savage scenery of these mountains, is very wild. The road continues to descend by a remarkably tortuous track to the valley of the Roya, on the right bank of which is situated the town of Tende, which gives its name to the pass * Brcckedon.202 PASS OF THE TENDE. It is built on the side of a steep hill *, and the ruins of an old castle, on a knoll commanding the town and the road, but itself commanded by the abrupt pinnacles of loftier rocks, still attest its former importance under its Counts.* The town is small and dirty, but contains two good inns. The valley of the Roy a, from Tende to Foitfan, affords a contrast to the generally savage character of the country. The road then enters the wild and sombre defile of Saorgio. The town of that name is built in the heart of the defile, in a situation singularly wild and romantic, near where the road crosses the river by a single arch, at the foot of a vast rock, surmounted with a strong fort. To a traveller ascending the defile, the town is seen high above the road on the face of the mountain, its houses seeming to be hung out in front of the steep and apparently inaccessible rocks. This fort received from the French, in the war of 1793, the name of Little Gibraltar. The Austro-Sardinian garrison under General Colli repelled in that year a desperate attack, in which the French sacrificed thousands of lives; but it fell in the next cam- paign. In some parts of the defile, the road is terraced or built out on arches; in others, it is hewn from the rock which overhangs it. On ap- proaching Gendola, the valley opens, and is richly wooded, the chestnut-tree and ilex intermingling with the varied forms and hues of the caroufeier, the olive-tree and the vine. At Gendola, a post * This district passed under the dominion of the Dukes of Savoy in the fifteenth century; above a hundred years later than the first dependence of Nice upon the same Government.NICE. 203 station, there is a good inn. The road to Nice, now leaving the river, ascends by long zig-zag terraces to the Col de Brovis, 4277 feet above the sea. The Roy a flows on to Breglio, romantically situated on its left bank, half a league below Gen- dola, where the mountains rise so abruptly that, in the depth of winter, the sun cannot be seen from ""the valley. The river falls into the Mediter- ranean at Ventimiglia, about twelve miles below Breglio. From the Col di Brovis, the road de- scends upon Sospello, in the deep and richly wooded valley of the Bevera, which joins the Roya a few miles above its mouth. It then again ascends by a very winding road to the Col de Braus, 3845 feet above the sea. From the sum- mit of this wild and rugged acclivity, nothing presents itself but a wide extent of barren country, with the sea bounding the horizon. A zig-zag road, ill preserved but safe, leads down to the little valley of Lascarene, where the eye finds some relief from the barrenness of the scene ; but a dreary and stony tract succeeds, producing nothing but a few scattered and stunted olive-trees, till the traveller suddenly finds himself in the luxuri- ant plain of the Paglione, at the mouth of which stands the city of Nizza Maritima; so called to dis- tinguish it from other towns which bear the same name, by the French converted into Nice; in which forms of the word, it is difficult to recognise the classic Nt/ci/, Victoria. 4 That Nice is in Italy,' remarks an English absentee, ' I will never allow, so long as the Alps stand there to aver the contrary.' According to the same substantial argument, Savoy is not Italy.204 NICE, Both, however, are under the dominion of an Italian potentate. On crossing, by a wooden bridge, the wide arid muddy stream of the Var, the traveller from France finds himself stopped at a douane (dogana), by which he learns, that he has entered the territory of his Sardinian Majesty. The approach to Nice on the French side, is through a quarter consisting almost entirely of villas let out to visiters, and exhibiting all the pride, pomp, and circumstance of an English watering-place.* For a general description of the town, we avail ourselves of the lively pen of the author of' Sketches descriptive of Italy.' ' Nice (or more properly Nizza) is a very pretty small city, not fortified, stretching round the back of a steep, rocky mount, on which rise the ruins of an old castle. A narrow road has been cut in the front of this rock, whose base is washed by the waves, leading to the little port of the city, which is inclosed by a small pier. The river Paglione runs through Nice, and empties itself into the sea on the other side of the castle-rock. It is crossed by a respectable stone bridge; and there is a very handsome square, with open arcades all round, at the end of the town leading to the Col di Tende. It is called Piazza Yittoria, from a very pretty arch erected in honour of Victor Amadeus III., by whom that road was made. The streets are narrow and dirty, like most southern cities ; but some of the houses near the sea, and the ba&tides, or country-houses, in the immediate neighbourhood, are by no means inelegant build- * Of seventy foreign families who were at Nice in the autumn of 1821, forty were English.NICE. 205 ings. But though, taken as a whole, Nice may deserve to be ranked as a handsome city, the romantic beauty of its situation is its principal charm. It is seated at the foot of a valley, or rather plain, of a long, irregular form, watered by the little river Paglione, which pours down from the mountains with great rapidity, and frequently swells to a most tremendous height and with the most sudden fury. On the Italian side, this beau- tiful plain is bounded by that chain of lofty hills and rocky precipices which, running southward from the Alps, and terminating in bold promon- tories jutting far into the sea, form the inaccessible shore of the Gulf of Genoa, and guard Italy, as if with a fence, from the rest of Europe. To- wards France, the sloping banks rise gradually from the shore, covered with olive-trees, vines, fig-trees, mulberry-trees, and orange-trees, inter- spersed with some large American aloes and lofty palm-trees ; studded with villages, churches, and convents; and presenting, what is, perhaps, even more attractive to a northern stranger than all this richness, the green meadow which early association has rendered so lovely to his fancy, that no brighter tint, no deeper verdure, can ever efface the dear and familiar remembrance. 4 The Nissards, men, women, and children, are strikingly plain in their persons ; and this misfor- tune is rather increased by the dress of the women, which approaches to a taste justly termed fan- tastic ; the bright silk nets, pink, yellow, and blue, they wear on their heads, tend to make the olive- coloured skin below appear yet more tawny, and the distorted features yet more disgusting. The206 NICE. number of deformed persons in this little city seemed to us out of all proportion with the inhabit- ants. The Sunday after we arrived, we were driven from the cathedral by the importunity and disgusting appearance of the numerous beggars, who, at Nice, as in all Italian cities, pursue their occupation with the same industry and pertinacity in the church as in the street. ' The Nissards, after having been in training many years to be French, now suddenly turned back again to the King of Sardinia, are obliged to begin learning to be Italians again. There is, therefore, a very strange jumble in their language, manners, and appearance ; and, from the influx of English as residents, a third language, or attempt at language, is introduced. Indeed, I do them injustice in confining their languages to three; for the Nissard patois is certainly none of those I have named; nor is it a union of all, or of any two of them. The people of the Citta can almost all speak either French or Italian; but those of the Comte are frequently equally ignorant of both. 1 The environs of Nice unite all the sublimity of mountain, scenery with all the beauty of the richest cultivation. The distant snow-capped Alps rise more majestically from a fore-ground and middle distance diversified with streams, and clothed with the most lovely productions of nature. The vines are here trained horizontally on low sticks, and kept very near the ground, forming a sort of me- dium between the short, bare stems usually seen in France, and the luxuriant festoons of the Italian mode of culture. The arbutus* too, clothes the rocky banks with its brilliant and redundant ber-NICE. 207 ries, flowers, and foliage; the fig-tree spreads its broad over-shadowing leaf; the pomegranate-tree puts forth its blushing fruit, relieved by the deep shade of the orange and lemon groves; the tall palm rises occasionally, giving by its tufted top an eastern air to the landscape; and the aloe throws his gigantic arms on high. These are objects to which a northern eye requires a little time to be- come familiarized ; and to one who has never be- fore been in a southern climate, they present an aspect of no common interest, mingled with the rich vineyards, extensive olive-groves, and minor productions of Piedmont. Nor is the yet more striking and varied spectacle of sublimity which the ocean presents, wanting to complete the scenery around Nice. The wide waters of the tideless Mediterranean wash the base of the moun- tains, and stretch away along the coast, fading into the blue and aerial tints of distance ; now exhibit- ing the restless rage of a tempestuous surge, and njow reflecting every tiny leaf or over-shadowing tree that grows by their side.'* Nice enjoys, in common with Montpellier, the reputation of a peculiarly genial climate; and in fact, the orange-trees vouch for the mildness of the winters in this sheltered situation. For invalids suffering under pectoral complaints, however, Mr. Matthews considers Montpellier as one of the worst, and Nice as perhaps the Very worst in the world. There is almost always a clear blue sky, but the air is pure, keen, and piercing, very irri- tating to weak lungs; and you are constantly * Sketches of Italy, vol. i. pp. 128—131; 146—8.208 THE CORNICE. exposed either to the bise or to the marin, the one bringing cold, and the other damp.* This Traveller recommends Pisa or Rome, as the best places for a winter residence to persons la- bouring under any complaints of the chest. Genoa offers, with a climate similar to that of Nice, the resources of a large and splendid city ; but there is sometimes rough weather there in the winter. The traveller proceeding from Nice to Genoa, has his choice of three ways ; by sea, by way of the Col di Tende and Turin, and along the Cor- nice,—the name given to the maritime pass. By this latter route, the invalid who leaves England even in the depth of winter, may reach the genial cli- mate of Italy without encountering the Alps. The road is carried along the shores, or round the bold and beautiful capes which project their precipitous fronts to the sea. ' From these capes,' says Mr. Brockedon, * the bays which indent the coast, are successively presented to the view of the traveller, as he winds in his carriage round the promonto- ries, over a road of admirable construction, where, a few years ago, a mule's back would have been considered as a dangerous station, on the narrow paths and giddy heights which overhang the sea/ This road was begun under the government of Napoleon, in 1806 ; but it was not till 1827, that it was completed so as to be practicable for car- pages the whole -way. Almost immediately after leaving Nice, the road winds round the back of one of the precipices which, on that side of the city, border on the sea. * Matthews's Diary, p. 388.THIS CORNICE. 209 For some miles, it ascends a ravine, on emerging from which, it is carried along the cliffs at the height of about 1500 feet above the Mediterranean. One of the finest views upon the coast, is presented from part of the road above the village of Eza, The traveller looks down upon this remarkable village, situated on the summit of a conical hill, crowned with the picturesque ruins of an old castle, rising from among the houses, and surrounded with deep ravines and hills : far below lies the flat cape of St. Hospicio, spread out like a map ; still further, the bays of Villa Franca and Nice ; and beyond these, the land and the, islands of St. Marguerite, off the coast»of Antibes and Frejus.* In proceeding along this elevated part of the road, the extraordinary contrast presented by the long, flat line of the ocean on the one hand, and the peaked and varied sum- mits of the mountains on the other, is very strik- ing; while, directly below him, the traveller sees precipitous rocks, intermingled with olive-yards and vineyards. The little city of Monaco has a very picturesque * To a traveller approaching Nice from Genoa, the views of the city and the rich plain, which present themselves as he descends, are strikingly beautiful. The fort of Montal- ban on the left, and the insulated rock which divides the city of Nice from Villa Franca, are fine features of the scene. A very rich and extensive view is obtained also from the summit of the hill above the fort of Montalban, compre- hending the windings of the coast from the Estrelle moun- tains to the point of Monaco, including six bays; that of Cannes, where Napoleon disembarked from Elba in 1815, with the island of St. Marguerite, on which stands the state prison where the Man in the Iron Mask was once confined ; that of Antibes, the ancient Antipolis; and those of Nice, Villa Franca, St. Hospicio, and Monaco.210 THE CORNICE. effect, seated on a low promontory jutting far out into the sea. The lines of the fortifications have an appearance of strength, particularly at the ex- tremity of the rock towards the sea ; but a single mortar placed on the hill above, might batter down the whole city in half an hour. Just over Monaco, at the "height of sixteen hundred feet above the Mediterranean, is the village of La Turbia, remarkable for the ruins of one of the finest Roman monuments on this coast; the Trophma Avgusti, raised on the summit.of the Maritime Alp, to commemorate the conquests of Augustus over the Alpine nations, and to mark the boundary of Italy. It appears to have been a structure of two stories, adorned with marble columns and bas-reliefs, and sur- mounted with a statue of the emperor. The Lombards commenced the destruction of this magnificent edifice, by converting it into a for- tress ; and its ruin was completed by Marshal de Villars. A vast mass of masonry still remains erect, having the appearance of a decayed watch-tower. The ground is strewn with blocks of stone ; and the village of La Turbia has been built out of the wreck of this spendid trophy, of which its name seems to be a corruption. Fragments of sculptured and inscribed marbles are found built into the walls of the church and village, which occupy the site of the ancient Villa Martis, the reputed birth-place of the emperor Pertinax. A little further on, the village of Rocca-Bruno is seen, perched on the declivities of a perpendicular rock, at least 1000 feet above the sea, and eommu-THE CORNICE. 211 nicating with the land by means of a path cut in traverses along the opposite and almost equally steep declivity. There is generally something very striking and picturesque in the aspect of an Italian village. In France, the villages not unfrequently appear 4 as if the houses had been shaken together in a bag, then tumbled out to stand as chance directed.' In Italy, they are usually built crowding one above another in tall rows, on the steep accli- vity or round the summit of some rock, their white walls, unsullied by smoke, shining bright beneath a cloudless sky. But, on entering these pictu- resque dwellings, windows without glass, rooms without furniture, dirt, poverty, and idleness, every where present the frightful signs of all that is wretched in the condition of the inhabitants. More desolate, forbidding human habitations than the generality of those occupied by the Italian villagers, it is not easy to conceive of. They are almost always half in ruins; yet, not the less perhaps, from that very circumstance, the bold stone work, the projecting ledges, low roofs and arches, and windows like port-holes, furnish good subjects for the pencil. A little beyond the wildly situated village of Rocca Bruno, a road leads off to Monaco, descending amid vineyards and olive-grounds, and shady groves of mulberry-trees, orange and citron- trees, bergamots, services, and caroubiers, that exhale delicious odours. The views of the little bay and town, through occasional openings, are highly picturesque. Monaco, the ancient Portus Herculis Monceci,* gives its name to a petty prin- * 1 The name of Moncecus, given to Hercules, who was212 THE CORNICE. cipality, containing three towns and a population of about 6500 souls. The Prince of Monaco is a member of the Grimaldi family, who have enjoyed this title and dignity since the tenth century, under the protection, successively, of France and his Sardinian Majesty. Monaco itself contains about 1100 inhabitants. The territory extends along the~coast eight miles further eastward, to Mentone, styled by Mr. Brockedon 4 a pleasant, rich, and populous little town.' An excellent carriage road now leads to it over Cape St. Martin, a tongue of land occupied by a pleasure-house, gardens, and chase belonging to the prince. This situation, a French Geographer tells us, ' offers beauties so romantic, a solitude so calm, an air so pure, and excites emotions so sweet and melancholy, that an English enthusiast asked and obtained permission to build a tomb there for his family!' Between Mentone and Savona, the road was, till of late, passable only for mules. About a mile from Mentone, the traveller passes one of the noblest works on this route, the Pont St. Louis; a single arch of great span, thrown across the deep ravine of the Baussi Rossi. 4 To have a just idea of the magnificence of this undertaking,' says Mr. Brockedon, 4 it is necessary to enter a vine- worshipped here, shews, as Strabo observes, the Greek origin of this place. Fabulous accounts attributed its foundation to Hercules himself. The harbour is well de- scribed by Lucan (Phars. I. 405), and Silius Italicus (I. 585)."—Cramer's Italy, vol. i. p. 23. Why this appellation (Monoecus, solitary, or dwelling alone) was given to Hercules, has puzzled learned antiquaries. The word which has been thus Hellenized, is probably no other than the Celtic monach, mountainous; a name descriptive of the rocky territory.THE CORNICE. 213 yard on the lower side of the bridge. The wild aspect of the gorge is thence very striking. Nume- rous caverns, and one of great magnitude, open into this dark and deep recess, above which, the pinnacled and sterile rocks rise to an appalling height. Half way down the ravine, an old aque- duct serves to convey a small stream which issues from the fissures, to some terraces which have been planted with vines; whilst on the other brink of the ravine, upon which the traveller stands, he is shadowed by the vines of a delicious muscat grape, and perfumed by the flowers of the jasmine, which grow luxuriantly around him.' The Pont St. Louis was finished during the reign of Napoleon. Upon its completion, the prefect and officers of the department of the Maritime Alps, gave a dinner to a large party in the great cavern, where iEolus himself might be supposed to have held his court.* Some striking scenery presents itself on ap- proaching the town of Mortole. The road is carried along the edge of the cliff, and makes a detour in order to avoid a deep ravine, beyond which are seen the town of Ventimiglia and the coast as far as Capo Nero. Immediately below Ventimiglia, the action of the sea upon a soft soil, has given to the cliff a thousand fantastic forms ; and the thick entangling of the Indian fig, with clusters of palm-trees, impart to the scene some- what of an Asiatic character. Ventimiglia, under the name of Albium Inte- meliurn, was formerly a city of some size and note, * Brockedon. The rocks and caverns of the Baussi Rossi are particularly described by Saussure.214 THE CORNICE. the capital of the Ligures Intemelii, and a munici- pium. It belonged, in more modern times, to Provence, when that country was under the domi- nion of the illustrious Joan of Naples ; by whom it was sold to the Genoese, and it became the western frontier of the territory of the Republic.* A series of steep zig-zag terraces leads down from the town to the wide bed of the Roja or Rotta (the ancient Rutuba), flowing from the Col de Tende, which is crossed by a half-ruined bridge. In this plain, the large reed which is found in moist places all along this coast, attains a great height: it is very useful for fences, poles, and other purposes, where there is a scarcity of wood. After crossing the plain, the road ascends to th% village of Bordi- ghera, near which, on the wide sandy beach, are some beautiful groves of palm-trees, giving an eastern air to the landscape. These trees are, however, seldom seen in a natural state. To blanch the leaves, and make them more marketable, the trees are tied up, so as to present a most unpictu- resque appearance. They are cultivated as articles of commerce, to supply Rome and other Italian cities, and even parts of Germany, with palm- branches for the ceremonies of the church on Palm Sunday. Th§ fruit of the palm (the date) never ripens here. A bold road, overhanging the sea, winds round the Capo Nero to San Remo, after Genoa and * Brockedon. Cramer's Italy, vol. i. p. 23. The Rotta is supposed to have been the western boundary of Liguria but the Intemelii were a Ligurian race, and the trophy of Augustus, on the summit of the Alpes Maritimce, marked the. limits of Italy and Gaul.THE CORNICE 215 Savon a the most populous town of Liguria, con- taining above 15,000 inhabitants. It is finely- situated on the declivity of a mountain, and seems to consist chiefly of convents. To that of St. Francis de Sales, on the shore, many young women are sent to be educated from all the States of Sardinia. An old monastery belonging to the Jesuits, served in 1827 as an inn. On the brow of a hill to the right stands the palace of the Princess Borgia, commanding a fine view of the ocean. Oranges, citrons, and lemons are so abun- dant here, as to be articles of commerce. The costume and the patois of the place are both pe- culiar. The next sixteen miles, from San Remo to Porto Maurizio must be endured by the traveller ' as a foil to the general beauty of the scenes along this coast/ This part of the route is sterile, dull, and uninteresting, chiefly lying along a wild, open moor descending to the sea. Capes and coves succeed each other amid dreary and barren scenes; and heaps of sea-weed, collected for fodder* indi- 'ate the poverty of the land. Porto Maurizio is Snely situated on a bold promontory, on the summit of which a noble church, with its arcades and spires, forms a beautiful object. At its foot, the Fiume di Maurizio is crossed by a ferry. A mile beyond is Oneglia, a town famous for its rich and extensive olive-groves. Its ruined mo- nasteries and fine churches have a very striking effect when looked back upon from the other side of the town. To the left is seen the monastery of San Sebastiano, with its numerous Gothic windows and arcades, and crumbling walls, beyond which216 THE CORNICE, rise the lofty snowy domes of the Alps. The principality of Oneglia was* sold by the Doria family to the King of Sardinia in the fourteenth century; and here the celebrated Andrea Doria was born in 1468. After doubling another cape, the traveller reaches the valley and village of Marino di Diana, where a beautiful little cove offers a secure shelter to vessels overtaken by the sudden storms of the Mediterranean. The Cas- tello di Diana, seated upon a hill about two miles from the shore, is supposed to occupy the site of a temple of Diana, of which, however, no vestiges remain. The road now ascends through the narrow and wretched village of Cervo, and is carried round the Capo di Cervo ; it then descends to the bed of a torrent near the village of Marino d'Andora, and again rises to double the Capo delle Melle, whence a beautiful view is obtained of the Bay of Langueglia, with Allassio and the island of Gallinara in the distance.* Langueglia (pro- nounced by the natives Languaggia) with its round fort, has a neat appearance, like most Ita- lian towns, at a distance. It stands on the sandy beach, consisting chiefly of a long, narrow street, with very high arches extending over it from house to house: the effect is like passing under a canal.f The road thence runs along the beach to * This island, which lies between Allassio and Albenga, received its name, according to Varro, from the number of turkeys found there, produced from a few that had been left by some sailors. f San Steffauo, on the banks of the roaring Taggia, between S. Remo and Porto Maurizio, is built in the same manner.THE CORNICE. 21? Allassio, a long, straggling town, rich and po- pulous. The inhabitants, whose chief employment is the coral fishery, have a striking air of inde- pendence ; and on no part of the coast, Mr. Brockedon says, is the character of the people more decidedly maritime. 4 The cap of the sailor of the Mediterranean, which is usually represented upon the engraved heads of Ulysses, is still uni- versally worn here. The women of middle age are generally bald, owing to the practice of draw- ing all their hair to a knot on the top of the head. The reputation of the Ligurians for dishonesty, is recorded by Diodorus ; and the people of Allassio do not seem ambitious of a higher character/ Persons are cautioned against travelling alone or by night in their neighbourhood. Another rocky headland, over which an excel- lent road has lately been carried, divides this bay from that of Albenga.x The town of that name, the Albiurn Ingaunum of the Romans, was once a place of importance, and several ancient ves- tiges remain: the principal one is a bridge built by Proculus, who was a native of the place.* The Arosoia (the Merula of Pliny), winding through the plain, falls into the sea near the foot of the promontory. The road now skirts the bay, amid scenes of luxuriant beauty, passing through the, towns of Ceriale, Borghetta, Lovano, and La Pietra. The plain is very rich, and covered with orchards and garden grounds. The figs are very large and dark A species of apple called pomi- * Having gained great riches as a pirate, he caused himself to be proclaimed emperor in Gaul, for which hs was raised by the Emperor Probus to the gibbet, VOL. I. o218 THE CORNICE. carliy is much boasted of. The vine, the olive- tree, the pomegranate, the tamarisk, carrots, and maize, are also cultivated, and form a most luxurious mixture. Hemp is also grown in the marshes. Hills in every varied form of beauty, with villages climbing their sides and crowning their summits, the high campanili stretching up their long towers, the whole backed by the fine peaked summits of the Maritime Alps,—such is the scene which presents itself from the various points commanding a view of the plain. The finest view, however, is obtained from the bare and rocky cape called Capra Zoppo, which se- parates the Bay of Albenga from that of Finale. Here, looking towards the sea, the white lateen sails of the barks are seen sparkling like gems; beneath is the long white curve of the beach, dividing the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean from the rich vegetation of the plain ; while land- ward, the view is bounded by the Apennines and distant Alps. Finale is capable of being made an excellent port. The jealous Genoese, fearing that the Duke of Savoy would purchase the Marquisate of Finale of the House of Austria for this object, bought it, in 1713, for 200,000 pieces of silver. The town is well built, and stands at the mouth of a rich valley. It is called Finale Marina, to distinguish it from Finale Borgo, half a league up the country. The new road, which, in 1826, had been carried no further from Genoa than Finale, now enters the precipitous rock which forms the Capo di Noli, by a gallery 500 feet in length. This cape is con- sidered by sailors as very dangerous, particularlyTHE CORNICE. 219 on the eastern side, in which aspect every cape along this coast presents a most rugged appear- ance. The little fishing-town of Noli, which is deeply imbayed between the capes of Noli and Vado, has the honour of having once been an independent republic. Its castle is a very pic- turesque object. Noli is supposed to be the Ad Navalia of the Itinerary of Antoninus ; although Mr, Cramer fixes that station at Arenzano. A fine ~oad is now carried round the headland which separates the Bay of Noli from that of Yado. Mr. Forsyth, who was driven into Noli by rough weather, in attempting the voyage from Nice to Genoa in a felucca, describes his route from that place as lying over a mountain which modern geographers class among the Apennines, though I). Brutus ranks it as the last of the Alps. 4 This pass,' he adds, ' which appeared to Dante one of the four worst in Italy, brought us round the pro- montory to a gap in the summit, where a hurri- cane, meeting us with all the advantage of a blast-tube, threatened to blow us back into the sea/* Vado, the ancient Vada Sabatia,f is situated in a bay which affords a small but secure harbour, around which are some remarkable ca- verns. It has a fort, which defends the coast. From Vado, the road lies over a fertile plain covered with villages and gardens, to Savona, the * Forsyth, vol. i. p. 2. | The name (Vada Sabatorum, Sabatia, or Sabata) marks, Mr. Cramer tells us, the shallow and muddy nature of the shore. Here Antony halted after his defeat near Modena. —Craftier, vol. i. p. 24. Cicero describes it as lying inter Apenninum ct A/pes, impeditissimvs ad iter faciendum. O 2220 THE CORNICE. second city in the Genoese territory, with a po- pulation of about 10,000 souls. It has struggled to rival the importance of Genoa itself; but the jealousy of the chief city has always been on the alert to check its aggrandisement; and when Savona was taken by the King of Sardinia in 1746, its harbour was partly filled up, to gratify the Genoese.* The fine old castle, defending the port, was, during the last wars, for some time occupied by English troops.f Savona had formerly ex- tensive manufactories of earthenware and soap; but its commerce and prosperity have long been on the decline. The town is well built, containing four handsome parish churches', besides con- ventual establishments and hospitals; but the streets are narrow, like those of Genoa, crooked, and badly paved with brick. The inhabitants boast of the number of distinguished persons to whom their city has given birth. Among these are two pontiffs (Sixtus IV. and Julius II.), five saints, and fifteen cardinals, together with a * Savona had two harbours; one spacious and secure, which was filled up by the Genoese; the other is small and difficult of approach, from the accumulation of mud and sand at its entrance. f ' The shipping lies safely moored under the Blessed Virgin, on the pedestal of whose statue is an inscription at once Latin and Italian, which the Mediterranean seamen sing in storms :— " In mare irato, in subita procel/a> Invoco te, nostra Benigna Stella /" ' —Forsyth, vol. i. p. 3. The protection of the Madonna, proved unavailing, however, when, in 1746, sixteen French and Spanish vessels, laden with military stores, were sunk in the harbour by the bombs of a British squadron.THE CORNICE 221 swarm of bishops. Their claims, however, Mr. Brockedon remarks, cannot be regarded as altogether free from suspicion, since they include also among the natives of their cfty, the Emperor Pertinax, who was born at Alba Pompeia, and Columbus, whose birth-place was certainly not Savona. Chiabrera, the lyric poet, of whom they might be justly proud, is forgotten in his native city. The people speak better Italian here, than at Genoa; and they mostly understand French * Prior to 1810, the only road between Savona and Genoa was, as far as Voltri, a difficult and dangerous path, little frequented,f and nearly all communication was carried on by water. The road which was then made, is one of the finest in Europe, except where it passes through narrow, dirty villages, or across the fords of torrents, over which bridges have not yet been thrown. The impetuosity of the torrents, after rain, renders it difficult indeed to construct bridges near the estua- * The best account of Savona will be found in CA Spinster's Tour/ pp. 383—414. This Writer adopts the oft-repeated error, however, that the name of soap is taken from this city. It would be a more plausible supposition, that it took its name from its soap-manufactories. The word soap is of uncertain etymology, but may be traced through the forms of the Latin sapo, Italian sapone, Arabic sctbun, Portuguese abau, French savon. The Gaelic sabh, salve, is apparently the same word. Savona, however, is probably of similar derivation with Saone and Save. We suspect that the original root would be found to refer to oil or the olive, like the Hebrew shemen. f Addison^ who was driven into Savona by rough weather, and obliged to make the best of his way to Genoa by land, speaks of the road as 'much more difficult than that over Mount Cenis.'222 THE CORNICE. ries along this coast, capable of resisting the floods. There is not much to interest the traveller in this part of the route, besides the rich character of the vegetation. Except in a few situations, there are scarcely any timber trees, the olive-tree * being most frequently seen, which is only a shrub ; the myrtle, the orange-tree, the white cistus, and the aloe also abound. The latter is seen growing in every nook of the rocks; while the tamarisk dips its graceful foliage almost into the waves; and the ground is enamelled, in May, with orchis, heath, and white poppies. The Gulf of Genoa itself presents the most exquisite colouring, and has been elegantly styled by a female Traveller, * a vast prism.' One spot upon this route, though only a small fishing village, derives historical interest from being the reputed birth-place of Christopher Co- lumbus. This is Cogoleto, about 18 miles M>m Genoa, where they shew the house, and even the chamber, in which the great Navigator is said to have been born. It is at the back of the house, looking out upon the sea,—the element upon which he was destined to win himself an immortal name. On the front of the house are painted the following inscriptions: i. * Con generoso ardir dall' Area all' onde, Ubbidiente il vol Colomba prende, * e Above us rose the bald and burnt tops of the Apen nines, the sides of which were cut into narrow terraces, and planted with olive-trees. Here, the olive receives the best cultivation, and finds that schistous, slaty, loose, broken ground, and those craggy hills, which Virgil recommends for trees.'—Forsyth, vol 1. p. 3.the cornice. 223 Corre, s'aggira, terren scopre, e fronde D'olivo in segno, al gran No6 ne rende. L' imita in cid Colombo, ne s' asconde, E da sua patria il mar solcando fende; Terren o alfin scoprendo diede fondo, Gtierendo all' Ispano un nuovo Mondo. Li 2 Dicembre, 1650. Prete Antonio Colombo.' - ii. ' Hospes siste gradum: Fuit hic lux prima Columbo Orbe viro majori; lieu! nimis arcta Domus I' hi. ' Unus erat mundus: Duo sunt, ait iste, fuere.' * * We copy these inscriptions from Mr. Brockedon's Illustrations. In a note, the Writer adverts to the able inquiry instituted by Mr. Washington Irving, in his Life of Columbus, respecting his birth-place which has given rise, in Italy, to a long and acrimonious controversy. Claims have been advanced to the honour, on behalf of Cuccaro, a castle in Montferrat, and Praftello, a village of the vale of Nura, near Piacenza, am well as Savona and several other places in the Genoese territory. Mr. living's researches have invalidated all these claims, except those of Genoa itself and Cogoleto. It appears, that Columbus's grandfather was of Quinto; his family possessed a small house at Terra Rossa, between Quinto and Nervi; his father lived a short time at Mulcento; and he had relations residing at Cogoleto. Mr. Irving, who considers the strongest evidence to be in favour of the city of Genoa itself, admits, that one, if not both, of the two admirals with whom Colum- bus sailed, was a native of Cogoleto; and the preservation of the portrait of the Great Discoverer by the families at Cogoleto, is strongly in their favour. It is true, that Columbus speaks of himself as a native of Genoa, and of the Republic of Genoa as his beloved country. But Mr. Brockedon remarks, that every native of the State, from Sarzanne to Ventimiglia, calls himself a Genoese. * That the State of Genoa attaches belief to the evidence that Cogoleto224 THE CORNICE. Voltri is a little coast-town, one stage (about eight miles) from Genoa. Here is a bridge over the Chierusa, which has been partly destroyed by the floods; and the traveller is obliged to pass through one of the arches, instead of over it. Some of the remaining arches have been converted into dwellings, and have an odd appearance. About three miles up the valley are large paper-mills, which have been established time out of mind; and the Voltri paper is much esteemed. Long before turning the Pharos point which conceals the city, the light-house of Genoa is seen, marking its situation. At length, the city itself bursts upon the view, sweeping round the bay in the form of an amphitheatre, backed by a line of hills, and, together with its harbour crowded with masts, and the venerable fortifications which defend the bay, presenting a very noble and striking appearance. Reserving a description of this city for our next chapter, we shall#occupy the remainder of the present with an account of the more familiar route to Genoa from Turin, which will complete our description of Piedmont Leaving Turin by the magnificent bridge over the Po, the traveller for some miles ascends that river by a beautiful road, under gentle eminences covered with vineyards, villas, churches, and mo- nasteries ; and then, traversing the open plain, he reaches at Asti, (23 miles from Turin,) the banks of the Tanaro, flowing from the Apennines. About was the place of his nativity, is shewn by the fact, that a civil officer (a propose) is stationed there, a part of whose duty it is to shew the house to strangers.'FROM TURIN TO GENOA. 225 half way is a town called Villa Nuova, which, from the remains of fortifications, appears to have been at one time a place of some consequence. Asti (Asta Colonia) is an episcopal city, with a population estimated at 21,000 souls. It is sur- rounded with vineyards which produce the best wine of Piedmont. Its extensive walls are now in a ruinous condition; and of the hundred towers for which it once was famous, scarcely thirty re- main, which seem nodding to their fall. Asti was almost destroyed by the Emperor Frederic Barba- rossa in 1154, in pursuance of his plan for humbling the Italian States. It was so flourishing, however, in the thirteenth century, as to be able to cope with the forces of Charles I. of Naples. In the four- teenth century, it formed part of the territory of the lords of Milan, and was transferred, as the dowry of a Milanese princess, to the Duke of Orleans. It remained under the dominion of the French till the year 1529, when it was ceded, by the treaty of Cambray, to the Emperor, who made it over to Emmanuel of Savoy. Addison (in 1700) speaks of it as i the frontier town* of the Duke's dominions.* Asti is under the special protection of a saint of singular name, to whom the cathedral is dedicated, San Secondo.t It boasts, moreover, of containing the paternal mansion of one who, ♦ Addison's Remarks on Italy, p. 252. Asti belonged to the dutchy of Montferrat, a fief of the empire, the possession of which was confirmed to the House of Savoy by the peace of Utrecht. It is now included in the division of Ales- sandria. f Accordingly, the city seal bore this couplet as a legend: ' Asta title/ mundof Sancto custode Secundo. o 5226 ASTI. though no saint, enjoys a still higher reputation in Italy, the Conte Vittorio Alfieri. In the manners and costume of the inhabitants of this city, the traveller from the other side of the Alps may perceive the first decided marks of his having reached another region. On the road, he may have marked a peculiarity in the dress of the pea- sants, in the form of their waggons, and in the singu- lar high yoke of their pretty cream-coloured oxen, 1 gravely pacing along in trappings like the adored Apis.' But in the streets and market-place of Asti, everything indicates a change in the national usages and habits. 4 The profusion of beautiful fruits ar- ranged in stalls with much effect, and served by pretty, sprightly women, whose gipsy counte- nances become the large double handkerchief care- lessly tied over their black, w^ll-parted hair, or left to fall lightly on the shoulders; the various forms, and devices, and shades of the maccaroni; the profusion of fancy bread, without one butcher's or poulterer's stall intervening; bespeak the simple taste of the people; while the portiera in place of doors, the apparatus for making lemonade at every house of refreshment, the outer-closed shutters or long blinds, more general than at Turin, announce the nearer approach to a tropical climate.'* From Asti, the route lies over the rich, undulat- ing country on the left side of the Tanaro, which winds among the hills to Alessandria, distant (by the road) about 26 miles. This is a handsome city, containing about 30,000 inhabitants. It is said to derive its name from Pope Alexander III., by * Spinster's Tour, p. 315.ALESSANDRIA. 227 whom it was made an episcopal see, in 1168. To this has been added the surname of Delia Paglict,— the natives say, on account of the fertility of the country; others, that it was given to it in con- tempt, by Frederic Barbarossa; a third explana- tion is, that it was customary to crown here, with a straw diadem, the emperor elect; and a fourth, that the inhabitants, for want of wood, are obliged to heat their ovens with straw !* The reader may choose between these explanations. The city has been famous for the sieges it has sustained, al- though it has been repeatedly taken. But the wars of other times are now forgotten in the more recent events which have given celebrity to the field of Marengo. On the bare plain of the Tanaro, Na- poleon gained that decisive victory over the Aus- trians, which takes its name from a village about a league from this city. On the surrender of Ales- sandria, the Conqueror made it a condition, that its walls should be destroyed ; and the jnasses of * Pennington, vol- i. p. 295. Spinster's Tour, p. 319. Starke's Directions, p. 120. We know not whence the last- mentioned writer drew her information, that the ancient name of the city was Alexandria Statelliorum. According to Alberti, (a Bolognese writer cited by the Spinster,) the city was built in 1178, by the Milanese, the Placen- tians, and the Cremonese, after Frederic Barbarossa had laid waste their respective territories. They gave it the name of Cesaria; and in a few years, the new town grew into such size and strength as to excite the Emperor's jea- lousy, and induce him to lay siege to it. The refugees de- fended their strong hold so valiantly, that, at the end of six months, the tyrant drew off his troops; and the valiant Ce- sarians were rewarded by Pope Alexander, by having their town raised to the rank of an episcopal see, and dignified with the name of his Holiness.228 ALESSANDRIA. ruin winch they present, shew that they must once have been capable of making a stout defence. The citadel was formerly reckoned one of the strongest places in Europe, It is now occupied partly as a garrison station, and partly as a prison for felons condemned to hard labour. The city still boasts also of a handsome royal palace, though the sove- reign rarely visits it, except in journeying to Genoa. In its general effect, one Traveller tells us, Ales- sandria pleases more than any other town in this part of the country. 4 The streets, especially that of Marengo, are spacious, airy, and well-built. Its principal square is very handsome, and planted all round with double rows of acacia, under the spreading shade of which the people lounge on benches, and the fruit and vegetable women range their stalls and baskets. The churches are hand- some, though not as richly adorned as at Turin. The bridge over the Tanaro is covered, and has the effect of a fine corridor.* The shops display the usual abundance of food and manufactures, but little of fancy or ornament. The people are frank and civil, and the women more studious of dress than their lively-looking neighbours of Asti.' Very bright stuffs of various colours, fancifully made, large gold necklaces and ear-rings, braided hair fastened with ornamented bodkins, form the attractive costume of even the market-women. The hotel in the Contrada di Marengo, is highly praised by this Traveller. The dining-room, with * Jt rests upon 62 arches, some of which are said to have been stopped up by the French, to increase the rapidity of the stream, and prevent the Austrian^ from crossing JALESSANDRIA 229 its well-painted ceiling, halls tastefully frescoed* and magnificent pier-glasses, would be thought handsome for a ball-room in England. The dinner would have 4 shamed an alderman's feast,' com- prising every luxury from every Italian State, with steaks of beef and joints of mutton to suit the taste of Milor Anglais. With this abundance were united the requisites of cleanliness, alert attendance, and moderate charges. Altogether, this Trav eller was charmed with Alessandria and its inhabit- ants.* About a mile from the town, the route crosses, by a neat bridge, the broad and rapid Bormida, which flows into the Tanaro; and half a league further, reaches the albergo of Marengo. The obelisk erected on the spot where Desaix fell, has been taken down by order of his Sardinian Majesty; and no trophy of victory or trace of conflict now remains on these tranquil plains. Marengo and the neighbouring town of Toro are said to have been of some note in early times ; and many an- cient vestiges remained, before Alessandria drew away their population, and reduced them to incon- siderable hamlets. Beyond Marengo, the road divides; one branch running on to Tortona and Parma, while the Genoa road turns more to the southward, and leads to Novi, where it meets the Milan road. Here, the traveller quits Piedmont, and enters the Genoese territory. Novi (which is said to take its name from having had nine towers) is situated at the foot of the Apennines, in the midst of vineyards. The town is tolerably well f Spinster's Tour, pp. 316—318. ' Alessandria/ says Eustace, ' is merely a fortress.' Was he ever there ?230 ALESSANDRIA. built, containing several noble mansions belonging to opulent citizens of Genoa, who spend the autumn here. The population is estimated at 8000 souls. One tower only of the old castle remains, crowning an eminence. The old road from Novi passed over the rugged summit of the Bocchetta, wind- ing through some beautiful mountain scenery. The new road is far less picturesque, but much more easy, being carried over chaussees and along mountain terraces, to Campo Marone; whence a delightful drive of ten miles, through a beautiful country, studded with villas and chateaux, and wa- tered by the Polcevera, leads to Genoa. At Rovi- sola, the Mediterranean bursts on the view in all its grandeur; then, turning short, the traveller comes to the beautiful suburb of S. Pietro d Arena; and proceeding along the sea shore, passes under the high rock of the light-house, skirts the harbour, and, passing through several gates, finds himself in the once proud capital of Liguria.GENOA.. 231 CHAPTER IV GENOA. * The first sight of Genoa from the sea/ remarks Mr. Simond, 4 is certainJy very fine ; and we saw it under favourable circumstances, when the last rays of the setting suji shed over it the richest golden tints of evening. Two gigantic piers pro- ject into the sea, and a light-house of stupendous proportions stands picturesquely on the point of a rock. An abrupt hill rises behind, bare and brown, and speckled all over with innumerable white dots, being country-houses within the walls. This hill, which, in a semi-circle of twelve miles, contains many times more ground than the town covers, is so completely burnt up, that its colour has been compared to that of a creme au chocolat. As to the celebrated amphitheatre of palaces, said to be displayed from the sea, they were scarcely visible behind the red and green buildings which surround the port, themselves hid in part by a huge wall standing between them and the water. The interior of the town consists of extremely narrow streets, mere lanes, eight or ten feet wide, between immensely high palaces. When you look up, their cornices appear almost to touch across232 GENOA. the street, scarcely leaving a strip of blue sky between. These streets, too steep as well as too narrow for carriages, are at least clean, cool, and quiet. Many of them have in the middle, a brick causey two or three feet wide, for the convenience of mules and of porters going up loaded; for they are not practicable for carts. The sides are paved with flat stones for the con- venience of the numerous walkers. ' Two streets are accessible to carriages. One of them, the Strada Balbi, is entirely formed of palaces more magnificent than those of Rome,v neater certainly, and less gloomy and neglected ; but, when I say neater, I mean the interior, for the gates are, in the same maimer, a receptacle of filth. These palaces are each built round a court, and the best apartments are on the third floor, for the benefit of light and air. The roof, being flat, is adorned with shrubs and trees, as myrtle, pome- granate, orange-tree, lemon-tree, and oleanders twenty-five feet high, growing not in boxes only, but in the open ground several feet deep, brought hither and supported on arches. Fountains of water play among these artificial groves, and keep up their verdure and shade during the heat of summer. Some of the terraces, on a level with apartments paved with the same marble, decorated with the same plants, and lighted at night, appear to be a continuation of the rooms ; but, looking up, you see the stars over head, instead of a painted ceiling. 4 A plan of the city in the year 1364, still ex- tant, is curious, from the number of fortified dwellings and high towers for the purpose ofGENOA* 233 defence, during the mad period of domestic war- fare between Guelfs and Ghibelines. Thqse structures have wholly disappeared, and a new architectural progeny has succeeded, remarkable for beauty, taste, and magnificence, but not for strength. Neither Rome nor Venice offers any thing comparable with the profusion of marble columns, marble statues, marble walls, and marble stairs, of whole rows of palaces here, or with the pictures which they contain.....Genoa exhibits fewer remains of ancient splendour than Venice, but more actual wealth and comfort. We read of the decline of Genoa, but we see that of Venice. The churches here appear nothing after those of Rome ; yet, several of them would be beautiful, if less profusely gilt and over fine. The Annonciata, for instance, suggested the idea of a gold snuff-* box. The walls of some of these churches, in the interior, are striped with red and white marble ; but the cathedral is striped outside with red and black. 4 The Exchange, where the noble merchants of Genoa formerly assembled to carry on their mighty trade, is now shewn as a curiosity. When we saw it, market-women were there, selling cherries by the pound ; and at night, the steps and marble balustrade between the columns, were black with vagrants and beggars lying all of a heap asleep. 4 The Albergo de Poveri is an institution of great apparent utility, and at any rate, exhibits great public munificence, the beauties of archi- tecture being there united to perfect convenience. Fifteen or sixteen hundred individuals, orphans and old people, find shelter there, and the latter especially sleep single in spacious dormitories:234 GENOA. they are not obliged to work. As to the children, they are brought up to different trades carried on in the house ; and at a proper age, they are allowed half the proceeds of their labour, with which they purchase their own clothing, and part of their food, soup and bread only being found in the house. Oftly forty or fifty children out of the whole number (about one thousand) could read and write: the reason assigned was, that it would re- quire too many masters to teach them all. Genoa has several hospitals for the sick of all nations, who are indiscriminately admitted. I visited the principal one, founded and supported by private donations, and adorned with numerous busts and statues perpetuating the memory of its noble be- nefactors. There was space and cleanliness. The sick lay single in beds four feet apart, the open space between the double row about twenty feet, and the ceilings very high ;—not the least offensive smell, even in the ward of the wounded.* * Forsyth, who has given only a very brief and hasty sketch of Genoa, from recollection, speaks of its hospitals as vying in magnificence with its palaces, and as seeming more than sufficient for all the disease and misery that should exist in so small a State ; forgetting that they were not exclusively designed for native objects. In these busts and statues,—the 1 pompous and uniform effigies of rich men,' he saw nothing to interest hipi; but at the Albergo de' Poveri, there is a sculpture of a higher order; i a dead Christ in alto relievo, by Michael Angelo. The life and death which he has thrown into this little thing, the breathing tenderness of the Virgin, and the heavenly composure of the corpse, appeared to me beauties foreign to the tremendous genius of the artist.' This medallion is in the chapel attached to the institution, and seems to have been generally overlooked, although the finest piece of sculpture of which Genoa can boast.GENOA. 235 * A bridge one hundred feet high, unites two elevated parts of the town, passing with three giant strides over houses six stories high, which do not come up to the spring of the arches. This is the work of one of the princely citizens of Genoa in the sixteenth century. The same individual (or one of the same family, the Sauli) erected at the end of the bridge a noble structure in the best taste, the church of Sta. Maria Carignano: the architect was Perugino. Four colossal statues by Puget * adorn the nave ; but affectation arid exag- geration appeared to me the most conspicuous features or these chefi-d'oeuvre. It is certainly well worth while to go up to the cupola, for the extensive view over sea and land,—mostly over the semi-circular and amphitheatrical space en- closed by the walls of the town; a wide area interspersed with villas, with terraces, with meagre groves of the pale olive, and, here and there, a greener patch of orange-trees and vineyards. The houses stand, as Italian country-houses ge- nerally do, in conspicuous nakedness, with only a straight avenue of clipped trees, tortured into all sorts of shapes, before them. They are inhabited only in spring and autumn, three weeks or a month at each time ; and it is really something in favour of the good taste of the natives, that they do not seem to like these places.'t * This Traveller styles Puget, (whether in eulogy or in irony is not clear,) 1 the Michael Angelo of France.' They are described by another Traveller as ' tolerable statues, on rather too large a scale for the church.' The bridge, ' in situation and utility, much resembles the South Bridge of Edinburgh, and has scarcely more beauty to recommend it.'—Sketches of Italy, vol. i. p. 132. f Simond, pp. 583—590. With the latter part of this236 GENOA. The very different impressions which Genoa produces upon different travellers, are, perhaps, sufficiently accounted for, (as was remarked in reference to Turin,) by its being sometimes visited in the way to Florence and the South, sometimes merely touched at on the return route. Mr. Brockedon remarks, that 4 Genoa generally dis- appoints the traveller's expectation and he thinks, that the title of superb has been improperly be- stowed upon it. 4 The palaces/ he says, 4 have the representation, rather than the reality of architectural enrichment. Columns, porticoes, pediments and architraves, statues and arabesques, are painted on the facades, and sometimes even upon tawdry pink and yellow grounds ; and what appears to be splendour, is only pretence.' Mr. Forsyth, giving a different rendering to the honorary epithet by which the city was once distinguished, says :—4 The palaces, I apprehend, gave to this city the epithet of Proud. Their bl^ck and white fronts were once the distinctive of description, it will be amusing to compare Evelyn s very different account, in 1644. i We took horses and made the circuit of the city, as far as the new walls would let us. They are built of a prodigious height, and with Herculean industry; witness those vast pieces of whole mountains which they have hewn away, and blown up with gun- powder, to render them steep and inaccessible. They are not much less than twenty miles in extent, reaching beyond the utmost buildings of the city. From one of these pro- montories, we could easily discern the island of Corsica ; and from the same, eastward, we saw a vale having a great torrent running through a most desolate, barren country; and then, turning our eyes more northward, we saw those delicious villas of S. Pietro d'Arena, which present another Genoa to you, the ravishing retirements of the Genoese nobility.'—Evelyn's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 77.GENOA. 237 the highest nobility; but most of those marble mansions have disappeared. The modern palaces are all faced with stucco, and some are painted in fresco. This fashion of painting figures on house- fronts, was first introduced at Venice by Giorgione; but, though admired even by severe critics, to me it appears too gay for any building that affects grandeur.'* The alleged disappearance of the marble mansions, is not easily to be explained. Evelyn speaks of the famous Strada Nova as 4 built wholly of polished marble/ It was designed, he adds, by Rubens,f 4 and, for the stateliness of the buildings, the paving, and evenness of the streets, is far superior to any in Europe for the number of houses: that of Don Carlo d'Orias is a most magnificent structure. The churches are not less splendid than the palaces/ J Addison, who travelled * Forsyth, vol. i. p. 5. The Author adds: ' Nothing can be grand in architecture, that bears a perishable look.' This position requires to be qualified ; but Addison adduces a stronger objection against this style of decoration. 1 One often sees the front of a palace covered with painted pillars of different orders. If these were so many true columns of marble set in their proper architecture, they would certainly very much adorn the places where they stand; but, as they are now, they only shew us that there is something wanting, and that the palace, which, without these counterfeit pillars, would be beautiful in its kind, must have been more perfect by the addition of such as are real.' f Lady Morgan talks of Rubens as e the historian' of these palaces; adding, that ' the work alluded to is ex- tremely rare, and is only found in the old Continental libraries.' Evelyn refers to this rare book by Rubens, con- taining the description of only one street and two or three churches. J Evelyn's Memoirs, vol. i. p.76.238 GENOA. sixty years afterwards, describes the 4 New-street' as 4 a double range of palaces from one end to the other, built with an excellent fancy, and fit for the greatest princes to inhabit.' But he does not con- firm Evelyn's representation of their being wholly of marble; and a metaphor or hyperbole has, apparently, been mistaken for literal fact. There is all the marble in Genoa, probably, that ever adorned its palaces. 4 The Duke of Doria's palace,' Addison says, 4 lias the best outside of any in Genoa, as that of Durazzo is the best furnished within.' There are, in fact, two Durazzo palaces. That which is alluded to is, probably, the one in the Strada Balbi, which is now a royal mansion, having been purchased by the King of Sardinia on his becoming the sovereign of Genoa. Its front is about 250 feet in length. It has a superb portico, orna- mented with Doric columns of white marble. Its vast court is rich in architectural embellishment, with fountains and hanging terraces; and four flights of broad marble steps lead up to its im- mense ante-chamber; for it is the attic story, in Genoa, which forms the suite of state apartments. The lower floors, owing to the narrowness of the streets, are disagreeable and gloomy, and are often let out to tradesmen and other inferior classes. The great fault of the interior of the Palazzo Durazzo, Lady Morgan remarks, is, its being broken up into too great a number of small rooms. The visiter is led through a long and seemingly interminable suite of apartments, with marble floors,* gilded * They are- of composition, polished. See page 245, note *.GENOA, 239 roofs, and walls hung with the productions of masters. Galleries, cabinets, terraces, rooms of various names and variously decorated, appear in endless succession ; all covered with dust, touched by decay, and abandoned to solitude. Even the famous gallery in this palace (100 feet in length) is but a long, narrow slip, far too small for its splendid and curious collection of statues and sculptures ancient and modern. The ceiling and decorations are all of the richest carving, gilding, and painting. The frescoes represent the de- struction of the four great empires. Besides the historical paintings, even the family portraits are of great interest. Here, in their habits of cere- mony, as doges and ambassadors, range the ancient Durazzi; and here, with large, languid, dark eyes, and primitive air, bloom the Madonna Francescas, Catarinas, &c., of this distinguished house, clad in the rich velvet of the Genoese looms, with Venetian chains and foreign gems, the produce of their husbands' commerce. A portrait of Anne Boleyn, by Holbein, is extremely curious for its costume, as well as for its historic interest. Opposite is a delicious picture of St. Catherine of Sweden, by Carlo Dolci. In the same room is an excellent Albert Durer, the ceremony of confirma- tion in the presence of a French monarch. The Sala Paolo is so called from its containing fhe chef-d'oeuvre of Paul Veronese, Mary Magdalene at the feet of our Saviour in the Pharisee's house. The great chapel contains a half-length figure of Christ bearing his cross, by Titian.* * Morgan's Italy, vol. i. pp. 397-399. Mrs. Starke gives a meagre catalogue of these pictures. We regret to be unable240 GENOA. The palace of Philip Durazzo is little less spacious and magnificent than that of his noble kinsman, which has nothing finer, however, than its peristyle and twenty-four Doric columns, and its gallery of paintings. Among these are,—The Marriage of St. Catherine by Paul Veronese; The Flagellation, by Ludovico Caracci; St. Peter, by Annibale Caracci; The Tribute Money, by Guer- cino; a Magdalen, by Titian; St. Sebastian, by Domenichino ; Christ appearing after his Resurrec- tion to Mary, by the same master; several Guidos ;* and a fine portrait of Philip IV., by Rubens. The Doria palace referred to by Addison, is probably that in the Strada Nuova; a splendid edifice in point of architecture, which has also been purchased by the King for a royal residence. Its simple elegance is the more admirable by contrast with the gorgeous edifices in its vicinity. It must be the one to which Evelyn refers as belonging to Don Carlo d'Orias. One of the rooms was hung with tapestry, in which were to give a better account of them. As a specimen of the little dependence that can be placed on the reports of most travellers, especially respecting works of art, we may refer to the opposite descriptions given of the portrait of Anne Boleyn by Lady Morgan and Mr. Simond. According to the former, 1 in the meagre, red-haired lady represented, there is nothing to excuse the passion of Henry VIII., though something to account for his cutting off a head which had not a charm to plead for it.' Mr. Simond speaks of it as the only portrait he ever saw, which did justice to the lady's beauty and to the artist's talent. * Mr. Simond particularly admired a ' Roman (Grecian ?) Charity' by Guido, for the exquisite expression of the daughter's countenance; though less strongly painted than a Magdalen by the same artist in the next room.GENOA. 241 wrought the figures of the great persons that the family had produced. The palace of Andrea Doria, (now belonging to the princes Doria Panfilli,) is built just within the city walls, close by the sea. It is the largest of all the Genoese palaces, and has a magnificent appearance from the bay or mole; but the mansion itself is patched a,nd neglected. It opens on large gardens, extending along the shore, and commanding a beautiful view of the city and port. They are characterised by Forsyth as 4 unnaturally pretty.' Colossal statues rise over box and cypress trees, cut into all sorts of shapes ; and nothing corresponds to the majesty of the site. In the court of this vast fabric is a colossal statue of Andrea Doria himself, in the character of Neptune, much defaced. The whole domain, indeed, is fast going to ruin.* In the * Mr. Forsyth tells us, that1 the titles of the immortal Andrea, which extended 200 feet in front, have been effaced by the late revolution.' He visited Genoa in 1802. The Author of e Sketches in Italy,' who was there in 1816, says: ' At the time we saw the palace, they were in perfect pre- servation, having been, I suppose, lately replaced.' Yet, the mansion was tenantless. ' The successors of the saviour of Genoa now reside entirely at Rome; and the palace built to perpetuate the gratitude of the State, is let to any body who will pay an adequate rent for it.' Mr. Pen- nington, in 1818, seems to have seen nothing of this proud inscription; but, on the cornice in front of the palace, he read one of very different tenor, of which he gives the fol- lowing translation: 1 Andrew Doria, in order to procure repose and tranquillity, his constitution being worn out with fatigue, repaired this house for himself and successors.' Over the door is inscribed : 'Fundavit earn Altissimus * Such are the discrepancies in the accounts of travellers. Addison takes no notice of this palace, nor Eustace, nor even Simond. Lady Morgan is very sentimental upon VOL. I. p242 GSNOA. palace itself there is nothing to see, but some of the fading frescoes of Pierino del Yaga. Of its magnificence in the olden time, Evelyn gives the following description. ' One of the greatest palaces here for circuit, is that of the Prince d'Orias, which reaches from the sea to the summit of the mountains. The house is most magnificently built without, nor less glo- riously furnished within, having whole tables and bedsteads of massy silver, many of them set with achates, onyxes, cornelians, lazulis, pearls, tur- quizes, and other precious stones. The pictures and statues are innumerable. To this palace belong three gardens, the first whereof is beautified with a terrace supported by pillars of marble: there is a fountain of eagles, and one of Neptune with other sea-gods, all of the purest white marble; they stand in a most ample basin of the same stone. At the side of this garden is such an aviary as Sir Francis Bacon describes in his Essays, wherein grow trees of more than two feet diameter, besides cypress, myrtles^ lentiscs, and other rare shrubs, which serve to nestle and perch all sorts of birds, who have air and place enough under their airy canopy, supported with huge iron work, stupendous for its fabric and the charge. The other two gardens are full of orange-trees, citrons, and pome- granates, fountains, grots, and statues. One of the latter is a colossal Jupiter, under which is the the (fine, old, desolate edifice,' but gives no distinct account of it. Mrs. Starke tells us, th^ c Duke Pasqua has recently furnished his residence elegantly, and enriched it with pictures.' If this be correct, we suppose that it is no longer uninhabited. But this is noti the palace built to perpetuate the gratitude of the State.'GENOA. 243 sepulchre of a beloved dog, for the care of which one of this family received of the King of Spain 500 crowns a year during the life of that faithful animal! The reservoir of water here is a most admirable piece of art; and so is the grotto over against it.' * The Ducal Palace where the Doges once resided, is a large modern building, having been almost entirely rebuilt in 1777, when the old palace was nearly destroyed by fire. Mr. Forsyth thought it magnificent even for Genoa, but remarks, that4 two balustrades break the unity of the front, and lessen its elevation.' ' In the Doge's palace,' says Addison, ' are the rooms where the great and little council, with the two colleges, hold their assemblies; but, as the State of Genoa is very poor, though several of its members are extremely rich, so one may observe infinitely more splendour and magnificence in particular persons' houses, than in those that belong to the public. Andrew Doria has a statue erected to him at the entrance of the Doge's palace, with the glorious title of Deliverer of the Common- wealth ; and one of his family, another, that calls him its preserver.' Eustace asserts, that these statues were thrown down and demolished by the French. They are now replaced, we are told, by 1 plaster heads and drapery stuffed with straw.' The present senatorial hall is magnificent in point of dimensions, 125 feet by 45, and 66 feet in height. It is ornamented with pillars and pilasters of brocatello marble, supporting a gallery, which is occupied, on public occasions, by bands of music and spectators. Over the door is the iron prow of * Evelyn's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 7"5.244 GENOA. ft a Roman galley, which Addison mentions as the only antiquity they have to shew at Genoa. 4 It is not above a foot long,' he says, ' and, perhaps, would never have been thought the beak of a ship, had it not been found in so probable a place as the haven. It is all of iron, fashioned at the end like a boar's head, as represented on medals, and on the Columna Rostrata at Rome/* Another famous curiosity which used to excite the wonder of travellers, an 4 emerald dish/ is said to have been broken in its journey either to or from Paris, during the recent political changes; but the loss can scarcely be regretted by the Genoese them- selves, if the assertion of M. de la Condamine be correct, that it was nothing better than glass, t Among the other palaces which claim notice, the Palazzo Serra in the Strada Nuova, is men- tioned by Forsyth as boasting of the finest saloon in Europe. 4 It is oval in plan ; the elevation a rich Corinthian ; the walls are covered with gold * 4 It was discovered near the beach in 1597, in conse- quence of the harbour being cleaned; and is supposed to have remained there from the time of a naval battle between the Genoese and the Carthaginian commander, Mago.'— Starke, p. 106. In this book, another precious monument of antiquity' is mentioned, in the Tribunal of Commerce; a bronze table dug up by a peasant in the valley of Polce- vera in 150G, and bearing a well preserved inscription about the date of A.U.C. 633. , f Sketches of Italy, vol. i. p. 183. Evelyn was shewn this supposed emerald, 1 the largest in the world,5 in the cathedral; and mentions as the legend attached to it, that our Saviour ate the paschal lamb in it with his disciples; but'Venerable Bede writes, that the dish used by our Saviour was of silver! * Other accounts state, that the vase was pre- sented by the Queen of Sheba to Solomon, who placed it in the Temple!!GENOA. 245 and looking-glass ; the floor consists of a polished mastic, stained like oriental breccia.* Surfaces so brilliant as these would deaden any pictures except those of a ceiling, which require a bright reflection from the walls. Here, then, the ceiling alone is painted, and borrows and lends beauty to the splen- dour below.' The palace was built in 1552 ; but the gallery is of more modern date, and was ex- ecuted by a French architect. ' It is, indeed,' Lady Morgan remarks, 4 all over French, and recalls the state rooms of the Tuileries, and the Caffe de Mille Colonnes at the Palais Royal; for its great effect is produced by the repetition of its Corinthian columns in the reflecting pannels. Its singular splendour has procured it a place in the French Encyclopaedia, and obtained for it, from the florid pen of M. Du Pati, the epithet of the Palace of the Sun. It is all gold, mirror, marble, arabesque, and caryatides.' + The Palazzo Spinola, also in the Strada Nuova, is remarkable for its painted facade, representing full-length colossal figures of the twelve CcBsars ; 4 a curious sign for the house of a republican citizen !? This mansion is also rich in pictures by * Mr. Pennington says, that the floors of the Durazzo palace are composed of a mixture of marble and porcelain pounded and made into a paste so as to resemble granite. f Morgan's Italy, vol. i. p. 400. Mr. Simondthus speaks of it. ' The drawing-room, done only twenty-six- years ago, (the latest date, probably, of any thing of the kind at Genoa,) cost 40,000/. sterling; a sum expended to very lktle purpose. It is vastly gay, certainly,—all looking-glass, gilding, rare marbles, and lapis lazuli; but too small for effect, (40 feet by 28,) too gaudy, and wanting breadth of surface and colour for the eye to rest upon.'—p. 591. r 3246 GENOA. Italian masters. One of tlie best picture galleries in the city was formerly that of the Balbi palace in the Strada Balbi; but the catalogue now ex- hibits chiefly Vandycks and productions of the Flemish school. The collections of the Brignole family are esteemed more valuable. The Palazzo Brignole (in the Strada Nuova) contains numerous paintings by Guido, Paul Veronese, the two Caracci, Carlo Dolci, a St. John Baptist by Leonardo da Vinci, and family portraits by Vandyck.* The other principal collections are those of the Palazzo Carega (Strada Nuova) ; the Palazzo del Signor Gaetano Cambiaso; the Palazzo Grillo-Cataneo (near the Porta Portello); the Palazzo Palla- vicini (in the Piazza Garibaldi) ; the Palazzo Mari (Piazza Campetto) 5 and a second Palazzo Spinola (near the Piazza Fontana Amorosa).t Besides the paintings, these splendid mansions * In the Brignole collection, there are also some striking pictures by Spagnoletto, here called Ribera; and some fine productions of the Genoese painter Piola, an artist little known beyond Genoa, deserve to be pointed out to the traveller. + Starke's Directions, pp. 106—114. Addison mentions the Villa Imperiale, a mile from Genoa, as being much the handsomest palace that he saw, in point of architecture, its front consisting of a Doric and a Corinthian row of pillars. Evelyn describes the Palazzo del Negros as ' richly furnished with the rarest pictures/ and, within an acre of ground, were fountains, rocks, ponds, and a stately grove of trees, amid which were ' sheep, shepherds, and wild beasts, cut very artificially in gray stone.' He refers probably to La Villetta near the gate of Acqua-sola. Lady Morgan was shewn, from these ' singular gardens,' a yellow palace, called ' the Palace of Oliver Cromwell.' The explanation of this startling designation, is, that it was built, or at least occupied, by a Mr. Oliver Cromwell, who married the widow of Sir Horatio Pallavicini in 1601, and accompanied her from England to Genoa, where they continued to reside.GENOA. 247 present little that is remarkable. They have been described as ' fronts with furniture and pictures behind.' Immoveable, shallow-seated, high-backed chairs, clothed in faded damask and Genoese vel- vet, gilt brackets, marble slabs, and girandoles tied up in bags, usually compose the whole furniture. To an English eye, they appear inconvenient, half- finished, and comfortless ; there is no consistency of elegance, no completeness of accommodation. Throughout the whole city, indeed, there is a strange mixture of finery and dirt, magnificence and shabbiness, profusion and meanness. The ground-floors of the most elegant palaces are oc- cupied by the meanest tenements; and imme- diately under the state-rooms of some of them are stables. What appears incongruous and revolting to an Englishman, however, is not so deemed in most other countries. In Madrid and other Spa- nish cities, the higher classes in like manner Jive up stairs, the ground floor being abandoned to the use of servants or to lumber.* On the other hand, Mr. Simond remarks, that these palaces ' make a striking contrast with the tarnished finery of Rome and Venice/ Little remains to be added to the account already given of the churches of Genoa. The metropolitan church of San Lorenzo (II Duomo), in the middle of the city, was built in the eleventh cen- tury. The architecture is called Gothic: its ex- * Evelyn remarks, that the inhabitants of Genoa were ' much affected to the Spanish mode and stately garb." From their close connexion with the Spaniards in foreign times, it might indeed be considered as less an Italian, than a Spanish city.248 GENOA. terior, cased with black and white marble in alternate horizontal stripes, has a strange appear- ance. The martyrdom of the Saint is depicted on the facade in basso relievo. It has a fine tower. The interior has nothing very remarkable, except the round chapel of St. John Baptist, which contains an altar adorned with four sumptuous columns of porphyry, and moreover an iron urn inclosing the reputed relics of the Saint. The church of San Ciro was the cathedral up to the year 985, and is said to boast of a date as early as A. D. 250. It is spacious and rich in marbles. That of San Stefano alle Porte bears, however, more the marks of antiquity. It is small, with white-washed walls, and is so low, rude, and damp, as to have the appearance of an excavated crypt. Its great attraction is its cele- brated altar-piece, the Martyrdom of St. Stephen, the joint work of Raffaelle and Giulio Romano, which was taken away by the French, and placed in the Louvre: it is now replaced in its original situation. The upper part is said to have been painted by Raffaelle, the lower part by his friend and pupil; and when at Paris, the whole was 4 retouched by David!' The church of the Annunziaia, founded in the thirteenth century, and enriched by the Lomelini family,* is the finest in the city, so far as rare and beautiful marbles can make it so. It belongs to * 'Two brothers, named Lomellini, allow the third part of their gains.' Evelyn's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 77, note. Mrs. Starke reports, that it was built at the sole expense of this family. Lady Morgan says, it was founded by the Umili- anti, and enriched by the Lomelini.Genoa. 249 the Franciscans. Among its paintings are, The Last Supper, by Proccacino ; The Crucifixion, by Scotto; (both termed 4 celebrated;') and a horrible representation, by Carloni, of a malefactor broken on the wheel. S. Ambrogio, formerly belonging to the Jesuits, and indebted for its splendour to the Pallavicini family, contains three celebrated pic- tures ; two by Rubens, The Circumcision, and St. Ignatius exorcising a demoniac, and The Assumption, by Guido. San Francesco di Paolo has recovered from the Louvre two pictures that were thought worthy of being stolen by the French ; The Adoration of the Shepherds, by Cam- biaso, and The Ascension, by Paggi. San Felippo Neri is remarkable for the superior simplicity and grandeur of its style. 4 The marble, of perfect whiteness and polish, so entirely blends with the ornaments and figures that adorn the exterior, that the whole edifice appears one exquisite piece of statuary/ But, of all the religious edifices, ac- cording to one Traveller, the chapel of the Battis- tine (or barefoot White Carmelite nuns) is the most elegant: the pavement, dome, altars, statues, draperies, and decorations, are all of the purest white, and the effect is that of exquisite simplicity.* Santa Maria Carignano has already been de- scribed S. Matteo, built by the Doria family, deserves mention not so much for its statues of the Evangelists, as for its containing, in a subterranean chapel, the remains of Andrea Doria himself. 4 The Piazza Doria, or, as it is now called, the Piazza di San Matteo, insignificant as it may be * Spinster's Tour, p. 337250 GENOA, thought,' remarks the Poet of Memory, 4 is to me the most interesting place in Genoa. It was there that Poria assembled the people when he gave them their liberty: on one side of it is the church he lies buried in; on the other, a house, originally of very small dimensions, with this inscription: " S. C. Andrea de Auria Patrice Liberatori Ma- nus Publicum." ' 'Tis less in length and breadth, Than many a cabin in a ship of war; But 'tis of marble, and at once inspires The reverence due to ancient dignity. He left it for a better ; and 'tis now A house of trade, the meanest merchandise Cumbering its floors. Yet, fallen as it is, 'Tis still the noblest dwelling—even in Genoa I And hadst thou, Andrea, lived there to the last, Thou hadst done well; for there is that without, That in the wall, which monarchs could not give, Nor thou take with thee; that which says aloud, It was thy Country's gift to her Deliverer.'* Every one who has read Robertson's History of Charles the Fifth, is well acquainted with the cha- racter and achievements of this illustrious Genoese. He was born of a noble family, at Oneglia. Owing to the frequent revolutions to which Genoa was exposed in the fifteenth century, the family were greatly reduced ; and Andrew began his career as a galley officer in the French service. He rose through all the gradations of rank in his profession, and was engaged successively in the service of the * Rogers's Italy. Part II. § 23, and note. The more splendid palace which Doria subsequently built for himself, has evidently been mistaken by some of our travellers for this simpler, yet nobler mansion.GENOA. 251 Duke d'Urbino, the King of Arragon, the Pope, the King of France, and the Genoese Republic. In 1521, he was appointed to the command of the united fleets of France and Genoa; and it was with his assistance that Marshal Lautrec, the generalis- simo of the League against the Emperor, made himself master of Genoa in 1527, and re-estab- lished in that republic the dominion of France. But, in the following year, having given offence to the French ministry, Doria received secret in- telligence "that an order had been obtained for his being superseded and arrested. Justly indignant at this perfidious treatment, he made a tender of his services to the Emperor, which were gladly ac- cepted on his own terms.* Sending back his com- mission to the French monarch, he hoisted the * Robertson finds a patriotic motive for Doria's revolt against the French, in his alarm and anger at their begin- ning to fortify Savona, and to clear its harbour. But, to a native of Oneglia, the inhabitants of Savona were not less closely allied as countrymen, than the citizens of Genoa itself. If Doria inherited any of the jealousy of Savona, which has constantly actuated the Genoese merchants, that party feeling hardly deserves the name of patriotism. But, if Robertson's statement be correct, Doria's well-founded personal apprehensions and just resentment left little room for the operation of more remote and exalted motives. Denina, on the other hand, represents him as deserting the French cause, because he did not think his services properly remunerated by Francis I., and as availing himself of the. specious pretext of recovering the liberties of his country. His conduct has also been thought to savour too much, in this instance, of the Ligurian art and treachery. Neither representation, perhaps-, is entirely just; but the magnani- mity of the old sailor's subsequent conduct has thrown a re- flection of nobleness upon his previous actions, the result less of patriotic policy, than of impulse and necessity*262« GENOA. imperial colours, and sailing with all his galleys for Naples, which he was to have blockaded, com- pelled the French army before that city to capitu- late, and restored to the Emperor the superiority in Italy. He then sailed for Genoa, of which he gained possession without bloodshed ; and it was upon this occasion that the nobleness of his cha- racter was displayed. Although Charles is said to have offered him the principality, and every thing invited him to assume the supreme authority, he magnanimously preferred the name of citizen to that of sovereign. Having convened the whole body of the people, he devolved upon them the right of settling what form of government they chose to establish. Twelve persons were elected to new-model the constitution of the republic ; and Doria lived to enjoy the gratitude and veneration of his countrymen, as the second founder of the State, and the restorer of its liberty. Genoa contains a University, which is splendid as an edifice, containing various halls for the dif- ferent faculties, amply adorned with paintings, a vast library, (Lady Morgan says, chiefly polemical divinity, but her statements are always question- able,) and a botanical garden the size of a flower- plot. Two marble lions in the vestibule are much admired. What else is admirable in this University, no ..traveller tells us.* The school for the deaf and dumb, founded by the Abate Assarotti in 1801, deserves honourable mention. There were, till * Mrs. Starke, indeed, says, that the Genoese school of medicine stands high in Italy, in proof of which she in- stances a Dr. Scassi, an eminent Genoese physician, who studied at Edinburgh IGENOA. 253 lately, only two theatres, neither of which has any claims to architectural magnificence, but a new and superb one has recently been erected. What is of more consequence, there are some good hotels. The city is supplied with water by aque- ducts six leagues in extent; and by means of pipes, 4 every story of every house/ we are told, ' Has its fountain.' As to wine, that which is made near Genoa, is still worse than wine generally is in Italy; but the Genoese are supplied from Mar- seilles. Of the state of society in Genoa, it is difficult to form a fair comparative estimate. Addison says : 4 The Genoese are esteemed extremely cunning, industrious, and inured to hardship above the rest of the Italians ; which was likewise the character of the ancient Ligurians. The Italian proverb says of the Genoese, that they have a sea with- out fish, land without trees, and men without faith.' 4 As for the national character,' remarks Forsyth, 4 we need not bring Virgil, nor Dante, to prove failings which the Genoese themselves tacitly acknowledge. So low are the common people sunk in the esteem of their own country- men, that no native porter is admitted into the Porto Franco, where Bergamasques alone are em- ployed.* A suspicion unworthy of Italian mer- chants, who were once the most liberal on earth, excludes also from this free port, the clergy, the * 1 These Bergamasque porters tread nimbly through very narrow streets, with amazing loads, suspended by ropes from lateral poles, each of which rests on the two men's shoulders : a mode which may be traced in one of the ancient paintings found in the catacombs of Rome.' VOl. I. Q254 GKNOA. military, and women, as persons who may pilfer, but who cannot be searched.'* This is, however, a very unjust and absurd mode of judging of na- tional character. With equal truth and fairness it might be alleged, that the common people of Castile and other parts of Spain are sunk in the esteem of their countrymen, because the Gallegos are almost exclusively employed as porters at Ma- drid, Seville, and even Lisbon. It is remarkable, too, that a recent traveller adduces in proof of the Ligurian art and cunning of the Genoese, the exactions practised by these very Bergamasque porters.t Evelyn brings a more serious charge against the Genoese. 1 Indeed,' he says, 4 this beautiful city is more stained with horrid acts of revenge and murders, than any one place in Europe, or haply in the world, where there is a political government, which makes it unsafe for strangers. It is made a galley-matter, to carry a knife whose point is not broken off.' J Times have so much improved since then, how- ever, that the 4 Spinster' Tourist, to whom every thing at Genoa seems to have worn the couleur die * Forsyth, vol. i. p. 8. Pennington, vol. i. p. 307. This Traveller does not call them Bergamasques, but the porters are chiefly such. I Evelyn's Mem. vol. i. p. 75. Lalande says, the Ge- noese are ferocious only under oppression; but it appeared to him, that there was less hospitality (moins d'accueil aux Strangers) at Genoa, and that the people were less informed and more haughty, than in other great cities of Italy. But Lalande saw them, it is remarked, in the most degraded period of their political existence. (During the last century, fewer persons eminent in arts, literature, and science, were produced in Genoa, than in any other Italian State.'—Mor- gan's Italy, vol. i. pp. 441 f 2.GENOA. 255 rose, imagines, that ' in no other city of Europe would it be possible for ladies and strangers to feel such entire security in the most crowded, the most poor, and apparently the most neglected quarters.' She warmly praises ' the innate good humour and civility of the people, who never seem to take pleasure in giving annoyance to any being of whatever rank or age.' They seem, however, adds this Writer, ' even the class above the very poor and laborious, to be profoundly ignorant; and while schools for their instruction are suppressed, and the government of their minds and souls is given up to monastic orders nearly as uninformed as themselves, much mental improvement is not to be expected.'* Previously to the Revolution, Genoa had its ex- clusive circle of polite society, composed of forty of the noblest families, who, during forty weeks of the year, met, in turn, at the palaces of the respec- tive families once a-week. These conversazioni (called la veglia de' Quaranta) were almost the sole resource of a class excluded by their rank from general intercourse, and inhabiting one of the few cities in Italy, where the opera has little attraction, and is but little attended to, except by the lower orders. The Revolution broke up this society; and the first display of a tendency to so- cial re-union was exhibited in Genoa in favour of the English military, who, being considered as protectors, were received as guests. When Lord William Bentinck, in 1814, approached Genoa, he found the people most favourably disposed towards * Spinster's Tour, pp. 327, 335,346, 379. Q2256 GKNOA. him ; and the French commander was compelled to surrender almost without resistance.* Undei the brief protectorate of the English General, a provisional government was established, in which it was attempted to blend equal rights with aristo- cratic privileges. The Congress of Vienna, having no liking for republics, set aside the new constitu- tion ; and, regardless of the pledges that had been given to the people, consigned thfc Genoese to their detested neighbour, the King of Sardinia. Lord William is said to have withdrawn from the city privately; and the British garrison, taking away the artillery and military stores, delivered up the city to its new master. Bitterly as the Genoese felt the humiliation of being thus arbitrarily and treacherously made over to a Government so con- temptible and oppressive as Sardinia, they cherish no animosity against the English, whom they acquit of any intention to betray them ; and Eng- lish visiters are received with cordial attention The nobles of Genoa are still, many of them, 'concerned in maritime trade, as in the prosperous days of the Republic ; but there is no vestige of the superb merchant of the olden time. The aristocracy, as a body politic, no longer exists; although old distinctions of caste and family are still maintained. A decided improvement, how- * The spoliation of the churches and palaces in 1812, had especially contributed to alienate the Genoese from France; and when the 1 Martyrdom of St. Stephen' was carried off, there was a sort of insurrection. As the Ligu- rian Republic had become a province of France, without hos- tilities, the plea of conquest did not exist to give a colour of right to this act of violence.GENOA. 257 ever, is believed to have taken place in the moral and domestic habits of the people, once universally accused of having none. Gallantry and the cicisbeo system are on the decline. The genuine Genoese patito, who answered to the cavaliere servente of Milan, is no longer the indispensable appendage of a lady of fashion* As carriages can pass through very few of the streets, and the sedan chair is less in use than formerly, the Genoese ladies walk much; and their costume is very graceful. An ample and becoming white veil is worn half over the face and thrown round the person; neat shoes and white silk stockings adorn the feet,—4 all remarkably clean/ says Mr. Simond, 4 even those of low condition ; ex- cepting only the beggars, who wear the livery of their trade,' and are only not quite so numerous as at Rome or Naples. 4 Judging from the few I saw,' adds this Traveller, 4 the women appeared more cultivated and agreeable than usual in Italy ; they spoke very good French, and some of them nearly as good English. I could name several with northern complexions and northern manners too. Many, I was assured, were irreproachable ; and if they had cavalieri serventi, their attendance at least was gratuitous/ 4 To the English who do not require unceasing gayety and display,' says the Author of 4 A Spin- * Simond, p. 585. 1 The siesta and the toilette, those baneful kill-times, are nearly exploded. The conversation in the best circles is many degrees above the scale at which Goldoni rated it, though the accuracy of his characters and delineations for the time in which he wrote, is allowed throughout Italy.'—Spinster's Tour, p. 343.258 GENOA. ster's Tour,'4 Genoa must be a residence peculiarly eligible. The social habits of the most esteemed nobles assimilate with those of our own country.' Provisions are excellent, and about the same price as at Rome. House-rent is considerably cheaper ; and the climate is said to be as good as that of Nice. On the other hand, there are a few draw- backs. The summer heat is almost insupportable; and the Genoese themselves then seek refuge in their villas. In winter, there is often rough weather unfavourable to invalids. Another draw- back is the deficiency of outlets and suburbs, the city being built against rocky acclivities of dif- ficult ascent, and almost shut in with mountains. The language is a corrupt Italian, the pronuncia- tion of the Genoese native, whatever be his rank, being rarely considered as perfectly correct, or his language free from provincialisms. There are no advantages for education. The high duty on English papers, amounts almost to a prohibition. Lastly, there is no Protestant church, although there is a Protestant cemetery,—a small inclosure on a lofty hill, walled round and planted with roses. 4 Within are very simple tombs, which speak of travellers, widows, and mariners. One alone speaks with the confidence of a believer— " I know that my Redeemer liveth.,, '* The population of Genoa, including San Pietro d'Arena, but not the port, is estimated at about 85,000 ; that of the district of Genoa at about 208,000 ; and that of the province of Genoa f at * Protestant Vigils, vol. ii. p. 218. f Including, besides Genoa, the six districts of Albenga, Bobbio, Chiavari, Levanto, Novi, and Savona.GENOA. 259 about 540,000. Genoa has still its silk, velvet, and gold-lace manufactures. Besides these, its exports are fruits, (chiefly oranges and lemons,) oil, perfumes, jewellery, and artificial flowers. Raw silk and corn are imported from Sicily; iron and naval stores from the Baltic ; linen and sail- cloth from Germany ; wool from Spain ; and tin, lead, hardware, and cottons from Great Britain. The trade was, till lately, carried on under foreign flags, through dread of the Barbary Corsairs. The street occupied exclusively by the gold- smiths, affords an amusing display. ' Its glittering and rich shops are, contrary to all established rule, not for the great, but for the little ; and the pro- fusion of gold and silver filigree-wTork, clasps, rings, ear-rings, chains, combs, pearl, coral, and even of more costly gems, are all for the peasantry. The women are covered, even on working-days, with gold and silver ornaments: on holidays, they add a profusion of pearl and coral to their ordinary decorations. Even now, a female peasant making up her marriage trousseau, thinks 700 or 800 francs a very moderate price for a necklace or chain/* Although much of the raw silk is imported, the silk-worm is reared in the neighbourhood of Genoa. About five miles up the beautiful valley of the Polcevera, is the village of San Quirico, where there is a large and long-established silk- mill. The foliage of the mulberry-tree embowers * Morgan, vol. i. p. 420. The old sumptuary laws of the Republic were directed exclusively against the higher order. These have not been revived, and the Genoese ladies dress richly; but the lower classes are still the only purchasers of the old-fashioned jewellery of the Genoese goldsmiths.GENOA. many of the villages which enliven the road; and sometimes there are avenues formed by this tree. The peasants rear the worm, and dispose of the cods to the mill. All round San Quirico, the mulberry-tree is neither lofty nor handsome; its leaves are small, but vividly green, and the foliage is bushy and healthy. The worm that produces the white silk, is esteemed very valuable ; and great care is taken by the rich cultivators and the proprietors of mills, to encourage their being vigilantly and separately reared, and brought to their utmost perfection. The silk comes from the insect, of a glossy and perfect whiteness. The climate of Genoa appears to be particularly adapted to the production of silk; and to the great attention which is bestowed upon the cultivation and manufacture, Genoa owes the superiority which S'he still claims for her beautiful fabrics. T^e peasantry of the valleys of Liguria are de- scribed as appearing intelligent, communicative, industrious, and respectful; and the great landed proprietors encourage the efforts of their tenantry.* The hills which inclose the valley of the Polcevera, are rich in marbles. One sort, greatly resembling the verd antique, is much esteemed, and is worked, at Genoa, into ornamental vases and other forms. Another manufacture extensively carried on in the villages, is that of maccaroni and vermicelli of every kind and shade. As most of the surrounding villages have their peculiar costume, the scene which Genoa exhibits on a great market day, is highly picturesque and * Further details relating to the silk-mills of San Quirico, will be found in the 4 Spinster's Tour,' pp. 362-370GENOA. 261 amusing, and is well described by a fair tourist. 1 Here, the handsome native of Recco, with her fanciful blue boddice trimmed with gold braiding, her rose-coloured petticoat, her large gold- filigree Maltese cross, and immense bell-shaped ear-rings, ranges her elegant osiers and reed baskets, in which the rich green fig, the purple and white grapes, oranges, olives, or the succeeding fruit of each season, are neatly spread. The villager from the hills towards San Quirico, with her head attired after the fashion of Asti, her substantial striped stuffs, her hard-featured, tanned face, ex- hibits her maccaroni of every shade and fancy, her filberts, her chestnuts, and the berries which seem equally prized by the people as fruit The garden- ers of San Pietro d'Arena, Sestri, &c., with their smart jackets ornamented with silver filigree buttons, their tricote jelly-bag cap, whose long, tasseled end hangs negligently on one shoulder, while their curly black hair adds to the humorous expression of their keen, handsome features,— display their vegetables, particularly their arti- chokes, which are in request even at Milan. The Genoese themselves, and the immediate peasantry, some in their mise de fete, with the rich chintz or clean muslin placed over their braided hair, others in their most dishevelled, unshod, unadorned state, add their various contributions to the general stock. Perhaps, some pretty girls, more anxious for dis- play than the graver matrons, have teased the simple country-women who bring profusions of plants and nosegays to this gay mart, till they have given them the finest tuberose, the orange or pomegranate blossoms, the sprig of rich jasmine, Q 5262 GENOA. or bunch of fine carnations, their fancy had decided on; then, in childish glee and triumph, they seat themselves on the first empty basket or unoccupied stand that offers; and in an instant, with all the seriousness of friendship, begin smooth- ing and plaiting each other's beautiful long hair, to secure it in the classic Roman coil; then arrange every curl in the most effective manner, and place becomingly on one side the flowery prizt that has afforded the motive of all this anxiety. Never have I seen more cordiality and kindness among a people, than in Genoa.' * ' The few piazze of Genoa open round the principal churche? while every vicolo, or narrow passage, abounds with shrines, oratories, and sta- tions, of which an Amazonian Madonna is always the sign. Votive candles, hourly renewed, burn before these public altars; and the street piety of Genoa is exceeded only by that of Naples. Every where offerings are being made, processions are moving, hymns are selling, and monks and nuns are invoking and begging. In all this, however, there is neither gloom nor austerity. The monks are jolly; the nuns are gay; and the votarists, more zealous than meditative, are bustling, elbow- ing, laughing, praying, whispering, and chanting. In every stall, psalms and legends are hung up, like rows of ballads in the less devout streets of other cities. The Magdalen here tells her story in phrases adapted to the passionate melodies of Paesiello ; and Santa Teresa leaves the enamoured Didone of the opera far behind in the expression Spinster's Tour, pp. 378, 9.GENOA. 263 of pathetic ardour.' * Faith in ceremonies, pilgrim- ages, and penances, remains unchanged in those who observe any service; and here, as in other parts of Italy, 4 the Mother of God' is the chief object of trust and adoration, the mediation of Christ being rarely, if ever, invoked. The total destitution of Scriptural instruction leaves the deluded people no alternative but either a blind devotion or cheerless infidelity. The territory of Genoa extends southward along the eastern shore of the gulf, as far as Sarzana, on the road to Lucca and Pisa. Prior to the year 1824, the road from Pisa was not passable for carriages beyond Lerici, in the Gulf of Spezzia; and travellers generally embarked for Genoa at Yia-Reggio. In that year, a fine road was com- menced, which traverses an elevated part of the Apennine range ; and except the seven miles between Lavenza and Massa, it is tolerably safe and well made. About six miles south-east of Genoa, is the 4 com- mercial, active, and flourishing little town' of Nervi, having many handsome houses and seve- ral palaces and rich convents in its immediate neighbourhood. Oranges, figs, grapes, and al- monds are brought to perfection on the seemingly * Morgan's Italy, vol. i. p. 421. Sta. Teresa's 1 Invoca- tion to her celestial Spouse,' one of the most popular hymns in Italy, runs thus: 1 Dammi morte, o dammi amore, O injinita Carita! Alma mia, questo cuore Senza amor viver non sa. Some still more revolting specimens of this erotic devo- tion are given by Mr. Blunt^ Vestiges, &r., pp. 10—12.264 GENOA. flinty rocks which here rise tremendously above the sea; and these, with olives, (which are not converted into oil, as in the valleys of Savona,) are exported in exchange for corn. The port appears secure; but, throughout this lee shore, the swell is at times tremendous, the surf always high, and the rocks dangerous. Votive chapels erected on the heights, record the gratitude of merchants and nobles escaped from the perils of the waves. The people of Nervi are a handsomer race than those of Genoa; and the keen, black eye, and dark but clear complexion, are more pre- valent than on the western coast, where a northern colony might seem to have mingled with the indi- genous race. The road to Nervi is carried midway round the steep rocks, so that the traveller has beneath him a picturesque coast, enlivened with towns, olive-yards, and the finest orange-groves, while above and around him are palaces, convents, and the most varied foliage. Recco, the next town on the route, stands in a rich valley, defended from all winds by fertile and towering hills, clothed with the myrtle, ash, and beech, while the loftiest heights are gene- rally crowned with pine: the ilex and chestnut-tree are here rare. From Recco, a gradual ascent of two miles leads to the ' grand gallery of S. Michel di Rutta,' which has been excavated in a solid rock of marble, about a mile from the extreme point of the promontory which here stretches into the gulf. It is a magnificent work; for, the road on either side being open, the vault lofty, and the portals carefully finished and neatly adorned, the light penetrates throughout, and the vista formed atGENOA. 265 each approach is most striking. The view of Genoa in particular, to a traveller from the south, is most singular and beautiful. The mountain rises high above the vault, and from the summit, a fine view is obtained, looking southward over the deep valleys through which the road is carried, losing the sea for a considerable distance, till, having turned the mountains, it opens on the beautiful bays of Chiavari and Sestri di Levante * The town of Chiavari, beautifully situated in the centre of its bay, is a handsome and flourishing place, surrounded with hills, the rich produce of which supplies a profitable commerce. The popu- 'ation is estimated at 8000 ; that of the district, at upwards of 90.000 souls. 4 The Genoese, from the earliest times appreciating its local and natural advantages, surrounded it with a strong wall, and gave it many privileges, to encourage the resort of merchants, who came from far to seek its valued products. Though salubrious in climate 'and soil, and rather remarkable for its orderly and indus- trious population, it is singular in retaining a disease which has passed away from every other part of Italy. Chiavari still has lepers, though the number of these unfortunate beings is now limited to a very few families, and these are strictly pro- hibited from forming alliances out of their own afflicted community. The town, its handsome church, the bay, and the beautiful villas in the neighbourhood, deserve attention; and as it is accustomed to the influx of strangers, the accommo- dations are good. The village of Lavagna, which * Spinster's Tour, p. 421.266 GENOA. takes its name from the river that separates it from Chiavari, derives celebrity from its slate- quarries, which have always been prized; and Genoa allows that la pietra di Lavagna excels in closeness and glossiness the produce of its own mountains. Fine marbles are likewise found among these exuberant rocks, which, with scarcely a thin layer of earth, nourish the richest grapes of the levante (or eastern) coast.' * The little town of Sestri de Levante (the ancient Segeste) is likewise famed for its vine-clad hills ; and the beautiful country around it is adorned with numerous villas. From this place, it is, for eight miles, a continued ascent to the summit of the Bracco, one of the loftiest Apennines. The road is for several miles hewn in the steep sides of the rocks, which are composed of slate, yellow, green, and white marble, and a beautiful grey granite. The galleries, which run along the brink of fearful precipices, are narrower than those of the Simplon ; and as they are unprotected by parapets, and are exposed to sudden blasts of wind, the passage in stormy weather cannot be free from danger. It is reckoned a distance of nearly eleven miles from the summit of the Bracco to Borghetto, at the southern foot of the pass. The road descends to the bed of the Magra, and then passes over another mountain, from which a fine view is ob- * Spinster's Tour, p. 372. In the English translation of Matte Brun, we are told, that fthe eastern part of the Gulf of Genoa has been long called the river of the morning,' (vol. vii. p. 647.) This ludicrous mis-translation of Riviera dei Levante, the eastern shore, may vie with the account given of the etymology of curmudgeon in Ash's Dictionary, viz. ' cceur, unknown, mechant, correspondent.'GENOA. 267 fcained of the Gulf of Spezzia, the ancient Portus Luna. The little town of La Spezzia, which is about sixty miles (fifteen posts) from Genoa, is beautifully situated on an eminence at the head of the gulf. It contains about 4000 inhabitants, and three inns, of different gradations, from clean and comfortable to vile and dirty. It has an excellent harbour, which Napoleon is said to have intended to make a naval station and arsenal; and 4 if that wonder-working hand had not been cut off, Li- guria,' we are told,4 would have boasted of one of the most safe and magnificent havens of the M editerranean.' * The Gulf of Spezzia exhibits a rare phenomenon, in a copious spring of fresh water, which bubbles up about a mile from the shore, and forms a liquid mound several inches above the surface of the sea, and about twenty feet in circumference, over which boats ride very uneasily. The water at the surface is brackish; but, when drawn from the depth of 38 feet, where the fountain rises from the earth, it is quite soft and fresh, and colder than that of the sea.+ Leaving the sea, the road now turns to the eastward, crossing another eminence to Sarzana, in the valley of ihe Magra. This little city, the last in the Geneose teiritory, is the representative of the ancient Luna, which had long been on the decline, when, in the year 12Q4. Pope Innocent * Spinster's Tour, p. 373. t Ibid., p. 375. Mr. Simond says, the column of water is 30 feet in diameter. Similar phenomena are found in the bay of Xagua, off the Island of Cuba, and near the mouth of the Rio de los Lagartos, off the coast of Yucatan. —See Mod. Travv vol. xxvi. p. 150.268 GENOA III. transferred the honours of the episcopacy to its more safe and flourishing inland neighbour.* Sarzana boasts of having given birth to two pon- tiffs ; and its consequence is supported by the noble families whose palaces and villas are in the neighbourhood. The population of the city is inconsiderable, not exceeding 3000 souls. That of the district of Levanto, comprising the ter- ritories of Sarzana and Spezzia, is estimated at 36,000. From the neighbouring port of Lavenza (the ancient Aventia) is now exported the Carrara marble, which, in former ages, took its name from the port of Luna. Considerable vestiges of the ancient city, it is said, may be traced a little below Sarzana.f The Macra, which has retained its ancient name under a slight difference of pro- nunciation, separated the ancient Liguria from the Roman province of Etruria. During summer, its stream is fordable; but, after rains, it is crossed by a pont-volant. The Lunigian promontory now bears the title of Capo Corvo. At this part of the coast, the eastern shore of the Gulf of Genoa may be said to terminate ; and the little territory of Massa, which intervenes between * Spinster's Tour, p. 374. Luna is said to have been devastated by Norman invaders. It was, however, an in- significant place in the time of Strabo ; and Lucan speaks of the desertcB moenia Lunce. See Cramer's Italy, vol. i. p. 171. The insalubrity of the situation probably led to its being abandoned. f Cluverius fixed the site of Luna at Lerici, (the ancient Ericis Por(us}) near the mouth of the Magra ; but Mr. Cramer remarks, that the ruins which now bear the name of Luni, a little below Sarzana, and the denomination of Lu- nigiana applied to the adjacent district, leave no doubt as to its true position.GENOA. 269 Genoa and Lucca, is the first of the Etrurian States on the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Having reached this frontier, we must suspend our pro- gress to the southward ; and shall close the present chapter with a few additional remarks upon the tract we have been exploring, and the varied fortunes of the great maritime State which once disputed with Venice the sovereignty of the Me- diterranean. Genua, as the name of the city was anciently written, is mentioned for the first time in history by Livy, as having been destroyed by Mago, the Carthaginian. In the time of Strabo, it appears to have been a place of considerable trade, par- ticularly in timber, which grew to a large size in the mountains ; also in cattle, skins, and honey, which must have been brought from the interior. In later times, the name was written Janua, with which was connected the absurd notion of its having been founded by Janus.* Through Genoa passed the great Roman route which led over the Alpis Maritima into Gaul; called, from the Consul Aurelius, by whom it was made (about 605 u. c.), the Via Aurelia. That route originally left the coast at Vada Sabata, and led by a cir- cuitous route to Acqui and Tortona; but the maritime road was subsequently continued, through Monaco, as far as Aries in Gaul. Another great road, the Via Posthumia, beginning at Genoa, traversed the Apennines, and led through Tortona to Placentia.f Upon the breaking up of the Roman empire, * Cramer, vol. i. p. '25. f Ibid. p. 37.270 GENOA. Liguria fell under the power of the Lombards When they were subdued by Charlemagne, it was erected into a marquisate, which, upon the extinction of the race of Pepin, merged in the German empire. During the tenth century, the coast was continually ravaged by the Saracens; and as a defence against these cruel marauders, the martello towers were erected on the pro- montories, of several of which the ruins still remain. A civil war, originating in the contests between the two great factions of the Guelfs and the Ghibellines, completed the desolation of the country. But, in the thirteenth century, the Ge- noese navy was powerful enough to afford aid and defence to the feeble empire of the Greek so- vereigns of Constantinople ; and their merchants, having obtained the suburb of Pera, or Galata, as a fief from the Emperor, monopolized the lucrative trade of the Black Sea. ' Their rivals of Venice and Pisa,' to use the condensed phrase- ology of Gibbon, ' were forcibly expelled; the natives were awed by the castles and cities which arose on the foundations of their humble factories; and their principal establishment of Caffa was besieged without effect by the Tartar powers. Destitute of a navy, the Greeks wrere oppressed by these haughty merchants, who fed or famished Constantinople according to their interest. They proceeded to usurp the customs, the fishery, and even the toll of the Bosphorus ; and while they derived from these sources a revenue of 200,000 pieces of gold, a remnant of 30,000 was reluc- tantly allowed to the Emperor. The colony of Pera, or Galata, acted, in peace and war, as anGENOA 271 independent State; and, as it will happen in distant settlements, the Genoese podesta too often forgot that he was the servant of his own piasters. The Roman empire might soon have sunk into a province of Genoa, if the ambition of the Republic had not been checked by the ruin of her freedom and naval power. A long contest of 130 years was determined by the triumph of Venice ; and the factions of the Genoese compelled them to seek for domestic peace under the protection of a foreign lord, the Duke of Milan, or the French King. Yet, the spirit of commerce survived that of conquest; and the colony of Pera still awed the capital, and navigated the Euxine, till it was in- volved by the Turks in the final servitude of Constantinople itself/* At the zenith of its power, the Genoese Republic extended its sovereignty over Sardinia, Majorca, Minorca, Malta, Crete, Lesbos, and Negropont, and had settlements in Scio, Smyrna, and several other cities of the Levant. In virtue of the con- quest of the island of Corsica, where was formerly a Saracen king, a crown and sceptre were among the insignia of its doge. Addison, referring to this circumstance, remarks, that it gave their am- bassadors a more honourable reception at some courts, but at the same time might teach their people to have a mean notion of their own repub- lican form of government, being 4 a tacit acknow- * Gibbon, ch. lxiii. The Genoese galleys had trans- ported the Ottoman Sultan Amurath from Asia to Europe; and Italian mercenaries assisted him in the conquest of Adrianople. His successor, the conqueror of Constantinople, expelled the Genoese colony from Kaffk. History abounds with similar instances of retribution.GENOA. ledgment that monarchy is the more honourable/* This island was the only dependency that remained to the Genoese, when, about the middle of the last century, an insurrection broke out, which was fol- lowed by a protracted contest that served only to display the weakness and exhaust the resources of the Republic. Tired at length of the war, the Genoese, in 1768, sold the sovereignty of the island to France ; and Paoli, the patriot general, was obliged to seek an asylum in England. The decline of the commerce and political im- portance of the Italian republics may be attributed, in the first instance, to the effects of their mutual contests,f the fall of the Byzantine empire, and the new posture assumed by the Ottoman State as a maritime power. Other events, however, had a powerful influence in diverting the stream of mer- cantile wealth into new channels. The discoveries of the Portuguese, more especially, opened a new sphere of enterprise, and ultimately led to a com- plete change in the course of the Indian trade Many Venetians and Genoese had entered into the Portuguese service as early as the middle of the fifteenth century ; and the discoveries of Diaz and De Gama towards the close of that century, wak- ened, not without reason, the jealousy of the Lords of the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian seas. Lisbon became, in its turn, the great emporium of the * Addison's Remarks on Italy, p. 22. * f The long and arduous contest between Genoa and Venice, has been compared by the Italian historians to the second Punic War; and a striking feature of coincidence is, that the power which finally obtained the ascendancy seemed, at one period, nearer to ruin than its rival.GENOA. 273 African and Indian trade, from which, down to the close of the sixteenth century, the London mer- chants imported the rich productions of the East. Columbus, the glory and disgrace of the country which gave him birth, but denied him an adequate sphere of enterprise, having in vain sought em- ployment in the Portuguese service, entered into that of Spain, and ' gave a new world to Castile and Leon.' From this era, the Portuguese and Spaniards took the lead in the general commerce of Europe, till the naval power of Great Britain, by rendering her mistress of the seas, enabled her to plant her factories and colonies on every shore, and to stretch her empire over more millions than were comprised in the Roman world. The brightest period in the political history of Genoa, is that which succeeded to the revolution effected by Andrea Doria in 1528, by which the blessings of independence and internal tranquillity were for a long season secured to her citizens. But, in the narrow oligarchy which was then esta- blished, there was nothing that approached to equal representation or a liberal system of govern- ment. The terrible despotism of the Inquisition extended its paralyzing influence over every depart- ment of the state ; and in the reign of Philip II., the nobles of Genoa were little better than mere grandees of Spain. There can be nothing to re- gret in the overthrow of such institutions, though dignified with the specious name of a Republic. The French Revolution gave the first shock to the power of the Genoese nobles. Their fortunes being chiefly invested in foreign funds, and espe- cially in the French, they are said to have lost by274 GENOA. that revolution seventeen millions of francs a year.* Bonaparte concluded a treaty with the Republic, at Montebello, in 1797, by which he granted them an accession of territory taken from Austria, with a population of 50,000 persons. That treaty maintained in part the ancient insti- tutions of the Republic; but these soon gave way to a more popular form of government, adopted under the indirect influence of France ; and in silly imitation of the forms adopted in that country, Genoa had its executive directory. But the rapid increase of the public burthens,f the total stag- nation of trade, and above all, the suppression of the Bank of St. George, soon rendered the new Government unpopular. This celebrated in- stitution, the oldest of the kind in Europe, was the great repository of individual as well as of national wealth; and, while independent of the State, it formed a powerful tie of the citizens to the Republic. Falling into the hands of the new Government, this Bank became insolvent; and although indi- vidual creditors received 6s. 8d, in the pound, the numerous charitable institutions, by an iniquitous interpretation of the law of mortmain, lost every thing. 4 Disgusted as the people then were,' remarks Mr. Simond, * if, after the battle of Novi, the Austrian general had proclaimed the independence •* Simond, p. 585. f The taxes were raised from three millions of francs a year, to nine millions. The accession of territory ought, perhaps, to be considered as justifying, in some measure, the increase. But besides this, a hundred vessels were taken for the Egyptian expedition.—Simond, p. 592.GENOA. 275 of Genoa, and an amnesty for the past, the French could not have kept their ground in Liguria. But he did not; and Genoa sustained, in 1800, a siege for ever memorable in military annals. Massena, who commanded in the town, had for his auxiliary, a lively recollection, or tradition, still existing among the inhabitants, of the excesses committed in 1746 by the Imperialists.* But, upon this occasion, the Austrian general, Count Hohen- zollern, by his humane and liberal conduct when the town at last surrendered, nearly effaced those impressions ; and the inhabitants had only to suffer from a deadly fever, the consequence of famine, which raged for months after the first cause had ceased. During the siege, which lasted fifty-nine days, 15,000 individuals were starved to death, out of a population of 160,000 ; but, for months afterwards, 100 persons died each day.'t * * Very near the Albergo de' Poveri, in the Strada Portarta, the spot is shewn,, where, on the 10th of December, 1746, a sudden insurrection began, which drove away the Aus- trians. A heavy piece of artillery had sunk into the pave- ment, by a drain underground giving way; and in an attempt jo compel the citizens to draw it out, the soldiers got into a quarrel, which brought about a general and successful resistance. The place in the pavement is still seen, and the piece of artillery, a bronze mortar, is shewn at this day.' f Simond, p. 593. Another still more famous siege occurs in the Genoese annals; that of 1317, which has been compared by the Italian historians to the siege of Troy. They ' represent it as uniting as many different tribes, calling forth as much talent and energy, and exhibiting as many vicissitudes as that well-known contest. The result, however, was very different. Troy fell, and Genoa tri- umphed ; but the fall of Troy has been ennobled by Homer, while the triumphs of Genoa are lost in oblivion.'—Eustace, vol. iii. p. 465.276 GENOA. When the battle of Marengo had made the French Consul master of Piedmont, Genoa ap plied to the conqueror for a new constitution. It was granted to them, but was soon set aside by the great Codificator ; and when, in 1805, Napo- leon placed upon his own head the iron crown, the Ligurian Republic was reduced to a province of the French empire. This act of violence, by de- stroying the shadow of independence to which the Genoese still fondly clung, was warmly resented, and severed them for ever, in principle and feeling, from France. Although permanently blockaded by the British fleet, and with scarcely any maritime trade, they were nevertheless subjected to both a maritime and a military conscription; while the nobles of Genoa were compelled to send their sons to those schools in the empire, which were intended as military nurseries to recruit the army. Yet, their union to France was not unattended by some important political advantages. It secured to them a uniform system of national education, a better code of law, the publicity of judicial pro- ceedings, the institution of juries, and the suppres- sion of mendicity and assassination. The act of the Congress of Vienna which, in imitation of the worst deeds of Napoleon, arbitrarily con- signed Genoa to the sovereign of Piedmont, de- prived them of nearly all these advantages, without affording them any equivalent. The King of Sar- dinia left to his new subjects the French commercial code, and the code civil, so far altered as to restore to the clergy the record of births and marriages, and to re-establish the ancient mode of hereditary succession. But the code penal, and that of iw-GENOA. 211 struction criminelle, were set aside, and the old barbarous jurisprudence of Piedmont, with the ex- ception of the torture, was imposed upon the Ge- noese. The King, or his ministers, may dispose of the persons of his subjects by arbitrary imprison- ment, and of their property by unlimited taxation. The very attempt to emigrate without leave, is an offence visited with fines, confiscation, or igno- minious punishment. Judges, appointed by the King, and dismissed at pleasure, live, for the most part, by their fees. The nobles of Piedmont have been again invested with their feudal rights, which place their vassals almost at their mercy: those of Genoa are only exempt from arrest for debt. The jesuits, the mendicant orders, the processions, the cumbrous old mode of tuition, and an unbridled mendicity, have all been re-established by his Sar- dinian Majesty, in utter contempt of the recom- mendations of the Congress, and of the spirit of the times. The Genoese are, probably, sick of re- volutions ; they silently endure the sceptre of the monarch they despise, and hope for better days. It is not likely, however, that, under any circum- stances, their city will recover a considerable por- tion of her ancient importance. Both Genoa and Pisa have been robbed of much of their former trade by the more accessible port of Livorno ; and as the natural advantages of that of Genoa are by no means superior to those of other Ligurian har- bours, the removal of all commercial restrictions would place in jeopardy even the measure of pros- perity which she now enjoys.* Seldom has com- * 1 As the port of Genoa is so very ill guarded against storms, that no privileges can tempt the merchants from VOL. I. R278 GENOA* mercebeen made to flow again in the channels from which it has once been diverted. Leghorn into it, so dare not the Genoese make any other of their ports free, lest it should draw to it most of their com- merce and inhabitants, and by consequence ruin their chief city.'—Addison's Remarks on Italy, p. 229,route of the s1mplon. 279 CHAPTER V. Route of the Simplon—The Valais—Pass of the Simplon— Pass of the Gries—Simplon Route to Milan—Lago Mag- giore—Lake of Orta—Lake of Lugano—Passes of the Ber- nardin and the Splugen—Pass of the St. Gothard—Pass of the Stelvio—Lake of Como—Lecco—Como—Monza. The majority of English travellers enter Italy by the grand pass of the Simplon. This is generally allowed to claim the preference in point of the beauty and grandeur of the scenery which the route presents; and no where, perhaps, is the contrast so striking, between the regions separated by the great Alpine barrier. From the deep and narrow valley of the Valais, inclosed by frowning Alps, you wind up the wooded slopes and round the little valleys of the northern declivity, till, having gained the summit, you descend in a few hours from the vegetation of Lapland to the region of the vine and the fig-tree, and, on fairly gaining the sunny side of the mountains, emerge into light and boundless space in one of the finest parts in Italy. The valley of the Upper Rhone, which forms the canton of the Valais, may be described as an im- mense trough, 100 miles in length, a mile and a half in depth, and two miles wide at the bottom. The mountains on each side are the highest of any on the old continent, except those of the Himalaya280 THE VALA.IS. range ; forming two walls of rock, much shattered and intersected, rising from 10,000 to nearly 14,000 feet above the Rhone. This valley may therefore be considered as the deepest in the known world. On the northern side are the Alps of the Bernese Oberland, in which rise the Finster-aar- horn,* the Jungfrau,t the Breits-horn,J and other enormous peaks; while the southern boundary is formed by the great chain of Alps from Mont Blanc to the Saint Gothard, including the Cervin, and the Monte Rosa.§ At the upper end of the valley, these two ranges meet and unite. Sixteen lateral valleys, some of considerable extent, open into the main valley of the Rhone; and where they join it, the width of the flat part of the valley is increased. Thirteen of these lateral valleys are inhabited. That part of the valley belowr Sion, formerly distinguished as the Bas Palais, is a flat plain, swampy and un- healthy, where the heat of summer is intense, and millions of mosquitoes await the wearied tra- veller. Intermittent fevers, cutaneous diseases, and cretinism in its most horrid forms, infest the unhappy natives. Above Sion, in the Haul Valais, the marshes disappear, and fine pasturage and vineyards indicate a more favoured spot. The Bas Valais formerly belonged to Savoy, but was conquered by the inhabitants of the Upper * Estimated height above the sea, 14,094 feet. f About 13,720 feet above the sea. J 12,800 feet. § See, for the height of these summits, p. 144. The valley of the Rhone, at Martigny, is only 1700 feet above the sea, whereas thai of the Arve at Chamounix is more than 3000 feet.THE y ALA IS. 281 Valais, a brave race, who resisted with desperate courage the invasion of the French. They were ultimately compelled to submit, and the two divi- sions of the valley were incorporated in the depart- ment of the Simplon. In the Bas Valais, French is still the prevailing language, while, above Sion, German is most commonly spoken. In 1816, the inhabitants of the canton amounted to only 62,909 souls ; and this population was considered as redundant, although, under a better system of agriculture, the country might support a much larger number.* Many parts of the valley are extremely fertile; and it might be rendered both more productive and less insalubrious by draining. Round Sion and Sierre, the fig-tree, the almond-tree, the pomegranate, and the mul- berry-tree thrive luxuriantly, and the grapes have a rich flavour. But in the management of their vines, the Yalaisans are both slovenly and unskil- ful 5 and superstition, ignorance, indolence, and uncleanliness aggravate and perpetuate the physi- cal evils to which they are exposed, and deprive them of the comforts and security which they might derive from an enlightened industry.! * Bakewell, vol. ii. p. 220. Shortly after this census was taken, 200 of the inhabitants emigrated to Brazil to better their condition. Yet, in the English translation of Malte Brun (vol. vii. p. 578), we read of the ' wealthy canton of Valais !' f The misery which exists in this canton, compared with the less fertile Oberland of Bern, frojm which it is divided by only a ridge of mountains, Mr. Bakewell attributes to two causes; first, the circumstance that the land belongs to a few great proprietors, and the peasantry, being merely tenants, feel but little interest in its improvement; and next,282 THK VA^AIS Sion or Seon, the ancient Sedunum, and still called Sitten by the Germans, is situated in the widest part of the Yalais, partly on the right bank of the Rhone, and partly on the river Sitten. It has a striking appearance at a distance, its ancient wall being surmounted with numerous towers, while two very lofty, precipitous rocks, crowned with fortresses, command the city. The rocks on the eastern side are surmounted with the old castle of Valerie, some Roman remains, an old Gothic church, and the ruins of the residence of the first bishop. On another more elevated summit is Chateau Tourbillon, built in 1492, the residence of the famous military cardinal and archbishop, Matthew Schinner. A third castle, called Mayer- bourg, was the residence of the later bishops, till it was burned in the great fire of Sion in 1788 : its ruins are at the foot of the hills of Valerie and Tourbillon. The view up and down the valley from the heights, is very fine. From that of Chateau Valerie, the valley of the Rhone is seen extending without interruption to Martigny, where it makes a sudden angle, and seems entirely closed in. Above Sion, to the right, on rocks overhanging the river, the ruins of the old castles of S£on and Montgorges frown, in their decay, over the valley that once groaned beneath the yoke of their tyrant owners. About eleven miles beyond Sion is the bourg of Sierre, situated in the most picturesque part of the valley; soon after leaving which, the town of Leuk (Louesch) is passed, at the entrance that the Jesuits and priests seem to think the preservation of their power depends upon keeping the people in gross ig* norance.THE VALAIS. 283 of the terrific gorge of the Dala. Near the fur- ther end of this gorge are the Baths of Leuk, where five inns have been erected for the reception of the numerous visiters who resort here in summer.* Above it is seen the savage mountain barrier of Mont Gemmi, over which a very remarkable pass (7460 feet above the sea), cut on what appears the perpendicular face of the mountain, but practicable with safety by mules, leads to the valley of Kander in the Bernese Oberland. At Tourtemagne, a short stage from Sierre, there is a tolerable inn. Four miles further, is the town of Yisp (Yispach, Yitfge), at the mouth of the valley of that name, through which descend with great impetuosity the waters of the Monte Rosa and Mont Cervin, often in a volume greater than the Rhone itself into which they flow. The valley extends to the foot of Monte Rosa, distant from Yisp about 18 or 20 miles; but that magnificent mountain is here con- cealed by a part of an intervening range, which is seen ' rearing its snowy summit into the dark blue sky, to so amazing an height that it almost seems to impend over the spectator.' Soon after leaving Visp, the road crosses the torrent of the Gamsa, near the rude remains of an ancient stone wall which has been flanked with * These baths are much resorted to by invalids in the months of July and August. 1 There are twelve hot springs, varying from 136° to 142° Fahr. The mineral substances found in them are chiefly the sulphate and carbonate of lime, with carbonate of iron, of which there are nine grains in a pound of water. The gaseous products are but small, and the water is without flavour or odour.'—Bakewell, vol. ii. p. 232. This Traveller elsewhere states the highest tempe. rature to be 120°.284 THE VALAIS. towers: it is supposed to mark the frontier of the Yiberians, whose territory extended from this stream to the source of the Rhone. The next post station is Brigg, or Brieg, situated nearly opposite to the base of the Simplon. The appearance of this town is very singular, deeply seated amid enor- mous mountains; and its churches and colleges, with their tin-plated globes and domes, are in a style of architecture which recalls the Kremlin of Moscow. It was at one time a place of some con- sequence ; and there are several very large man- sions with grated windows, lofty and gloomy, like prisons. The town is now so much decayed, that many of the mansions are entirely shut up ; and in others, the old proprietors who reside on the wreck of their property, occupy only two or three rooms. There is a large establishment of Jesuits here, and ? theatre. The college is covered with a kind of slate, and its globes with a brilliant species of mica slate, called by the natives, giltstein : it is a green ground with light yellow veins, and has a shewy appearance at a distance. From the back of the inn, the Jungfrau is seen, with the vast Aletsch glacier stretching down its side into the valley, and the vast granite peaks of the Breitshorn and the Finster-aar-horn standing up as impassable ramparts. In front of the inn is the torrent of the Saltine, and beyond, a wild mountain view, terminated by the hoary glacier of the Simplon and its buttresses, and the eye is led up through the valley of St. Nicholas. On the opposite side of the valley, about three miles nearer to Leuk, is the warm spring of Nater, which rises at the foot of the mountains that formTHE SIMPLON. 285 the northern boundary, and fills an aperture in a natural cavern, which serves as a bath. A small wooden shed has been built for the use of the bathers, but the patients are generally brought clown on sledges from Brieg. The temperature of the bath is 86° Fahr.: that of the spring is much higher. The water has the smell of sulphuretted hydrogen, and bubbles of gas are seen rising from the surface * At Brieg, the valley of the Rhone, which now becomes narrower,! is left by the present road, and the ascent of the Simplon commences. J The traveller does not, however, fall into the great road which leads direct from Glys, till after passing the Pont de Saltine, a lofty and beautiful arch, 116 feet above the torrent, and one of those bold con- structions which add to the wonders of the route** The road continues on the left towards an eminence called Mount Calvary,§ surmounted with a chapel which terminates a Via Crucis or series of 4 sta: tions'; and after turning through the Brandwald, ascends to the base of the Clennenhorn, which * Bakewell, vol. ii. p. 236. See also page 52 of the present volume. •f* Brieg, according to Mr. Brockedon, is situated nearly 40 miles below the source of the Rhone. Mr. Bakewell says: 4 The valley of the Rhone extends about twelve miles further to the glacier of the Rhone.' Perhaps, German miles are meant. | The route properly commences at Glys; but as the best inns are found at Brieg, travellers almost uniformly com- mence their passage from the latter place, whence a short branch road leads into the great route. § The name usually given to these ' high places of super stition.286 THE SIMPLON. bounds the eastern side of the valley of the Saltine Here,' says Mr. Brockedon, of whose picturesque pen we again gladly avail ourselves, 4 the scene is very grand. The rugged summits of the Glys-horn rise on the other side of a deep ravine, and tower above t'he passenger with awful effect. High up on the sides of the Glys-horn, fields and cottages are seen, so lofty and sloped as to appear inac- cessible. The road winds round the base of the Clennenhorn into the deep and savage valley of Ganter, which terminates in glaciers. Across this ravine, a bridge is thrown, 80 feet above the torrent; and the road ascends by a zig-zag to the station of the third Refuge (or Bersal), where there is an inn and post-house. Thence, following a course round the projections, and into the sinuo- sities of the mountain, the route again overhangs the deep ravine of the Saltine, its depth being con- cealed in many places by the pines and larches which clothe the sides of the mountain below the traveller. Some of these trees are of enormous magnitude ; and some, stripped of their bark, and withered or crushed by the falling of rocks or ava- lanches, add by their form and colour to the grand and wild character of the scenery. The cottages on the side of the Glys-horn, which appeared from below to be inaccessible, are now seen on the other side of the ravine, scarcely above the traveller, surrounded with fields of corn and fine pasturages, and attainable by paths which the mountaineer climbs with great facility. Continuing to ascend, the elevation soon exceeds that at which the pine flourishes ; larches endure a little longer; but these are few and stunted, and scarcely reach beyond theTHE SIMPLON# 287 gallery of Schalbet, an excavation 100 feet in length. After traversing this gallery, the scene becomes excessively wild and arid ; the road winds along the brink of precipices, at a short distance be- low the glaciers of the Schon-horn, whence torrents descend, which are the sources of the Saltine: these, led through finely constructed aqueducts, pass beneath the road, and fall into the ravine below. At the foot of the glaciers, another gallery has been cut through the rock, 140 feet in length; but, to guard against the avalanches to which this part of the road is exposed, covered ways have been recently constructed, in connexion with the glacier gallery, which extend their protection across the places exposed to danger. ' The scene from the summit is very magnifi- cent. Between the Schalbet and the glacier galleries, the eye can descend to Naters, in the val- ley of the Rhone,* and rise to the prodigious peaks which pinnacle the range of the Bernese Alps. From beyond the glacier gallery, the view extends to the great glaciers of Alesch, which add their brilliancy to the scene. These, however, and the valley of the Rhone, cannot be seen from 'the same point; but the magnificent peaks of the Breits-horn, the Jungfrau, and the Monch, form, with their glaciers, over the deep valley of the Saltine, # c F ull five hours after we had left Brieg,' says Mr. Bake well, ' a turn in the road presented it again below us. and so near that we could distinguish the houses very plainly. The old road up the Simplon is carried along a ravine on the right, below the present road; and, I believe, a stout man would ascend the old road, on foot, in hah the time required for a carriage to ascend the new road.'288 THE SIMPLON. one of the finest scenes in this range of the Alps.* A little beyond the glacier gallery, the highest point of the passage is attained: it is 656*2 feet above the level of the sea. Here, there is a house of refuge, and a barrier where a toll is paid, of six francs for each horse. The summit of the Simplon is a plain rather spacious, but wild and desolate, except in the summer, when there is a rich pas- turage on the mountain, and flocks enliven the scene a little ; nothing, however, can be conceived more dismal than its wintry aspect. The summit is exposed to dreadful storms, for protection against which the plan of a hospice was laid out, and the building commenced; but the work has been relinquished. There is, however, in the plain, on the right of the present route, a hospice, a singular-looking building, where travellers, overtaken by storms, or having met with accidents, are received by two or three brothers of the Great St. Bernard. After passing the old hospice, the plain narrows to a valley ; and having crossed the torrents which descend from the Rosboden, the traveller enters the village of Simplon, situated 4S40 feet above the level of the sea. A very * It was long questioned, whether the Bernese Alps could be seen from the Simplon, although, Mr. Bakewell remarks, ' it is strange that, with any knowledge of the geography of the Alps, a doubt on this point could be entertained. No attentive observer accustomed to mountain scenery can mistake them.' Mrs. Starke repeats the mis- taken statement, that Mont Blanc may be seen from the Simplon road. This is not the case, but there is a snowy mountain which bears some resemblance to it in shape, seen in the direction of Mont Gemmi, ' A more sublime spec- tacle cannot be imagined/—Bakewell, vol. ii. p. 239.THE SIMPLON. 289 comfortable inn in the village offers rest and re- freshment ; and on arriving late from either side of the mountain, it is desirable, in order to enjoy the scenery of the pass, especially on the side of Italy, to remain at Simplon for the night. 4 After leaving Simplon, the road advances to- wards the deep gorges of the Dovedro. From a part of the road where it makes an abrupt turn, ♦he entrance to the gallery of Algaby is perceived, far below in the ravine ; but this appears so mere a speck as to create a doubt as to the possibility of the road passing through it. To follow the course *bf the Dovedro, an abrupt detour is made into the ravine of the Krumbach.* Thence de- scending to the banks of the Dovedro, the traveller soon afterwards enters the gallery of Algaby, 230 feet long, and bordering on the torrent. Thence, the road accompanies the Dovedro in its deep seclusion, until it escapes into the Val d'Ossola at Crevola. 4 Here begin what are called let belles horreurs of the Simplon. The rocky and perpendicular bases of the mountains approach more closely, leaving only Bpace for the road and the foaming torrent, which the latter in some places entirely usurps; and in such places, the road is carried through galleries cut in the rocks. Where'the ravine narrows, the mountains which bound it appear to increase in height. The road is some- limes scooped into the side of the rocks ; sometimes it seems suspended over the abyss ; and when * The union of the Krumbach (or Kronbach) and the Quirna, both descending from the glacier of Lavin, and foining their torrents at G&teig. forms the Dovedro. Vol. i. s290 THE SIMPLON. neither a terrace nor a gallery can be made on one side, as at the Ponte Alto, a bridge of admirable construction crosses the torrent, and a line is found on the other srde, where the route can be carried forward. From the overhanging rocks, in some places 1000 feet above the traveller, torrents are poured out, some of which, from their height, descend broken into mist; others, falling upon a shelving rock, foam in white lines over its surface; and near Gondo, a river gushes out with violence, and falls into the Dovedro. But the wonder of this part of the road is the great gallery, which is formed just below the place where a bridge leads from the right to the left of the Dovedro. The ravine appears to be closed in, and the only pas- sage is by one of the most stupendous works ever accomplished ; a gallery cut through the granite, 596 feet long, which, at the opening on the Italian side, crosses the waterfall of the Frassinone. This torrent, falling from a great height, rushes through the bridge thrown across it, and descends above 100 feet into the Dovedro, where the latter river, forming a cataract, meets the waters of the Frassinone in horrible commotion. It is a spot unrivalled in its astonishing effect.* In the gallery there are two lateral openings, made to light the traveller, and to facilitate the ex- cavation, f Opposite to one of these openings, the » See the plate, copied (by permission) from Mr. Brockedon's Picturesque Illustrations. f ' Four gangs of workmen were put on at the same time: these were relieved; and the works proceeded night and day during the formation of this wonderful excavation.'lanniKCE TO TIE ©MEAT ©AMJSMIT MIE.&m GOTO©? " Loa&m.PiiEtisliea "bv J. I)uncart,-Paternoster Kirw. l83i.the simplon. 291 following inscription is cut on the rock,—^ere Italo, 1805. 4 A little below the gallery, the road descends by a zig-zag, where the ravine widens, and dis- plays more awfully the heights of the rocks, which project in some places over the road. Masses like enormous towers, with perpendicular sides, bound the valley; and the road is carried through this extraordinary pass upon the debris which slopes down to the torrent. Soon after, a strange and lofty building is seen, which serves as an inn and a place of refuge for travellers : this, together with a chapel and some cottages, form the village of Gondo. Near it, a few trees begin to relieve the horrors of the defile of Dovedro. At length, mea- dows appear, and amidst some fruit-trees is seen the village of Issel (Isella) on the frontier of Savoy, where the passports and baggage of travellers are examined.* A little below Issel is another gallery cut through the rock, but only 34 feet in length. At this place, the scenery loses much of its seve- rity, but suddenly resumes it near Trasquera, where the gigantic forms of the rocks are scarcely less awful than near Gondo. After having passed these, the traveller crosses the Cherasca, and enters upon the beautiful little amphitheatre in which are situated the villages of Dovedro and Varzo. Here, the valley spreading out on the left, * A little above Isella, a vast Corinthian column of gra- nite, wrought from a neighbouring quarry, is seen lying on the ground; and mosses and ferns have already begun to throw their graceful draperies over its fluted sides. It is said to have been destined by Napoleon to support his statue at the end of the Simplon road, and was on its way to Mi- lan, when the news of his reverses arrested its progress I s 2292 THE SIMPLON. strikingly contrasts with the surrounding scenery and displays houses, trees, vineyards, and mea- dows. The route thence continues, amid scenery of less interest, to the last gallery, that of Crevola, which is carried nearly 200 feet through a rock, that has an opening cut on the side next the river, for the admission of light. The road afterwards ascends to the little hamlet of Morgantino, and passes the quarry whence the blocks of white marble were hewn for the columns of the triumphal arch at Milan, which commemorates the con- struction of the route of the Simplon. From Morgantino, the route gradually lowers to where the grand and beautiful Ponte Crevola crosses the Dovedro at its entrance into the Val d'Ossola. This bridge is first seen where a view of the plains of Duomo d'Ossola is also presented. The landscape is one of singular beauty; and its effect, bursting upon the traveller at the end of his journey through the savage defile of the Dovedro, is very impressive. The bridge of Crevola is one of the finest structures in the world. In the middle of the torrent, a pier is raised, 100 feet high, which carries two arches, resting on the rocks on each side of the ravine. Its strength and elegance are equally remarkable. To do justice to it, the traveller should descend and view it from below Crevola. ' From the bridge, the road proceeds in a direct line to the town of Duomo d'Ossola. The richness of the plain, the brightness of the sky, and the mildness of the climate, already announce the Ita- lian side of the Alps. The language, the costume and the manners, mark a people differing greatlyTHE SIMPLON. 293 in character from even their nearest neighbours on the northern side of the mountains * Near Duomo d'Ossola is a sacra-monte or Calvary, where, in a series of stations, groupes as large as life, in terra- cotta, represent events in the passion of Christ: some of them are hideous; others are cleverly mo- delled. The hill is worth the traveller's visit for the enjoyment of the beautiful scene from the chapel on its summit.'f The whole distance from Brieg (or Glys) in the Yalais, to Duomo d'Ossola, is 14 leagues (about 42 miles), and the passage commonly occu- pies about 12 hours. J The inclination of the road * ' The vines are here treated in a manner peculiar to this part of Italy. Posts of gneiss, which are obtained with great facility in this neighbourhood, are placed upright in the ground, and these have poles laid across them, upon which the vines are trained. This plan affords facility of access to the fruit, and the ground is not exhausted by the props, which is the case where trees are grown to support the vines.' f Brockedon, No. xii. pp. 8—15.—These things are very common in Italy, but are not usually on so expensive a scale. The chapels are in general much smaller, like watch-boxes, and are adorned only with a painting. Sometimes, the sta- tions are mere arched recesses to protect the series of pic- tures. These rude dramatic representations are truly na- tional, and are, like almost every thing in the worship and ritual of the Italians, a counterpart to the histrionic repre- sentations and ceremonies of the old Pagan worship. Mr. Blunt points out a passage in Horace, describing a groupe of this kind;—Fortune preceded by Necessity, armed with '—impaling nails and wedges dread, • The hook tormentous and the melted lead,'— and with Hope and Fidelity as attendants.—Hor. Od. i. 34. —See Blunt's Vestiges, chap. 9. J From Brieg to the barrier, the ascent occupies nearly294 THE SIMPLON. is no where greater than one foot in twenty-nine, and it is throughout, about nine yards in width. According to Mr. Bakewell, 1 it is every where as safe and commodious as the roads round London/ and a mail-coach might perform the passage in six hours. This must be understood, however, with some qualifications. Unless active mea- sures are taken to repair the road, it will' soon become impassable for carriages. The glacier gallery and the adjacent heights require to be cleared of snow towards the commencement of every summer, and the water-courses to be kept open. Owing to the neglect of these precautions by the restored Government, some travellers who were crossing the Simplonin June 1825, narrowly escaped being destroyed by a small avalanche that fell from the heights above the glacier gallery. The works seem to have been constructed with more attention to despatch than to durability. The incumbent rock has not been sufficiently mined away, and has frequently fallen and filled up the road. The supporting walls upon the pre- cipices have not been made strong enough, and are in many places broken down into the bed of six hours; and the descent to Duomo, about five hours and a half. The aseent from Duomo to the village of Simplon occupies seven hours, and the descent to Brieg, nearly five. The highest point of the road is only half a league nearer to Brieg than to Duomo; but the gorge of the Saltine is much less winding than that of the Dovedro, so that the descent on the Swiss side seems much shorter and steeper than the ascent from the south. The old road was much shorter, and, as being the shortest practicable route from the Valais to the Milanese, had always been the track taken by the Milan courier.THE SIMPLOrf. 295 the torrent ; the guard-stones are demolished almost throughout j the arches of many of the bridges are shaken, and their parapet palings swept away. In short, the whole of these stupen- dous works are in a state of dilapidation. Unfor- tunately, the resources of the Valais Government are scarcely equal to the expense requisite for a thorough repair. His Sardinian Majesty has little interest in keeping this route open; and the Austrian Government still less. Yet, unless a regu-" lar sum be set aside for the repair of the road by the Powers interested in its preservation, a few years must convert this noble monument of Napoleon's enterprise into a mere ruin. The contrivance of the excavated galleries, which has excited so much admiration, is not pe- culiar to this pass, and had, indeed, it is said, been practised in one or two parts of the old road, but upon a much smaller scale.* There are altogether * Eustace, in his eagerness to depreciate every thing French, remarks upon the insignificance of these excava- tions, when compared to the grotto of Posilipo or the gate of Salzburg. He either overlooked, or did not choose t© con- sider, the difference between scooping out a granite rock, and the gradual erosion of the softest stone, as at Posilipo. With somewhat more reason, he pronounces the spacious galleries worked through the rock at Gibraltar, to be far superior to the grottoes of the Simplon, both in extent and difficulty of execution; yet there, the upper part of the rock is a cavernous limestone. 4 It is not likely,' adds this Tra- veller, ' to equal the Via Appia either in solidity or in dura- tion ; nor, indeed, is it comparable, either in convenience or in extent, to the passage by the Rhsetian Alps, or by Ihe Tyrol, which seems to be the most ancient, and is the best and most frequented of all the grand avenues to Italy.'— Eustace, vol. iv. p. 73.—This statement is far from accurate.296 PASS OF THE GRIES. six of these galleries. Twenty-two bridges have been thrown across the torrents and ravines: the arches are of wood, firmly and solidly constructed. There are ten houses of refuge along the road- side; but some of these have been left unfi- nished. The total expense of the works is stated to have been 12,000,000 livres, or about 4S0,000J. sterling.* Near Crevola, the route from Lucern, by the passes of the Grimsel and the Gries, falls into the Simplon road. This route, which has also been illustrated by the pen and pencil of Mr. Brockedon, scarcely comes under our notice in the present work, as it lies almost entirely through the Swiss territory. The pass over the Grimsel affords a communication between the upper valley of the Aar and the High Valais, whence a path ascends by the glaciers of the Rhone to the pass of the Furca, which leads into Italy by the Mont St. Gothard, while another route ascends the Valais to Brieg. The less known but more direct route over the Gries, leads from Obergestelen in the Valais, up the Eginenthal, to the glacier of the Gries; crosses that glacier (7900 feet above the sea), and descends with the river Toccia through the valleys of Formazza, Antigorio, and Ossola, to the Lago Maggiore. The scenes of wildness * Brockedon, No.xii. Bakewell, vol. ii. p. 244. Sketches of Italy, vol. iv. ch. 19. It is remarkable what discrepan- cies occur in the statements of travellers, on points respecting which mistakes would seem impossible. Mrs. Starke says, there are fifty bridges and five ' grottoes.' Mr. Bakewell says, there are ten galleries pierced through the rock, and twenty-two bridges.PASS OF THE GR1ES. 297 and grandeur presented in the route of tlie Gries, are nowhere exceeded in the Alps. The falls of the Toccia, in the Val Formazza, are particularly grand and striking. The Sardinian custom- house is at the village of Crodo, about a league below the confluence of that river with a stream from Mont Albrun, where the valley takes the name of Antigorio. Between Crodo and San Marco, the road twice crosses the Toccia, amid some varied and pleasing scenery ; and a little beyond San Marco, a beautiful view opens on the traveller, extending over the little plain of the Toccia to the Val d'Ossola, with Duomo in the distance, surrounded with the fine mountains which bound the valley. The road towards Cre- vola continues along the right bank of the river, amid scenes of great richness, till it falls into the great Simplon road, near the Ponte Crevola, where the Val Dovedro * opens, at a sharp angle, into the wide and well-watered valley of the Toccia or Val d'Ossola. Duomo d* Ossola, situated at the edge of this flat, circular valley, is a place of considerable antiquity, and is supposed to be the Oscela of Ptolemy, a town belonging to the Lepontii, who inhabited the Alps between the Great St. Bernard and the St. Gothard. Mr. Simond describes it as a clean little town, affording a striking contrast to the dingy and poor villages, the boorish popula- tion, and dirty inns on the other side of the Alps. 1 The streets are strewn,' he says,' with fragments of * Written by some of our travellers, Val Vedro, Diverdo, Divario, and Diveria. The fiver is also called the Veriola. s 5298 THE SIMPLON ROUTE. white marble chipped off by the chisels of sculptors, whose hammers, resounding on all sides, remind you that you are arrived in the country of the fine iirts; the inn is comparatively a palace, and its accommodations perfect/ How much depends upon the temper of the traveller! At this same inn, a fair Tourist's eyes could detect the absence of bells in the rooms, of glass in the sashes, of fastenings to the doors. The flooring is of tiles, but the walls and ceiling are stuccoed and delicately painted with flowers. The houses, generally, are painted outside with various subjects. Neither these ornaments nor the deficiencies would strike a traveller returning from Italy. Accordingly, ano- ther fair Tourist mentions this little town as containing nothing particularly admirable, 4 not even the Duomo which gives it distinction above the rest of the Val d'Ossola.'* On reversing the route, the feelings and estimates of the traveller seem also to be reversed. Mr. Matthews seems to have hailed from the summit of the Simplon, the green valleys of Switzerland, 4 the land of liberty.' The little cottage inn at Brieg, neat even to ele- gance, and the general attention to comfort and cleanliness, reminded him of his mother country ; and he was not less struck with the neatness and personal beauty of the female peasantry of the High Valais. At Bex, in Vaud, he found one of the very best inns in the world, 4 truly charac- teristic of the neat and elegant simplicity of Swit- zerland and instead of the male waiters and ♦ Simonil, p. 1, Morton, vol. i p. 9. Sketches of Italy, vol. iv. p. 268.THE SIMPLON ROUTE 299 chambermaids of Italy, was delighted to fifld himself waited on by Swiss Hebes.* But we are now in Italy,—in that corner of his Sardinian Majesty's dominions, comprised in the division of Novara, which, running up to the ]^e- pontine Alps, on the western side of the Great Lake, is interposed between Switzerland and the Milanese.t Duomo, as the town is now generally called, taking its name from its cathedral, contains about 1500 inhabitants : the population of the district is estimated at 30,000. It is not an epis- copal see, but contains a handsome Jesuits' college, built of black and white marble. Beyond this town, the route to Milan descends the rich plain of the Toccia, crossing successively the torrents from the Val Antrona and the Val Anzasca. The latter valley, which ascends to the Monte Rosa, and leads across the great chain, by the pass of the Moro, into the Valais, is one of the most interesting valleys in the Alps, and abounds with scenes of unrivalled beauty and sublimity. The Anzascans, a race of fine men and beautiful women, are remarkable, Mr. Brockedon says, for their personal cleanliness ; to which cir- cumstance he ascribes their entire freeness from goitrous complaints, notwithstanding that they inhabit a dee]) valley, and drink the waters of the Anza, which flow from the glaciers of Monte Rosa. The route to the Lago Maggiore crosses the Toccia before arriving at Vogogna, and again near * Mattliews's Diary, &c., pp. 312—317. f Duomo was taken by the Swiss in 1411 ; was after- wards retaken by the Milanese ; and was by them sold to the Duke of Savoy, James VIII.300 THE SIMPLON ROUTE. the village of Ornavasso ; it then leaves that river on the left, and, near the little village of Gravellona, crosses the Negoglia, by which the waters of the Lake of Orta flow into the Lago Maggiore.* The eye is carried along the Toccia, between the fine white marble mountains of Cordaglia and the red granite masses near Baveno, till it catches the first glimpse of the Great Lake, which soon discloses itself in all its extent and beauty.t Baveno, on the western shore, is a post station ; and here travellers usually hire boats to visit the Borromean Islands, which contribute so much to the picturesque cha- racter of the lake. From Baveno, the Simplon road is carried along * It was intended at one time to direct the course of the Simplon road by the Lake of Orta, turning off at Gravel- lona, and so avoiding the shores of the Greater Lake J but the necessity of rising to the level of the Lake of Orta, and descending again to Arona, presented so many disadvan- tages that the plan was abandoned. The route, however, Mr. Brockedon says, is one of singular beauty ; and an excellent carriage road ascends the banks of the Negoglia, from Gravellona to Omegna, on the shores of the Lake; whence a road, which was in contemplation, would lead to Buccione at the head of the Lake, going round the eastern shore, through Orta, and falling into the Milan road at Arona. | 1 Near Baveno, there is a mountain of highly crys- talline beautiful red granite, which is extensively quarried. This is the only very perfect granite I have seen in the Alps. A great variety of large crystals of feldspar, well formed, were found in the fissures.'—Bakewell, vol. ii. p. 247. The common granite of the Alps, yranit veine, admits of being easily split into slabs, and is formed into posts or rails. Numerous pyramids of this granite in vertical plates, rise to an amazing height above the valleys on the side of Piedmont, and are beautifully clothed with wood.THE SIMPLON ROUTE. 301 the western border of the Lake, on terraces of admirable construction, and scarcely less worthy of praise than the works in the ravine of the Dovedro. The scenery which presents itself in this part of the road, is strikingly beautiful. On the approach to Arona, the colossal bronze statue of St. Charles Borromeo, is seen to the right of the road, upon an eminence commanding a beautiful view of the Lake and the Rhaetian Alps. A path leads up to this hill from the Simplon route. The entrance to Arona is at the foot of a huge cliff, which overhangs the road, so as to inspire a feeling of danger in passing under it. This town, the birth-place of San Carlo, is now decayed ; and the castle in which he was born (in 1538), is to- tally dilapidated. Its port on the lake is enclosed within walls, having the opening flanked by two towers : between these, a chain is drawn at night, closing the entrance. This is the chief port on the Lake, belonging to Sardinia, and is of much import- ance to the Government, as all the merchandize sent from Genoa and the Sardinian States to Switzerland, passes by Arona; and between this port and Locarno, the commerce is considerable. At an hour's drive from Arona, the Lake con- tracts, and forms the Ticino, which is crossed by a flying bridge. This river divides the Sardinian territory from the Lombard-Venetian States; and at Sesto Calende, on the further side, the traveller finds himself again in the hands of the doganieri. From Sesto to Milan, a distance of about ten leagues, the Strada Sempione lies through a country of unequalled fertility, but devoid of picturesque in- terest ; except where the great chain of the Alps,302 THE SIMPLON ROUTE. encircling the plain on the west, north, and east, is occasionally seen, having the appearance of light clouds lying on the horizon, their base being generally invisible through the haze of the inter- vening distance. The multiform summit of Monte Rosa, towering above the glaciers and snowy peaks of the Helvetic and Rhaetian range, forms a beautiful object. The route passes through numerous towns and villages; among others, Somma, (near which is obtained a fine view of the Alps,) Gallarate, Castallanza, and the large mar- ket-town of Rho, remarkable for its magnificent church.* Milan is scarcely seen before it is entered. A glimpse may be caught of the spire of its duomo, but the traveller generally arrives abruptly under the walls of the city. The grand entrance from the Strada Sempione is by a tri- umphal arch, intended by Napoleon to commemo- rate the formation of this route. After having long suffered it to remain unfinished and neglected, the Austrian Government have undertaken the completion of this magnificent structure. The route which we have now been tracing, was determined upon by the Conqueror of Italy, immediately after the battle of Marengo, while the difficulties of the passage of the Great St. Bernard, and the almost fatal check at Fort Bard, were fresh in his recollection. In November 1800, the minister of war was directed to send two brigades of engineers to open a route across the Simpion, practicable for artillery. Little, how- ever, was done before March 1801, when M. C^ard, * Supposed to be Raudii Cam pi, plains rendered memo- rable bv a bloody defeat of the Cimbri by Marius.THE S1MPL0N ROUTE. 303 engineer in chief of the department of Leman, arrived to take the superintendance of the works, and having surveyed the whole line of road, formed the plans ultimately adopted and completed under his able inspection. The early history of this pass is involved in obscurity. It is supposed to have been frequented in very remote ages ; and there is a tradition, that, three years before the battle of the Consuls Marius and Catullus with the Cimbri, the Consul Q. Servilius Csepo led some Roman legions across this mountain to oppose that Celtic nation. The name of this mountain, or rather of the pass, has been supposed to be a corruption of Caepione, derived from that of the Roman Consul.* The Italian form of the name, is Sempione. In many old accounts of the pass, ft is called St. Plom ; but, as no such saint was ever heard of, it may be taken for granted, that this form of the name originated in a blunder occasioned by the manner of pronouncing the word, which is expressed by the French ortho- graphy, Simplon. Its importance and commo- diousness as a pass, are at all events, to be ascribed to Napoleon. It is remarkable, that the French Emperor never traversed this road him- self, f The formation of it was completed in five years ; but the projected hospice on the summit of the pass, as well as the triumphal arch which was to record the formation of tire route, were still ♦ Some persons have sought for the etymology of the word in the name Sempronius ; but no person of that name is mentioned in history in connexion with the pass. f We make this statement on the authority of Mr. Mathews.3.04 LAGO MAGGIORE. unfinished, when tidings of Napoleon's reverses arrested the progress of the works. Before we enter Milan, we must retrace our steps, in order to give some further account of the Lakes of LomLardy. The Lago Maggiore (called also the Lake of Lo- carno), the ancient Lacus Verbanus, is formed by the Ticino (or Tesino), which, rising on the St. Gothard, descends the Yal Levantina, and, being joined by other mountain streams, enters the Lake at Magadino. It receives also, by the Toccia, the waters flowing from the Simplon and the Gries; by the Negoglia, on its western bank, those of Lake Orta ; and on the eastern side, by the Tresa, those of the Lake of Lugano. The Ticino, retaining its name, flows out of the lake, at Sesto, a considerable river, and running in a south-easterly direction to Favia, (to which it gave its ancient name of Ticinum,) falls into the Po not far below that city. Notwithstanding its modern name, this Lake is not the largest of the lakes of Lombardy, being in length inferior to that of Como, and far less extensive than the Lago di Guar da. Its dimensions have been very differently stated ; but it would appear to be between fifty and sixty miles in length, and from five to six in breadth.* * ' The length of this lake is estimated by Strabo, on the authority of Polybius, at 400 stadia, or fifty Roman miles ; and I believe, the actual distance between Sesto Oalende and Magadino, the opposite extremities of the lake, will not be found to fall short of this computation'—Cramer, vol. i. p. 53. Bishop Burnet makes it fifty-six miles long, in most places six miles broad, and 100 fathoms deep about the middleLAGO MAGGIORE. 305 Four islands adorn, or, in the opinion of some travellers, disfigure, the fair face of the Lake. These are the celebrated Borromean Islands, situa- ted in the bay which receives the Ticino and the Tocoia. One of them, crowded with dwellings and boats, is inhabited by substantial fishermen. The Isola Bella and I sola Madre claim a more par- ticular description. The Isola Bella is said to have been but a bare rock of slate, up to the middle of tlje seventeenth century, when its noble proprietor, the Count Vitaliano Borromeo, resolved to immortalize him- self by converting it into an Italian Paradise; arid it must be allowed to present one of the most per- fect specimens of the Italian style of ornamental gardening, whatever may be thought of the na- tional taste which it exhibits. Upon the bare rock has been raised a pyramidal mound, consist- ing of ten rectangular tiers of terraces, or hanging- gardens, supported by arches, terminating in a platform surmounted with an equestrian statue. Groves of stunted orange and lemon trees grow in the shallow soil collected, at a vast expense, 011 these terraces; and the stone balustrades are decorated with a multitude of statues, chiefly allegorical, of inferior workmanship, and inter- mixed with spiral pinnacles of stone, now in a dilapidated atate. The time was, when this island was regarded with universal admiration as one of the wonders of Italy. A French writer says, that its groves can be compared only to those of Idalia, its gardens to that of the Hesperides, its palace to that of Armida; a description less hyperbolical, perhaps, than it may seem to be, since the ancient notions of gardening do not appear to have gone306 LAGO MAGGIORE. far beyond those of the modern Italians. Here, Kousseau has fixed the residence of his Julie. But what is more remarkable, the grave and fastidious Bishop Burnet speaks of these islands in not less rapturous terms. ' They are certainly,' he says, ' the loveliest spots of ground in the world. There is nothing in all Italy, that can be compared to them. They have the full view of the lake ; and the ground rises so sweetly in them, that nothing can be imagined like the terraces here. The whole island (Isola-Bella) is a gar- den, except a little corner to the south, set off for a village of about forty little houses. And because the figure of the island was not more regular by nature, they have built great vaults and porticoes along the rock, which are all made grotesque ; and so they have brought it to a regular form, by laying earth over these vaults. There is, first, a garden to the east, that rises up from the lake by five rows of terraces, on the three sides of the garden that are watered by the lake. The stairs are noble, the walls are all covered with oranges and citrons. There are two buildings in the two corners of this garden: the one is a mill for fetching up the water, and the other is a noble summer-house, all wainscotled (if I may speak so) with alabaster and marble of a fine colour inclining to red. From this garden, one goes on a level to all the rest of the alleys and parterres, herb-gardens, and flower- gardens ; in all which there are variety of foun- tains and arbours. But the great parterre is a surprising thing; for, as it is well furnished with statues and fountains, and is of a vast extent, and justly situated to the palace, so, at the further end of it, there is a great mount; the face of it thatLAGO MAGGIORE, 307 looks to the parterre, is made like a theatre, all full of fountains and statues, the height rising up in five several rows, it being about fifty feet high, and about eighty feet in front; and round this mount, answering to the five rows into which the theatre is divided, there go as many terraces of noble walks. The walls are all as close covered with oranges and citrons, as any of our walls in England are with laurel. The top of the mount is seventy feet long, and forty broad ; and here is a vast cistern, into which the mill plays up the water that must furnish all the fountains. The fountains were not quite finished when I was there; but, when all is finished, this place will look like an inchanted island. The freshness of the air, it being both in a lake and near the mountains, the fragrant smell, the beautiful prospect, and the delightful variety that is here, make it such a habitation for summer, that, perhaps, the whole world hath nothing like it.'* * Burnet's Travels, Letter II__Evelyn slightly notices, but does not appear to have visited, 1 the pretty island Isa- bella, 011 which is a fair house built on a mount; indeed the whole island is a mount ascended by several terraces and walks all set about with orange and citron-trees.'—(Memoirs, vol. i. p. 217.) From his admiration of the gardens of the Prince D'Orias at Genoa, he could not have failed to be de- lighted with those of Isola-bella. So different, however, is modern English taste, that Mr. Brockedon characterizes the whole creation as c worthy only of a rich man's misplaced ex- travagance, and the taste of a confectioner.' Mr. Simond says : i This whimsical structure, seen from a distance on the lake, suggests the idea of a huge Perigord pie, stuck all over with heads of woodcocks and partridges.' Mr. Woods describes the villa as e in sublimely bad taste, both inside and out.' Mr. Hakewell, who has given a view taken from308 LAGO MAGGIORE. The natural attractions of the situation must be acknowledged. The views from the terraces are most beautiful, both up and down the lake, and up the bay ; and notwithstanding the obsolete or discordant taste in which the gardens are laid out, the profuse and extended scale on which art has exerted itself, joined to a luxuriant vegetation, pro- duces no slight effect of grandeur. The small garden between the architectural mound and the palace, Mr. Simond admits to be ' pretty enough'; and large trees of the finest growth there find room for their roots in the shallow soil. This Traveller measured the trunk of a bay-tree seven feet in circumference. On the bark of one of these trees is seen the word battaglia, said to have been carved by Bonaparte, with his pen-knife, during his visit to the island, soon after the victory of Marengo. As the winter in this region is some- times sufficiently severe to kill the orange-trees, the artificial groves are, during that season, covered over with a roof of boards. The palace has nothing in its exterior to recom- mend it, and has not a tree to shade it, but contains some lofty and spacious apartments, neatly stuc- coed, painted, and gilt, and adorned with some fine marbles and pictures : they are, however, rather bare of furniture ; and the doors of the best rooms are of the commonest materials and the rudest workmanship. ' A considerable part of the build- ing (that, indeed, which would have been the hand- somest) remains unfinished, not even covered in; a point near the summit of the mound, speaks with more complacency of the singular combination of natural beauty and artificial splendour.LAGO MAGGIORK, 300 and the one hundred and fifty years, or more, which have passed over its roofless walls and sash- less windows, have not,' says Mr. Simond, ' im- proved the looks of this dead limb of a living palazzo. The ground-floor apartments are mosaic all over, ceiling, floor, and walls; not legitimate mosaic, made of square bits of glass or stone, and polished over, but simply pebbles of various colours, bedded in strong mortar: it is very durable, and looks extremely well.,* The low windows of these grotto apartments open nearly on a level with the lake ; and they must be in summer refreshingly cool. Among the sculptures, there is a bust of San Carlo Borromeo, and a veiled figure finely exe- cuted. A table of agate is shewn, which was a present from Pius VII. to Napoleon ; also the bed upon which the illustrious visiter slept. There is an inn upon the island, where travellers may find tolerable accommodation. The Isola Madre is larger than the Isola-bella, and is in like manner adorned with hanging-gar- dens ; but these are more natural, more varied, and less trimly kept, than those of the4 beautiful island'; they are consequently more pleasing to an English eye. There is a large mansion, uninhabitable from decay, with a theatre attached to it, built to add to the splendid gayeties of the villeggiatura, but now falling to ruin.. The Isola di San Giovanni, near Palanza, commands a beautiful view, but is seldom visited, as there is only a small villa upon it. From these islands, travellers generally proceed to Arona, to ejtemine the Celebrated colossal statue310 LAGO MAGGIORE. of San Carlo Borromeo, which is, indeed, an ex- traordinary work of art. The statue itself is 66 feet in height, and stands on a granite pedestal of 46 feet, so that the total height is 112 feet. The head, hands, and feet are of bronze, cast from models by Cerano. They are of admirable work- manship ; and the mild, dignified, and benevolent expression of the head exceeds all praise. The drapery is composed of sheets of copper on timber framing, so ingeniously wrought that the edges are concealed in the folds, and the appearance of the entire statue is that of a single cast.* The attitude, which is that of benediction, is remarkably easy and simple. The right hand is extended ; the left holds a book, which is also of copper. Seen from the road below, * the great priest walking among the woods, which reach only to his middle, and holding up his fingers in the act of blessing the people, has a very singular effect/ The views from the eminence on which the statue is placed, are exceedingly fine, particularly from a short distance west of the monument.f The Borromean family were formerly lords of the lake, its islands, and the adjacent shores. The lustre of their name is wholly derived, however, * ' A huge pillar built up in the interior of the statue with numerous iron props, enables the curious to work their way up into the very head of the holy archbishop, where they have the gratification of hearing through his ears, breathing through his nostrils, and looking out of the pupil of his eye, as if it were a window.'—Simond, p. 9. The head will hold four persons seated round a table. f Woods, vol. i. p 201. Brockedon. The artists em- ployed upon this statue were, Zanelli of Pavia, and Falconi of Lugano.LAG0 MAGGIORE. 311 from the celebrity of the sainted archbishop and cardinal, who is the patron saint of the Milanese. The high birth and princely fortune of Charles Borromeo naturally led him, we are told, in his early youth, into a life of pleasure; but this he relinquished at the age of two and twenty, to devote himself to his ecclesiastical duties as archbishop of Milan. His endeavours to reform his clergy, nearly cost him his life, an attempt having been made to assassinate him. During the plague which ravaged Milan, he fearlessly attended the sick and dying ; and his premature death, in 1584, at the age of forty-six, is thought to have been hastened by his humane exertions in behalf of others, and his austerities towards himself. Such is the golden side of his character. In the history of the Reformation, he appears as the most formid- able adversary of the Protestant interest in Italy. 4 It was the great object of his ambition,' says Dr. M'Crie, 4 from an early period of his life, to oppose an effectual barrier to the progress of heresy, and to repair and prop the fabric of popery, which he saw tottering on its base. With this view, he applied himself to the removal of abuses in Italy ; introduced reforms into the morals of the clergy, particularly of the monastic orders ; and erected seminaries in which young persons of talents should obtain such an education as might qualify them for entering the lists with the Pro- testants, and fighting them with their own weapons. All the celebrated champions of the Catholic faith, from Bellarmine to Bossuet, proceeded from the school of Borromeo. It would have been well if the Cardinal had confined himself to methods of312 LA.GO MAGGIORE. this kind; but, besides abetting the most violent measures for suppressing the reformed opinions within his own diocese, he industriously fomented dissensions in foreign countries, leagued with men who were capable of any desperate attempt, and busied himself in providing arms for subjects who were ready to rebel against their lawful rulers, and to shed the blood of their peaceable fellow citi- zens.'* Borromeo was the nephew of Pope Pius IV., to whom he owed his advancement; and he learned his lessons of charity from that nefarious persecutor. Under this sainted prelate, a new spe- cies of outrage, unheard of among civilized nations, was resorted to. Bands of armed men haunted the roads of the Val Teline, seized the Protestants unawares and carried them into Italy, there to be committed to the flames, or to perish in the cells of the Inquisition. Such was the man who was canonized by Paul V., and to whom, a hundred and thirteen years after his death (A.D. 1697), the people of Milan erected, at their own expense, this extraordinary monument; which is certainly one of the wonders of Italy, if it may not rank among the wonders of the world. The scenery of the Lago Maggiore is very varied. That of the upper part is bold and moun- tainous, its northern branch opening into one of the most beautiful valleys of the Rhsetian Alps, which form a magnificent amphitheatre in the back-ground. Towards the east and south, the mountains gradually decline to the plain of Lom- bardy; and the lower part of the lake is of a more M'Crie's Reformation in Italy, pp. 357—359. See also lb. pp. 362, 381, and 396.LAKE OF ORTA. 213 quiet and softened character, yet still very beau- tiful. The immediate shores are richly fringed with wood, occasionally broken by picturesque crags, topped with castles or churches, with nume- rous villages stretching along the water's edge. Although inferior in wildness and sublimity of cha- racter to the Lake of Como, (and perhaps to that of Lugano,) the softer beauties of this lake are gener- ally allowed to be the more attractive, contrasted as they are with the distant grandeur of the Alpine chain. There is, of course, upon this point, some difference of opinion ; but many who give the preference to the Lake of Como, admit, that upon that lake, there is no view that equals in beauty the bay of the Borromean islands. Mr. Brockedon speaks in glowing terms of the Lake of Orta, (the ancient Laci/s Cunus,) and remarks, that it is extraordinary this romantic lake should be so little known. It is about nine miles in length, surrounded with lofty mountains and wooded slopes,^and its shores are enlivened by numerous villages. Near the middle of the lake is the I sol a de San Giulio, which was once a forti- fied post, and, towards the close of the sixth cen- tury, gave title to a dukedom.* 4 There is a fairy appearance about this island,' says Mr. Brockedon, * In the year 590, Minulfo, Duke de S. Giulio. favoured the descent of the Francs by the St. Gothard; for which, in the following year, Astolfo, the new king of the Lombards, punished him with the loss of his head, uuilla, the wife of Berenger II., King of Lombardy, took refuge in this island in 96'2, and resolutely defended herself for two months against the Emperor Otho I., who had deposed her husband. Otho restored the island to the Bishops of Novarra. VOL. I. T314 LAKE OF LUGANO, 1 which is very beautiful; and its early history is not without romance. It is celebrated for the high antiquity of its church, in which the vertebra of a whale is shewn as that of a monstrous serpent which infested the island, and which was destroyed by San Giulio, who lived in the fourth century, and whose ashes are preserved in a subterranean vault. The town of Orta, opposite the island, is not well built, but there is an excellent inn. Behind Orta rises a hill which is a sanctuary dedicated to S. Francis of Assise : upon it nineteen chapels are distributed, some of elegant architecture, and con- taining groupes in terra-cotta and pictures. The hill is laid out as a beautiful garden: this is the general character of the land bordering the lake, whence, probably, its name. The views from the hill of the sanctuary are charming. From Pella, (between which village and Orta the island is situ- ated,) a mule-road leads over the mountain, by Arolo, to Varallo, in the Val Sessia, where there is the most remarkable sacra-rt&nte in all Pied- mont, which is annually visited by thousands of devotees. The scenery on this route is extremely striking and beautiful/* The Lake of Lugano (Lacus Ceresius), which I^.es to the eastward of the Lago Maggiore, is scarcely less picturesque, but is of a very different character. 4 The mountains are rugged and abrupt, generally rising from the water's edge ; but, at the bottom of each of its six bays, they recede and leave cultivated valleys. The lower part of the Blopes is covered with vines and olive-trees, and * Brockedon, No. xii. pp. 15, 16.LAKE OF LUGANO. 315 ^potted with villages wherever they are not too steep to admit of it. In other places, they are clothed with wood; and the upper parts are all woody, except where the perpendicular rocks pro- hibit vegetation. Two of the crags, San Salvador and Val Solda, are particularly fine/ * This lake is twenty-five miles in length, but its average breadth does not exceed a mile and a half. Its depth throughout is very great; in some parts unfathomable. The most beautiful part is the bay of Lugano, at the head of which the little city of that name is situated, and which is so deeply indented as almost to form an arm of the lake. One side stretches out into a beautifully verdant and culti- vated point: the other is formed by an abrupt conic^ mountain, crowned with the little chapel of San salvadore. Rich woods sweep round behind the city, covering a gentle elevation ; and far be- yond, in the distance, rise the Lepontine Alps, with the glaciers of the Simplon, and above all, the towering summit of Monte Rosa.t Mr. Brock- edon, indeed, styles the Lake of Lugano 4 the most beautiful of the northern lakes of Italy.' Lugano, from which the lake take its name, now belongs to the Swiss canton of Ticino, or the Tessin, composed of the former bailliages of Lo- carno, Bellinzona, Mindrizio (the most southern town of the Helvetic confederacy), and Lugano. The boundaries of the Milanese Government and * Woods, vol, i. p. 202. f Sketches of Italy, vol. iv. p. 223. There is a sameness in the scenery of this lake, which, with its narrow, winding course, and high mountainous borders, reminded this Writer of some of the bays on the North American rivers. T *2316 LAKE OF LUGANO. the Swiss canton, cross the lake several times. Porlezza, the frontier town of Italy in this direction, is built beneath an impending cliff at the head of the lake, about twelve miles above the bay. Lu- gano is, alternately with Bellinzona and Locarno, the seat of government for the canton. It is, however, only nominally or politically Swiss. In dress, language, manners, and appearance, the natives are Italian ; in everything, in fact, but their superior activity and enterprise. Their little city has a bustling, thriving air, answering to the cha- racter and pursuits of its inhabitants, and carries on a considerable commerce in silk, woollen stuffs, and wine.* It also traffics largely in books ; for here the press is free, and its frontier situation ensures a ready sale for all works interdicted in Italy. It is celebrated, moreover, for one of the best newspapers on the Continent, and boasts of an excellent inn. The women here have a graceful fashion, (common, indeed, throughout the North of Italy,) of fastening up the hair at the back of the head with a star of pins. Goitrous complaints are, unhappily, scarcely less prevalent in this canton and the neighbouring mountain district, than in the Yalais itself. A good road has been constructed from Lugano to the foot of the St. Gothard, leading over Monte * Some natural caves, which have acquired the name of the Caverns of ^olus, on account of the cold wind that rushes out of them during the summer months, from the melting of the snows in the upper regions, have been con- verted by the ingenuity of the Luganese into wine-cellars and warehouses, by -erecting wooden huts over them, which give to these cantini the appearance of villages.PASS OF THE BERNARDIN 317 Cenere to Bellinzona, where it falls in with the route from Locarno, situated at the northern ex- tremity of the Lago Maggiore. Bellinzona is the key to Switzerland by this entrance, as it com- mands the various passes which debouche into the Yal Levantine,—from the forest cantons by the St. Gothard; from Dissentis and the valley of the Vorder Rliin by the Lukmanier; and from the Val di Misocco by the pass of the Bernardin. The important situation of Bellinzona has exposed it to perpetual sieges and contests in all the wars in which the Swiss have been involved. It is sup- posed to be the Bilitio of early geography ; a town of the Mesiates, who are supposed to have inhabited the Val di Misocco.* This valley, watered by the MoSsa, which falls into the Tessin near Bellinzona, is remarkable for the number of beautiful torrents which descend into it. A new road, practicable for carriages, has recently been completed by the authorities of the canton of the Grisons, commencing at Coire, the capital of that canton, in the valley of the Rhine, and leading to Splugen ; whence it is carried over the Bernardin (7090 feet above the sea), and descends with the Mo'^sa to Bellinzona. The formation of this road was long opposed by the Austro-Lombard Government, from the jealous apprehension of its interfering with the commerce of the Splugen pass ; over which a -new road has also been recently opened, practicable for car- riages, and avoiding entirely the old and dangerous pass of the Cardinelli.f Unlike the col of the * Cramer, vol. i. p. 60. t A description of this new road will be found in Starke's Directions, p. 480. It. is the shoriest route from the Grisons T 3318 PASSES OF THE BERNARDIN AND SPI UGEN". Bernardin, which presents a dreary plain, chiefly occupied by the lake of the Moesa, the summit of the Splugen is a narrow crest, (6500 feet above the sea,J whence the road rapidly descends above 700 feet to the Austrian dogana, situated in a shel- tered plain which has the appearance of having once been a lake. Numerous covered ways of strong masonry have been formed to protect the traveller against the avalanches to which this pass is parti- cularly exposed ; and a very winding track leads down to the banks of the Lira, in the valley of San Giacomo, whence the route passes through Cliia- venna to Riva at the head of the Lake of Como.* A route from Cisalpine Gaul across the Rhse- tian Alps, is one of the four passes mentioned by Polybius as known to the Romans in his time ; but it seems difficult, if not impossible to determine, Mr. Brockedon remarks, whether the pass referred to, was that of the Bernardin, or of the Splugen, by the Rhinwald, that of Mont Septimer, leading from Chiavenna by the Yal Bregalia to Coire (Curia), or that of the Lukmanier, from the Val Levantine into the Val Medels and the Vorder Rhin. From the ancient Itineraries, however, it appears that two passes were in early use, which, although the roads were probably made by Augustus, must have been frequented long before: the one traversed the Splugen (Cuneiim Aureum), and the other,Mont Septimer. f But, as both roads met at Chiavenna to Milan and Venice, and presents some very wild and sub- lime scenery. * See the description of these Passes in No. IX. of Broekedon's Illustrations. 1 Cramer, vol. i. p. 105.PA.S3 OF ST. GOTHARD. 319 (Clavenna), they might be reckoned by Polybius as one route. The pass of the Splugen was one of the most frequented in 1473 ; and some part of this route was in use in the twelfth century. The passes into the Grisons are often mentioned in the history of the campaigns of Buonaparte. In 1799, the French army under General Lecourbe, passed by the Bernardin into the Grisons. But the most re- markable event connected with these passes, is the passage of the Splugen by the second army of reserve under Marshal Macdonald, in November and December 1800, of which Count Segur has given a most thrilling description. The Val Levantine, or Laventina, through which the Tesino descends from the St. Gothard, was at one time one of the most frequented routes from Switzerland into Italy; and during the wars of the French Revolution, it was the scene of re- peated contests and of most merciless ravages, being visited in turn by each of the contending armies, alternately pursuing or pursued. The opening of the grand routes of the Simplon and the Cenis, on the one hand, and the new roads over the Bernardin and the Splugen, on the other, have destroyed in great measure both its military and its commercial importance.* The people of the Waldstetten, aware of this, have, it is said, de- cided upon completing this pass as a carriage road *' The communication by the St. Gothard is so consider- able, that 15,000 persons annually, and 300 horses or mules laden with merchandize, weekly, pass the hospice on its sum- mit. Saussure states, that a thousand laden horses pass daily. This must be erroneous, or the commercial inter* course between Italy and Switzerland by the St. Gothard, bus greatly fallen off.' Brockedon, No. iv. p. 12.320 PASS OF ST. GOTHARD The lower Val Levantine is fertile, but devoid of picturesque interest. The upper valley, though 3000 feet above the sea, is still very productive, and presents some magnificent scenery ; especially on approaching the gorge of Stalvedro, which closes the head of the valley, dividing it from the Val Jiedretto. Above the rocks on the right bank of the Tessin, are the ruins of a tower ascribed to the Lombards, and still bearing the name of one of the latest of thsir kings,—the Tower of Desiderio. Near this gorge, a path leads off on the right, through the Val Piora, and by the pass of Luk- manier, to Dissentis and the country of the Ori- sons. On the left, the valley of Bedretto leads by the pass of Naufranen, to Obergesteln in the Upper Valais. A few miles beyond the defile of Stalvedro, is Airolo, a place of considerable bustle, for here great numbers of mules are kept for the transport of merchandize across the St. Gothard, the road beyond this point .being at present im- practicable for carriages. A difficult zig-zag road leads to the entrance of the Val Tremosa, the last defile on the ascent. Amid these scenes of physi- cal desolation and savage grandeur, Suwaroff gained a useless victory over a division of the French army in September 1799: on the face of a large rock near the summit, is seen rudely carved, the inscription, Suwaroff Victor. The sterile and dreary summit of the St. Gothard (6500 feet above the sea) scarcely deserves the name of a plain. An indifferent inn is found near the highest point, not far from which are the ruins of an hospice founded in the thirteenth century. A rudely paved road thence winds over broken andPASS OF ST. GOTHARD. 321 rocky ground, between several lakes, the sources of the streams which flow down the mountain .in op- posite directions ; the Tessin towards the Lake of Locarno, and the Reuss towards the Lake of Uri. The road descends with the latter stream to the Val Ursern, whence a track leads off to the left, over the Furca, to the Yalais, while, in the oppo- site direction, there is a passage over the Ober- Alp to Dissentis. On leaving the Val Ursern, the road enters a gallery pierced in the granite rock, 220 feet long, and 12 feet in height and breadth: it is called the Urnerloch, and was made in 1707, at the expense of the Canton of Uri. From this gallery, it is a steep descent to the Devil's bridge, a single arch of 70 feet span, and 100 feet above the torrent of the Reuss, which, rushing obliquely beneath, descends within a short distance above 300 feet. The fearful scene is rendered still more appalling by the recollection of the desperate con- tests which took place at this very spot, between the French and the Imperialists, during the cam- paign of 1799. Twice was this bridge contested. On the first occasion, while the French were charging the Austrians upon it, suddenly thirty feet of its length gave way, bearing those who were upon it into the gulf below, and separating the remaining combatants. On the second, the Russians under Suwaroff, in crossing the St. Go- thard to effect a junction with the Austrians, found the gallery blocked up and the bridge destroyed. This, they had to repair by throwing beams across; and hundreds of soldiers fell, in the struggle, into the abyss, before they succeeded in driving the322 PASS OF ST. GOTHARD. French from their situation, and in making good their descent to Goschenen.* The early history of this pass is very obscure, nor can the ancient name of the mountain be clearly ascertained. It appears, however, to have been included under the general name of Mount Adula, from which Strabo represents the Rhine as flowing in one direction, and the Adda in the other, t Simler supposes, that the pass of the St. Go- thard lay directly through the country of the Lepontii; and if the present name of the valley of the Tesino, be, as is highly probable, a corrup- tion of the ancient name, the St. Gothard would be properly the Lepontine Alp. It would seem, however, that those mountaineers were a Rhaetian tribe, which may account for some confusion in the application of these names of doubtful etymo- logy. i The modern name of the mountain is de- * See, for a view of this part of the pass, Brockedon's Illustrations, No. iv. Title Vignette. f See Cramer, vol. i. p. 63. The learned Author infers, that Adula must be a generic term, applicable to all the Rhaetian Alps ; but if so, the Lepontine must be included under the latter denomination, since the Rhine had its source in that country. Is it possible that Strabo may have confounded the Adda and the Ticinus ? The Vogel-berg, a summit 20 miles S.E. of the St. Gothard, has, however, been considered by some writers as the Mons Adoula of Ptolemy and Strabo; and from this ancient name, a kind of transparent felspar found in these mountains, was named adularia. See Cadell's Journey, vol. ii. p. 188. J The names given to these tribes, were probably arbi- trary, or taken from the nature of the territory they inhabited. Thus, Rhaetia has been derived from the Celtic Rait, (braid ?)PASS OF MONTE STELVIO. 323 rived from a chapel dedicated to St. Gothard, who was bishop of Hildesheim in the twelfth century, and in honour of whom the Abbots of Dissentis raised a chapel on these heights, which were within their jurisdiction. The road to Eellinzona from Locarno, is not so much frequented, Mr. Brockedon says, as it de- serves to be ; the route from Lugano being gene- rally followed ; but 4 the facilities now afforded by the establishment of a steam-boat, may induce many travellers to make the longer voyage by the Lago Maggiore/ Locarno is situated at the northern extremity of the lake, at the junction of several valleys which descend from the Lepontine Alps, of which the Yal Levantine and the Val Maggia are the principal. The Cento-valle, which leads by a difficult route, in fourteen hours, to Duomo d'Ossola, also terminates at Locarno. The nine miles between Locarno and Bellinzona, are through a country of singular richness and beauty, abound- ing with picturesque scenery, which would amply repay the traveller for undertaking an excursion in this direction. There is yet another pass which claims a brief description in this place, as being more immedi- ately connected with the Lake of Como, and forming one of the grand routes to Milan. This is the great military road over the Monte Stelvio, by which the Emperor of Austria has recently opened a new line of communication between his German and Italian States, that has the advantage of not traversing any portion of territory belonging to a mountainous district. And leibheann, a word applied to the side of a hill, may give us the etymology of lepontu324 PASS OF MONTE STKLVIO. another Government. From Vienna, two roads communicate with this pass, meeting at Prad; shortly after leaving which village, the new road begins to ascend the magnificent mountain of the Ortler-Spitz.* A little beyond the barrier, this mountain suddenly discloses itself with an appalling effect, as it is seen from its summit to its base, robed in everlasting snows, while enormous gla- ciers, descending from its sides, stream into the valley below the road. Immense masses of rock, in themselves mountains, throw out their black and scathed forms in striking contrast with the brightness of the glaciers which they separate. Mr. Brockedon, to whom we are indebted for this description, considers the wThole ascent from Drofoi as without a parallel in Alpine scenery, The road, which is admirably constructed, winds round the northern side of the deep ravine into which the glaciers sink, and so near to them, that a stone may with little effort be thrown upon them. The summit of this extraordinary pass is the highest in the world that has been made traversable for car- riages, being 9*272 feet above the sea, 780 feet above the extended line of perpetual snow in this latitude, and nearly half a mile perpendicularly- higher than the pass of the Simplon.t Yet, the * The village of Stelvio, Stelvi, or Stilfs, which gives its name to the Col, is a little out of the road, on the western side of the valley, near Gomagoi. The Germans call the passage the Stilfser-joch. f The disheartening recurrence of casualties from ava- lanches in the highest part of the pass, has determined the Austrian Government to attempt cutting a gallery through the mountain, 970 feet below the crest of the passage, by ivliiali the most exposed part of the read will be avoided.PASS OF MO-NT IS STELVIO. 325 road on tlie summit is usually clear of snow by the end of July, and continues so, except from occa- sional falls, till September. A descent of 993-feet, by a succession of tourniquets, leads down to the inn and custom-house on the Monte Brauglio, (the Juga Rhaetica of Tacitus,) over which there is a passage from the Val Teline to the valley of the Adige. This was formerly a line of consider- able commerce; but, as this route traversed a small part of the territory of the Orisons, the Aus- trian Government has been constrained to make the new road ascend by the defile of Drofoi, to a col a thousand feet higher. From the Monte Brauglio, a i ig-zag road leads down to the Wurmser-loch, a ravine deep and appalling, through whL h the Adda falls from rock to rock. This was formerly considered as one of the most dangerous passages of the Alps, but is now rendered secure by galleries, either excavated in the rock, or constructed of masonry. The ex- tent of the road thus sheltered is 2226 feet, besides 700 feet more, so cut out of the side of the moun- tain as to be sufficiently guarded by the impending rock. This defile leads down to the valley of Bor- mio, called by the Germans, Wurms. The little town of that name was formerly enriched by th# transit of merchandise from Venice to the Grisons, by the old pass. The district of Bormio terminates at the narrow defile of La Serra, which was then secured by a wail and gate. Here, the traveller leaves behind him the cold region (il freddo paese), and descends with the Adda into the rich district of the Val Teline. The first chest* nut-trees are seen immediately below La Serra. VOL. T. U32G THE VAL TKLLNE. Owing to the neglected state of the embankments of .the river in some places, the levels of the valleys haw; become swamps, which exhale pestilential miasmata. The squalid and sickly appearance of the inhabitants, evinces at once the insalubrity of the district and the poverty of their condition ; and goitres and cretinism, 4 the concomitants of filth,' prevail here to a frightful extent. The wine of the Val Teline has an extensive celebrity; yet, the vines appeared to Mr. Brockedon to be ill trained, and the vineyards to be mismanaged. The mul berry-tree is cultivated here for silk-worms; and so fertile is the soil, that two harvests of maize and other corn are gathered in the year. The road passes through a number of pleasant little towns and picturesque villages, crossing the Adda re- peatedly, and afterwards running along its left bank to Colico, the port of the Val Teline, on the Lake of Como, along the shores of which it is continued to Lecco.* The Val Teline, like the Valais, has been during centuries exposed to the cruel fate of a disputable bolder territory; groaning alternately under the tyranny of petty ecclesiastical tyrants, and the feuds of neighbouring powers. It has been in- cluded, at different periods, in Switzerland, in France, and in Italy. It fell under the power of the Dukes of Milan in 1336; but was subse- quently made over by one of tire Viscontis to the Bishop of Coire. t This equivocal grant became * Brockedon's Illustrations, No. VI. t ' When John Galeasse possessed himself of the Dutchy of Milan, and drove out Barnabas, Mastinus, one of Barna- bas's sons, to whom his father had given those threeTHE VAL TELINE. 327 the basis of a claim afterwards made to the fealty of the inhabitants by the Government of the Grisons, and the occasion of an unsuccessful irruption in 1487. In 1512, when the whole of the valleys from the Brauglio to the Lake of Como fell, with the Milanese, into the power of Louis XII. of France, the Grisons, in conjunction with the Bishop of Coire, entered the Val Teline, expelled the French, and reoeived the homage of the inhabitants. Their possession of it was sub- sequently confirmed by the sovereigns of Milan. When Charles V. succeeded to the Milanese as a fief reverting to the empire, Jie saw the import- ance of possessing the Yai Teline as a passage by which to secure the junction of the troops of Spain and Austria. It was the policy of the French Court to defeat this measure; and in the strug- gles between those great powers, during the wars to which their jealousies gave rise, the inhabitants of these valleys were the chief sufferers. These scenes of violence were aggravated by the in- trigues of t'he Pope, and the religious animosities of the inhabitants ; wliicb at length issued in the horrible catastrophe of the massacre or expulsion of all the Protestants in these valleys, on the 20th of July, 1620 ; an event which has no parallel but in the massacre of the Protestants of Paris on St. Bartholomew's Day.* branches of the dutchy (the Valteline, Chavennes, and Bormio), retired to Coire; and being hospitably received and entertained by the Bishop, when he died, he gave his right to those territories to the Cathedral of Coire.'— Burnet, p. 61. * See Burnet's Travels, pp. 61—69.—M'Crie's Reform, in Italy, p. 364. The history of the previous events con- u 2328 THE VAL TELINEi At length, the passage which was the object of tje war, was secured to the Spaniards by treaty in 1635. But the Yal Teline and the district of Bormio continued to be bailliages of the Grisons till 1797, when, together with Chiavenna, they were incor- porated with the Cisalpine Republic. Upon the restoration of the Milanese to Austria in 1814, they were finally ceded in perpetuity to that power, as a part of the Lombard-Venetian kingdom The Val Teline is about fifty miles in length, and from twelve to fifteen in breadth. The total population of the delegation in 1825, was 83,451 ;* Sondrio, the head.town, containing only 3374 inhabitants. The opening of the new road through the valley of the Adda, in connexion with other improvements, may be expected, however, to augment the population, as well as to promote the prosperity of this hitherto unfortunate district. The Lake of Como, the ancient Larian Lake, is reckoned about fifty miles in length, by from three to six in breadth ;f but it is of very irregular nected with the Reformatio^, will be found briefly detailed by Dr. M'Crie, at pp. 334—364. * This appears to include the districts of Bormio and Chiavenna. f ' Polybius, as Strabo reports, estimated its length at 300 stadia, and its breadth at thirty; or thirty-eight miles by four. Servius says, Cato reckoned sixty miles from one extremity to the other ; and the real distance, including the Lake of Chiavenna, is not short of that measurement; so that Virgil seems justified in saying, (Georg. vol. ii. p. 159.) " Anne lacus tantos ? te, Ijxri maocime—" ' Cramer, vol. i. p. 61. Burnet states the Lake of Como to be about forty-eight miles long and four broad; and the Lake of Chavennes (Chiavenna) to be 1 almost round, andLAKE OF COMO. 329 jgure, and may oe said to consist, in fact, of three listinct lakes, though with only one outlet. Its northern part, formed by the waters which descend Vom the Splugen by the Val San Giacomo, is called the Logo di Chiavenna, or di Riva, from the town of that name, which is the port of Chia- /enna.* The navigation of this lake is dangerous, owing to shallows, which prevent the Como steam- boats from ascending above Gravedona; but boats may be obtained at Riva, by which travellers can descend to the Lake of Como. The marshy shores of the Lake of Riva, as well as the mouth of the Adda, are infested with malaria to a fatal extent ; and no time should be lost, by those who take the Splugen road, in hastening through this part of the route.f The Adda pours the waters of the Val Teline into the lake nearly opposite to Gravedona, at the head of what may be properly called the Lake of Como a little below the channel which about two miles in diameter.' The water of the lake is higher in summer, on account of the melting of the snow in the mountains. * In the ' Sketches of Italy,' a work of considerable merit and interest, it is very erroneously stated, that the Lake of Como ' has but one great feeder, the river Adda, which flows down the Valtehne from the Splughen, and, after forming the marshy Lake of Chiavenna, spreads itself in an unbroken, though winding course, as far as the point of Bellagio.' As the Val Teline does not descend from the Splugen, the Adda cannot form the marshes of Chiavenna. f Near the mouth o'f the Adda is the hill of Montecchio, on which stands a fort erected by the Marquess of Fuentes in 1604 ; but 'it is so surrounded with deadly marshes,.that it has been the grave of more victims to malaria than to war.'—Brockedon. Colico, the port of the Val Teline, is a few miles to the southward.330 LAKE OF COMO. cdnnects it with the upper lake. From this point, its waters spread in an unbroken, though rather winding course, as far as the Point of Bellagio, by which the lake is divided, in an acute angle, into two branches. The wider and larger branch, which has no outlet, extends in a south-westerly direction to the town of Como: the south- easterly branch is called the Lago di Lecco, from the town of that name, near which it begins gra- dually to narrow into the Adda. Owing to the want of an outlet at Como, the waters of that branch are forced to return to the Point of Bellagio, and are thus subjected to constant interruption, either in their downward or their upward course, by the cross influence of the wind; so that one side is frequently excessively agitated, while the other is perfectly calm. From this circumstance, and from the vast height of the bordering moun- tains, the navigation is rendered uncertain and sometimes dangerous, by the violent swells and squalls to which it is particularly liable. Steam- boats, however, navigate the lake from one ex tremity to the other in four or five hours. The depth varies, according to Eustace, from 40 to 600 feet. - 4 Throughout its whole extent, the banks of the lake are formed of precipitous mountains from two to three thousand feet in height; in some places, overhanging the water, and in others, partially clothed with wood, and studded with hamlets, cot- tages, villas, chapels, and convents. But a vast extent of the scenery is bare ; for the woods, luxu- riant and beautiful as they are on the immediate shores of the lake, bear but little proportion to theLAKE OF COMO. 331 bordering mountains, where the crags and cliffs, partly from their excessive steepness, partly from the dryness of flie soil, and the burning effect of Italian suns, nourish no vegetable production what- ever, but present an aspect of glaring, arid white- ness. This defect prevails throughout the greater- part of Alpine and Apennine scenery, and is pair ticularly striking on the Lakes of Como and Lu- gano. The most beautiful point of view in the whole extent, is undoubtedly at Bellagio.* The upper waters are here seen winding up to the very foot of the higher chain of the Alps, and termi- nating within a short distance of the terrific pass of the Splugen; the loftier hills that border the Lake of Lecco, rise on one side, and on the other, the wider expanse of the lower lake retires behind the beautiful fore-ground, rocks, and hanging- woods, that form the point of Bellagio; with numbers of trading boats gliding up under the broad reflection of the*gigantic mountains, their white sails occasionally gleaming in the sunshine, and several little villages scattered along the shores/t * Mr. Matthews, describing the spot from which this noble lake is seen to most advantage, refers apparently to the same point as being immediately opposite the Fiume di Latte,—4 a romantic little water-fall which forms a succession of miniature cascades from a height of several hundred feet, * Eustace speaks of the view from Cadenabbia as the most extensive and interesting on the lake. This is a little town nearly opposite to Bellagio, containing a tolerable inu where the traveller may conveniently fix his head-quarters. f Sketches of Italy, vol. iv. p. 211—213.LAKE OF COMO. among the vineyards with which the side of the mountain is planted. There is a spot opposite to this water-fall/ he says, 4 from which you com- mand a prospect of the whole scene, without the disadvantage of a bird's-eye view. You have the three branches of the lake under your eye at once. The principal one extends northward in the direc- tion of Chiavenna, with the Alps for its more distant boundary. Full in front is the Monte Legnone, which, though not ranking (as Eustace ranks it) among the highest Alps, nor retaining its snows in summer, is yet, from its bold, rugged form, and its insulated position, one of the grandest and most commanding of them. To the south, you look upon the other two branches, leading to Lecco and to Como. The branch extending from Menaggio to Como, is of a very different character from the northern part; and though it is very beautiful, and at once wild and highly cultivated, with its banks studded with villas and villages, yet, it wants the grander features of the northern prospect.'* The Fiume di Latte (so called from the milky ♦ Matthews's Diary of an Invalid, pp. 303, 4.—There is nothing in the Lago Maggiore, this Traveller thinks, or, perhaps, in any other lake, that can be put in competition with the view from this point of the Lake of Como ; but he gives the preference to the Lago Maggiore over the southern branch of the Como lake. The Lecco branch is, indeed, the more picturesque of the two. This Traveller talks of the distant1 mountains of the Val Tellina and the Julian Alps' in the direction of Chiavenna. The mountains of the Val Teline are not in that direction, and the Julian Alps are very far to the eastward. Those of the Splugen and Mont Septimer must be intended,LAKE Or COMO. 333 dolour of the water) is one of the wonders of the lake* being an intermittent stream,.and, according to some Italian antiquaries, the one which the ounger Pliny refers to as being in the neigh- ourhood of his residence. Accordingly, the little village of Capuana, near which it is situated, has been supposed to occupy the site of the Plinian villa; and the discovery of a mosaic pavement has been adduced as confirmation strong of the opinion. The fact is, that this stream answers in no respect to the intermittent spring described by the two Plinies. The Fiume di Latte intermits wholly during the winter, running only from March to September. It increases by degrees till it reaches its utmost height, and then decreases again till its bed again becomes dry. There seems to be no reason to doubt that its semi-annual course is oc- casioned by the melting of the snows in the higher mountains, though the length of the subterranean channel through which it flows, is unknown. Its excessive coldness is in favour 0/ the supposition, that it it* fed by some distant glacier; and its milky colour indicates that it has found or forced a channel through some limestone 01* calcareous formation.* it bursts forth with great impetuosity from its subterranean channel, tumbling down a broken declivity of nearly a thousand feet into the lake. There is, however, another intermittent spring of a very different description, which seems to have * Sketches of Italy, vol. ii. p. 214. Kustace says, the cavern from which it bursts, " is supposed to extend for miles through th* bowels of the mountain, and even to lead to the icy summit that supplies the stream.' u 5334 LAKE OF COMO. better claims to be identified with the phenomenon referred to by Pliny, and of which Eustace gives the following account. After doubling the verdant ~ ' ascending the Como bank of the lake,* and landed at a villa to which the name of Pliniana has been given, on the pre- sumption that its fountain is the one which Pliny has sd minutely described. 4 It is situated on the margin of the lake, at the foot of a precipice, from which tumbles a cascade amid groves of beeches, poplars, chestnuts, and cypresses, A serpentine Walk leads through these groves, and discovers at every winding some new and beautiful view. The famous fountain bursts from the rock in a small court behind the house, and passing through the under story, falls into the lake. Pliny's description * This Traveller supposes, that one of Pliny's favourite retreats may have stood on the promontory of Torno, whence it might have commanded two bays. The Bay of Agregno, higher up, takes its name from a busy little town, the mart of the neighbouring valleys. Here is situated a little island, now called di S. Giovanni, but, in the seventh -century, Insula Comacenct, which, under the Longobardic kings, was a fortified strong-hold. According to tradition, indeed, * it afforded a retreat to the Christians during the persecu- tions. of the first three centuries, and from their riuHibets derived the rankof a town uiider the appellation of Chris- topolis; it next sheltered the Greek exarchs, and enabled them to make a successful stand against the Longobardic invaders; and in fine, as an independent republic, carried on a long and eventful war with Como.' This romantic island swells gently from the lake, is about a mile ki length, and half a mile in breadth, and is richly wooded and cultivated—Eustace, vol. iv. p. 47. The smallness of this island, it has been justly remarked, renders this story equally incredible and absurd. towards the easternLAKE OF COMO. 335 of it is inscribed in large characters in the hall, and is still supposed to give an accurate account of the phenomenon. It is rather singular, that the intervals of the rise and fall of this spring should be stated differently by the elder and by the younger Pliny, both of whom must have had frequent op- portunities of observing it. The former represents it as increasing and decreasing every hour; the latter, thrice a day only. According to some modern observers, the ebb and flow are regular ; but the greater number, with the inhabitants of the house, assure us, that now, as in Pliny's time, it . takes place usually thrice a day; usually, because, in very stormy and tempestuous weather, the foun- tain is said to feel the influence of the disordered atmosphere, and to vary considerably in its mo- tions. This latter circumstance leads to the fol- lowing conjectural explanation of the cause of this phenomenon.* • The west wind, which regularly blows upon the lake at twelve o'clock or mid-day, begins at nine in the upper regions or on the summits of the mountains. Upon these summits, and particularly that which rises behind the Pliniana, there are several cavities that penetrate into the bowels of the mountain, and communicate with certain in- ternal reservoirs of water, the existence of which has been ascertained by various observations. Now, when the wind rushes down the cavities above mentioned, and reaches the water, it ruffles its waves against the sides of the cavern, where, just * e They call its average time three hours to rise, and three to fall. We distinctly marked its decrease even during the few minutes of our stay.'—Sketches, &c. vol. iv. p. 230.336 LAKE OF COMO. above its ordinary level, there are little fissures. The water, raised by the impulse which it receives from the wind, rises to these fissures, and trickles down through the crevices that communicate with the fountain below, and gradually fills it. In stormy weather, the water is impelled with greater violence, and flows in greater quantities, till it is nearly ex- hausted, or, at least, reduced too low to be raised again to the fissures. Hence, on such occasions, the fountain fills with rapidity first, and then dries up, or rather, remains low, till the reservoir reg&ins its usual level, and, impelled by the wind, begins to ebb again. Such is the explanation given by the Abate Carlo Amoretti.'* With this explanation we must content our- selves ; but whether, after all, this is the classic fountain, seems to be questionable. Eustace asserts, that the situation of the Pliniana does not correspond to either of the two favourite retreats described by Pliny, and that we are left at a loss to guess at the particular spots to which he alludes, f * Eustace, vol.iv. pp.43—45. This Traveller 'hadnot time to verify the return of the fountainbut he remarks,, that 1 it is inferior in every respect to the intermitting fountain near Settle in Yorkshire, which ebbs and flows every quarter of an hour without a minute's variation.' It is less remark- able, also, than the fotttaine de merveilles at Hautecombe. See page 58. t Mr. Matthews says: ' At the Villa Pliniana, the well, with its rustic masonry, is apparently in much the same state as in Pliny's time, whose descriptive epistle is engraven on a tablet in the wall.' Mr. Pennington speaks of the 1 house' as the very habitation of Pliny, vol. ii. p. 287. The Author of Sketches of Italy describes it as 'a modern built, ugly house, standing almost in the water, in a deep curve of the lake, under a rocky precipice, down which a small streamLAKE OF COMO 337 Among the numerous villas and villages which adorn the beautiful bays and promontories of the lower lake, this Traveller mentions—4Lenna, where, some years ago, a subterraneous temple was dis- covered, with a marble statue of Diana; and, on the very margin of the lake, Villa, which took its name without doubt, from the mansion which for- merly occupied the same spot, and which seems to have been of great extent and magnificence, as remains of pillars are discernible, in calm weather, under the water close to the shore.. Some anti- quaries suppose this to be the real site of Pliny's villa: he could not have chosen a more beautiful spot, nor, if we may believe the general opinion, a more genial climate.' * This is on the western shore of the Como branch, a little below the little bay ofTrammezina. The little town of Cadenabbia is situated on the same shore, just above where the lake divides into two branches. The village of Capuana is on the eastern shore of the lake, nearly opposite. About half a mile higher up, on the same shore, the pretty village of Yarena stands on a jutting peninsula, crowned with a Gothic tower, overlooking one of the busiest of the lake- ports. Four miles above, at Bellano, a small river (the Pioverna) forces its way with a prodigious roar through a tremendous cleft in the rocks, which are connected above by a slight rustic bridge. The forms a very pretty cascade, and which immediately softens into the verdant and populous promontory of Torno.' It is i certainly the most feasible site assigned to the favourite retreat of the philosopher.' * Eustaee, vol. iv. p. 49. See also Sketches of Italy, vol. iv. p. 227,338 LAKE OF COMO. spot is called L'Orrido di Bellamy; 4 and at the time we saw it/ says a more recent Traveller, * the name was more appropriate than ever; for the torrent had carried away part of a neighbour- ing rock on which a church and several houses were built, and the fragments were lying in pic- turesque but disastrous confusion in the midst of the boiling stream, while the remainder of the rock, with the superincumbent buildings, that had re- sisted the force of the waters, was hanging shattered over them in impending destruction/ * No part of the shores of this beautiful lake is more admired, however, than the promontory of Bellaggio. 4 This delightful spot,' says Eustace, ' now covered with villas and cottages, was, during the anarchical contests of the middle ages, not un- frequently converted into a receptacle of outlaws and banditti, who infested all the borders of the lake during the night, and in day-time concealed themselves amid these thickets, caverns, and fast- nesses/ Of its present appearance, we have, from another pen, the following description. 4 Steering back to the point of Bellaggio, we landed at the little village which lies on the shore of the lower lake, at the base of the lofty rock, the summit of which is occupied by the Villa Servellini, the most beautiful residence I ever saw in any country. The edge of the cliff is crowned with extensive woods of fir, pine, cypress, ilex, and chestnut, clustering over its precipitous sides in all their native luxuriance, uninjured by the clippings of Italian taste; while the southern declivity is en- * Sketches, See., vol. iv. p. 216.LAKE OF COMO; 339 livened by * a charming garden, filled with the sweetest and gayest flowers; a sight rare indeed in Italy, and more delightful both from that cir- cumstance and from the brilliancy of the climate. Some ruins, near the verge of the cliff, interpose to prevent the eye embracing at the same moment the three lakes; but the mountains and swelling banks that border those different divisions, blend finely together on every side. These walls and towers, from their peculiar style of building, and the loop-holes for archery, appear to have formed a part of some strong fortification in the time of the Longobardic kings ; which has probably given the name of Bellaggio to the peninsula.* We descended to the Villa Melzi, which is seated close by the edge of the lower lake, a little further down. The grounds of this villa are laid out with great taste, and Tire kept with a care and neatness very unusual in Italy: yet, with all their beauty, their sweetness and luxuriance, they do not, with me, rival those of the neglected Villa Servelliniy aban doned by its proprietor, who residues entirely at Naples/1 : From Menaggio, a village about three miles above Cadenabbia, on the western shore, a narrow road leads over the mountains to Porlezza on the * Agger signified a rampart or fortified dike; but this etymology is very questionable. The same termination occurs in the name of Menaggio, and in the word villaggio village. A deep well, or hole, is pointed out by i the garru- lous old dame who shews the place, into which, she avers gome good-for-nothing' old countess used to cast her lover? when she was tired of them/ )• Sketches of Italy, vol. iv. p. 216.34Q LAKE OF COMO. Lake of Lugano. * The scenery between the two lakes, is varied and beautiful. In climbing up the steep hill from the Lake of Como, the winding road presents continually changing views of the w ooded promontory of Bellaggio, with the Lake of Lecco and the two Lakes of Como; and the descent from iis other side leads into the pastoral Val Cavagna, inclosed by tremendous rocky cliffs, and spotted with groupes of immense walnut and chestnut trees. At the foot of this valley, the Lago del Pianto, a small, shallow pool, rather than lake, rendered beautiful by the accompanying scenery, meets the eye, with the Lake of Lugano gleaming beyond, backed By lofty mountains. There is every pro- bability that these two lakes were formerly one, and that the hill which now forms a picturesque boundary to the smaller lake, has fallen from the crags behind; a circumstance which is known to have happened in different parts of the Lake of Lugano. At the hamlet of San Pietro, between the two, the road crosses a torrent which issues out of a deep, rocky ravine, formed by some such convulsion in the bosom of a huge mountain.' * These tremendous eboulements are occasioned by the action of subterraneous waters in the cavernous rocks. In the year 1528, the little town of Cam- pione, almost opposite to Lugano, was nearly destroyed by the fall of a portion of the mountain ; and again, in the year 1710, a similar occurrence happened near the Tresa, by which the waters of the Lake of Lugano find an outlet into those of the Lago Maggiore, and choked its channel with * Sketches, &c., vol. iv. pp. 220, 1.4 LAKE OF COMO. 341 the debris of the rocks.* The geology of these lakes is deserving of a more attentive and scientific investigation than has hitherto been given to them. It is chiefly from the shores of the Lakes of Lugano and Como, that the itinerant Italian hawkers sally forth, who formerly frequented England in such numbers, carrying barometers,+ looking-glasses, coloured prints, gilt frames, &c., and who are still to be met with throughout Europe, more especially Germany. How wide soever their wanderings, these people, it is said, are never known to forget their native country, but return, if possible, to spend the last years of their life where they first drew breath. Lady Morgan asserts, that many of the villages which rise above the Lake of Como, are inhabited only by females. ' The want of land to cultivate, or of a market for commodities, has from time immemorial occa- sioned an emigration of the male inhabitants.' The Comasque peasantry are described as poor and depressed, laborious and devout, scarcely knowing any other food than their polenta, a porridge made of maize or chestnut flour, and such fruits as the mountains afford. The south-western branch of the Lake of Como terminates in a sort of semi-circle, round which the tpwn of Como is built. An amphi- * Eustace, vol. iv. p. 61. Some persons have imagined that the Lake of Lugano was itself produced by a sudden convulsion in the fifth or sixth century. t They learn the art of making barometers, Mr. Cadell says, by constructing thermometers, which are much used in the North of Italy, in rearing silk-worms. The venders of plaster casts come chiefly from Lucca.342 COMO. theatre of low hills surrounds it at a little distance, and on one side rises a steep conical mountain, surmounted with an old fort. It is an episcopal city, and contains a large and curious cathedral of the middle ages. ' It is of white marble; the front is of light and not inelegant Gothic; the nave is supported by Gothic arches; the choir and transepts are adorned with composite pillars; a dome rises over the centre.'* Impure and incongruous as is the architecture, the e{fect, Eustace says, is not unpleasing. In front of the cathedral, there is a statue of Pliny, with bas- reliefs alluding to his writings ; and on each side of the grand entrance is an inscription to his honour. It would seem that the unfortunate circumstance of his being a heathen, has alone prevented him from being the canonized patron of his native city; and Eustace goes so far as to suppose the illustrious Roman ' to look down with complacency on the honours thus zealously paid, in his beloved Comum, to his memory so many ages after his decease !' In his time, Comum was already a rich and flourishing city, in the enjoy- ment of all the privileges belonging to a Roman corporation.f In most respects, remarks this sentimental Traveller,.' modern Como does not yield to the ancient city. The cathedral, in ma- terials, magnitude, and probably in decoration, though not in style, equals the Temple of Jupiter ; and ten or fifteen other churches may be deemed * Eustace, vol. iv. p. 37. t Comum was originally the chief seat of a Greek colony- established in this part of Italy. It was indebted for its privileges and importance to J. Caesar.COMO 343 as ornamental to the city as half the number of temples.'* 4 The interior of the town of Como/ says Lady Morgan, 4 exhibits dark, narrow, and filthy streets; churches numerous, old, and tawdry; some dreary palaces of the.Comasque nobles, and dismantled dwellings of the cittadini. The duomo, founded in 1396, and constructed with marbles from the neighbouring quarries, is its great feature. It stands happily with respect to the lake, but is surrounded with a small square of low, mouldering arcades and paltry little shops. Its baptistery is ascribed to Bramante; but the architecture is so mixed and semi-barbarous, that it recalls the period when the arts began to revive in all the fantastical caprice of unsettled taste. Everywhere, the elegant Gothic is mingled with the grotesque forms of ruder orders; and basso relievos of monsters and nondescripts disfigure a facade, where light Gothic pinnacles are sur- mounted with golden crosses; while the ftae pointed arch and clustered columns contrast with staring saints and grinning griffins. . . . The interior of this ancient edifice lias all the venerable character of the remote ages in which it rose and was completed. But its spacious nave, Gothic arches, and lofty dome, its masses of dark marbles and deep-tinted frescoes, are contrasted with such offerings from the piety and gratitude of the devout # Eustace, vol. iv. p. 40.—The church .of S. Giovanni is adorned by several pillars which are ' supposed to have be- longed to a portico' mentioned by Pliny. This Traveller's description of Como, is a fair specimen of the extreme loose- ness and inaccuracy of his statements.344 C0M0. Comasques and the inhabitants oi the neighbouring mountains, as would better suit the stalls of the Rue de Friperie, or the ware-rooms of Monmouth-street. 4 The Collegio Gallio, founded by a Cardinal of that name, is a monastic foundation presided over by the order of the Scuole-pie, and appears to be conducted upon principles of liberality, great kindness, and parental attention on the part of the fraternity, to their young charge.* A dark and massive building, with the sign of a bleeding heart (the insignia of the Jesuits) above its pon- derous portals, is a seminary for young women. A light, elegant, and spacious building, that con- trasts with these antiquities, is devoted to the same purpose of education. It was raised and opened as a lyceum, by the French, and contains some fine philosophical apparatus. The collection of natural history and the botanical gardens of the professors, are proofs that science has made some progress in Como, since the time when Spallanzani and his instruments caused such terrors among the mountaineers of the district. ' The principal resources of this regia citta are, the manufacture of a little silk ancLcotton, (carried on under every restriction that can check its suc- cess,) and the adventurous and profitable enter- prises of smuggling.*!* A cloth-manufactory near the village of 8. Martino, is of some consideration. * Two English piano-fortes were found by this Traveller in the apartments of the Rector of the college. f The frontier between Switzerland and this part of Lombardy forms a sort of horse-shoe, and affords a line for the introduction of contraband articles which it is im- possible to guardCOMO. 345 The ancient importance of Como is testified by its double walls and massy towers ; and its present consequence in the eyes of its Imperial masters, is indicated by its fortified barriers, manned with legions of Austrian soldiers, custom-house officers, and police, by its garrison, and by the shutting of its gates at an early hour of the night. Como was once the seat of the Inquisition. The forms and the power of that terrible tribunal have passed away; but something of its spirit still seems to cling to its ancient shade, and the race of its fami- liars appears to be not quite extinct.'* The population of Como is very variously esti- mated. By Mr. Eustace and Mr. Pennington, the inhabitants are rated at 18,000 .and 20,000.f The situation is so fine, and the air is deemed so salubrious, that, during the summer months, many families retire to its neighbourhood; and it is becoming a sort of watering-place. About three miles and a half from Como, on the western shore of the lake, is the Villa d'Este, for some time the property and residence of the unhappy princess who enjoyed for a brief and troubled term, the title of Queen of England. It is now the pro- perty of an eminent banker of Rome. Large sums have been expended on this spacious man- ♦ Morgan's Italy, vol. i. pp.303—308; 301.—Eustace speaks of ( the security and quiet' which Como seems to have enjoyed during ' the numberless disasters of Italy.' It has been, on the contrary, the scene of perpetual warfare, as well as of the darkest bo.rors of the Inquisition. f In the statistical table given in Malte Brun, vol. vii. p. 755, the population of Como is stated at only 7669; but this is probably an error of the press, and should be 17,669. The population of the provinee (or delegation) of Como is stated at 335,000.34l> LKCCO* sion ; noble offices have been erected for servants ; a handsome theatre has been built; and an excel- lent road made to Como. Its appearance in 1S20, however, was that of melancholy desolation. The theatre and the grounds were quite neglected, and nothing remained to mark its former splendour and gayety, but the inscription, Villa (TEsle, in large characters in front of the villa.* Lecco, situated at the extremity of the south- eastern branch, is a pleasant lit'tle town, and its position is very picturesque, opposite to the base of a high mountain which sinks abruptly into the lake. Numerous silk-factories and iron-works give it a commercial importance, which is increased by its being, in the line of the new road to the Val Teline. The olive, the vine, and the nuilberry- tree are cultivated in its environs. From Lecco, two roads lead to Milan. The shorter, but less interesting, passes directly through Monza, which has acquired a certain sort of celebrity as the de- pository of the Iron Crown of Charlemagne. The other road lies over the rich plain of Erba to Como, passing by several beautiful lakes,t and at the bases of hills clothed with the vine and the chestnut-tree. Numerous villages, and the towns of Incino (Licino Forum) and Erba; inha*>* bited by a fine race of people, occur in this charming tract of country. On approaching Como, that city is seen deeply embosomed in moun- tains, while the' distant Alps stretch across the * Pennington, vol. ii. p. 287. f The Lake of Pusiano deserves to be particularized for its beauty. The Eupihs Lacu$, which takes its modern name from Incino, is the source of the Lambro.MONZA. 347 horizon. From Como, tlie direct road to Milan, by Barlasina, is dull and monotonous ; but this may be varied by a little detour to Monza, a description of which must close this chapter. Monza (the Modoelia and Magvntia of the days of the lower empire) is situated ten miles north of Milan, on the banks of the Lambro. Its duomo is said to date from the seventh century, being ascribed to the-saintly Queen TheouoUnda, whose tomb it contains. The facade, which is chiefly of marble, is of course of much later date; and 4 the steeple is of brick newly built, the old one having been accidentally destroyed by fire/ The interior consists of a nave and two aisles. The barbarous taste of 4 the lower times,' is shewn in the sculptures, tracery, carving, and frescoes, which cover the walls, pillars, altars, and shrines of this most venerable edifice.* There are a few good paintings by Guercino and other good mas- ters. The jewels, the comb, and other relics of Queen Theodolinda are among the treasures ex- hibited. But the glory and attraction of the cathedral ^consist of the Iron Crown which that famous Queen of Lombardy is said to have re- ceived from Pope Gregory I., and which takes its name from the precious relic it is supposed to in- close. The crown is a broad hoop of gold, about eighteen inches in circumference, adorned ex- ternally with enamel and precious stones, within * Why did not Mr. Woods visit Monza ? We have nothing better than the vague descriptions of Mr. Pennington and Lady Morgan. Mr. Cadell says: ' The church of St. John Baptist at Monza is a fine monument of the architecture of the middle age, and was built in 1380.'348 MONZA. which is fixed a thin hoop or rim of ijron, a quar- ter of an inch in breadth, composed of a nail used in our Saviour's crucifixion. Muratori, however, is bold enough to call in question, not only the legend, but even the reputed high antiquity of the crown. It was taken to Bologna to crown the Emperor Charles V.; and it was not till after his coronation, that the legend relating to the iron rim was brought up; founded, it is supposed, upon the ancient traditions respecting the crown or helmet of Constantine.* Still it is, perhaps, of all crowns the most interesting in an historic respect. None of the Lombard kings were actually crowned at Monza, the first coronation that took place in its cathedral, being that of Otho III. in 995. The ceremony has sometimes been performed at Pavia, but most frequently in the church of St. Ambrose at Milan. The last head which it encircled, was that of Napoleon! About a mile from Monza, is the summer palace of the viceroy; a spacious mansion surrounded with fine and extensive grounds, laid out by the late Government. This villa was the favourite residence of Eugene Beauharnois, wio greatly improved both the house and the gardens, adding a new theatre, and hot-houses filled with the pro- ductions of New Holland; and it has now, Lady Morgan tells us, ' all the elegance and accommo- dation of St. Cloud.' The whole way from Monza to Milan, the country is cultivated like a garden. * Cadell, vol. i. p. 120. This Traveller has given an en- graving of it, which ought to be accurate; but it exhibits nothing of' the circle of high points radiant with jewels,' which the Author of Sketches of Italy describes.mi lax. 349 CHAPTER VI. MILAN. It would be difficult, Mr. Simond remarks, to ac- count for the choice originally made of the site occupied by Milan, while, on either side, the Adda or the Ticino, and in front the Po, offer the conve- nience of navigable rivers, and while such beauti- ful situations might have been selected on the shores of the neighbouring lakes. The city stands on a dead flat, in the midst of a vast plain, and is indebted for its commercial advantages to the fine canals which were cut from the Ticino in the twelfth century, and from the Adda in the fifteenth. Yet, so early as the days of Strabo, it was a flourishing city. Ausonius, towards the end of the fourth century, ranks it as the sixth town in the Roman empire ; while Procopius, a century and a half later, speaks of Mediolanum as inferior only to Rome in population and extent. It was founded by the Insubrian Gauls, as the capital of their terri- tory, which lay between the Ticinus and the Adda. The capture of it by Cornelius Scipio and Marcel- lus (A.C. 221), was followed by the submission of that powerful tribe; and the conquered city seems to have retained ever since the honours of a metropolis.* In the time of Virgil Mediolanum * Cramer, vol. i. p. 51.—The Jnsubres are stated by Livy vol i. x350 MILAN. was the Athens of Northern Italy. Modern Milan has been stigmatized by a recent Traveller as the Italian Bceotia.* Scarcely any city in Italy has been subject to greater vicissitudes than Milan. At one time, it was the capital of the western empire, several of the later emperors having made it their residence ;t and here, in 303,. Constantine subscribed the famous edict securing to the Christians the free exercise of their religion.}; When Italy was over- run by the barbarians in the fifth and sixth centu- ries, Milan was nearly ruined. In the year 538, it was taken and destroyed by the Burgundians, but it revived in about thirty years. § When, in to have founded their capital, Mediolanum, on their first ar- rival in Italy, and to have given it that name from a place so called in the territory of the AZdui, in Gaul. The fabu- lous accounts of the monster, half sow, half sheep, from which its name is derived by other ancient writers, wpuld scarcely deserve mention, except for the rudely sculp- tured representation, seen on the walls in almost every part of the city, which constitutes its arms. Claudian refers to this legend :— - c Ad Moenia Gallis Condita lanigerce suis ostentantia pellem.* See Pennington's Tour, vol. ii. p. 264. Notwithstanding its Latin sound, Mediolanum may be resolved into good Gaelic; Meadhon signifying middle, midst, (like moyen and mean,) and iolann, an inclosure.—Armstrong's Gaelic Diet. And this etymology may possibly account for the choice of the situation, in the centre of the Insubrian territory. * Rose's Letters, vol. i. p. 182.—The term is used in re- ference chiefly to the ' gross and gormandising'habits of the Milanese. f Maximian, the colleague of Diocletian, first established his court as Emperor of the West, at Milan.—See Gibbon, c. 13. X Gibbon, c. 20. § Ibid., c. 4J.MILAN. 351 898, Berengarius established his sovereignty over the Milanese, he fixed his court at Pavia. In the following century, Milan first fell under the power of the German emperors, being taken by Otho I.; but it afterwards recovered its independence under its archbishop, or Italian princes of its own elec- tion ; and when the Emperor Henry IV., in 1110, invaded Italy, it refused its homage, and success- fully defied the conqueror* When, however, in 1158, the infamous Frederic Barbarossa invested the city, it was compelled to capitulate, and to sub- mit to the loss of its independence. In 1162, its citizens having incurred that Emperor's displeasure, Milan was besieged, and, on being taken, is said to have been totally destroyed, with the exception of the sacred edifices. A few years afterwards, the scattered population, on the withdrawmeiit of the imperial army, returned and rebuilt "the city, repairing the fortifications ; and Milan, with all the cities of the North of Italy, except Pavia, en- tered into a league against their ruthless oppressor, known under the name of the Lombard League. A signal victory gained over the imperial army, May *29, 1176, completely re-established the Mi- lanese power. The State continued, however, to acknowledge the supremacy of the Emperor. In the thirteenth century, the city was governed by a podesta, a sort of mayor, invested with abso- lute authority , but whose reign lasted only for a year. The title of captain-general was subsequently as- sumed by the powerful chiefs who obtained the no- mination to this high office, and the period was extended to five years. The Visconti and the Torriani long struggled for the ascendancy. At x 2352 MILAN* length, the former obtained the complete sove- reignty as torch of Milan, with the office of impe- rial vicar in Milan and Lombardy. Of twelve sovereigns of this house, the last three only reigned under the title of Duke of Milan. The house of Sforza succeeded to the dukedom in 1450, in vir- tue of a marriage alliance ; and it was the fourth duke of this family, who was deprived of his pos- sessions and his liberty by Louis XII. He was not, strictly speaking, the last duke, for Maximi- lian Sforza was installed by the Swiss into the dutchy with great ceremony and pomp in 1512, and held it for three years. The battle of Ma- rignano gave it into the hands of Francis I. ; and Maximilian is said to have thanked the Conqueror for delivering him at once * from the arrogance of the Swiss, the rapacity of the Emperor, and the artifices of the Spaniards/* The battle of Pavia, in Feb. 1525, in which the French monarch lost 4 all but his honour,' was followed by the tempo- rary establishment of Francis Sforza (the brother of Maximilian) in the dutchy of Milan ; but the de- tection of an intrigue in which he was implicated, which had for its object to overturn the Emperor's power in Italy, afforded Charles a fair occasion for depriving him of the nominal sovereignty. In 1584, he invested his son (Philip II.) with the dutchy; and it continued to be attached to the crown of Spain, till 1706, when the Spanish branch of the house of Austria became extinct. It then * * Mr. Pennington has been at the pains of collecting these obscure historical details relating to the Milan dynasties, from Verri, Denina, Guicciardini, and other native writers. —See vol. ii. ch. 26.MILAN. 353 reverted to the German Emperor* and continued to be governed by Austrian viceroys, till the battle of Marengo rendered the French once more the masters of Northern Italy. In 1796, Lombardy received from the Conqueror, a constitution mo- delled on republican forms; and Milan was de- clared the capital of the Cisalpine Republic. Re* conquered and held for a few months by the Imperialists, it was soon recovered by the French ; and in 1800, the form of a free government was restored, with the title of the Italian Republic. The name of republic was soon set aside by another change, when the Emperor of the French assumed the iron crown ; and Milan became the capital of the flew kingdom of Itafyv and the residence of the viceroy, Eugene Beauharnois. On the fall of Napoleon, Milan once more scame under the house of Austria; and it is still the seat of government, as the Capital of the Lombard-Venetian kingdom. The present city must be considered as dating frdtn the twelfth century ; and its general archi- tecture bears the marks of its importance in the middle ages. ' The old palaces, vast and rude, indicate their purpose as the domestic fortresses of turbulent times. Of its Roman antiquities, only the sites of thermm and temples, and a fine por- tido; tailed the coltmnade of S. Lorenzo, remain. Under the viceroys of the Spanish and Austrian governments, the city gained nothing, and lost much. Churches and convents multiplied, but its magnificent drnmo remained unfinished ; its noble canal, the miracle of the age in which it was con- structed,* was choked and fell to ruin. Themili- • The Ticinetto or Nuviglio Grande, the principal inlet of x 3354 MILAN tary edifices raised for the subjugation of the people under Charles V., fell or stood, as time spared, or storms demolished. The palace, inha- bited by the delegated sovereigns from Madrid or Vienna, remained, down to the revolution, much as the Sforzas had left it. The high-walled gardens of monasteries choked the suburbs, and impeded ventilation* Cemeteries in the heart of the city, frequently produced contagious maladies. Mar- kets rose in the courts of the noblest palaces. The relics of Roman antiquities were suffered to perish from neglect; and the old narrow streets, which, by their original construction, excluded light and air, Were stitt further impeded by sheds erected at pleasure before the shops. At night, they were ill-lighted by paper-lanterns few and far be- tween.' But, under the Emperor, continues his zealous panegyrist, * streets were cleared, avenues opened, palaces raised, and cleanliness and gene- ral accommodation universally promoted.'* This representation may be a little tinged with the Writer's partiality; but it is at least true, and not a little remarkable, that it was reserved for Napo- leon to complete the facade of the sumptuous temple*--founded by the first duke, continued by the commerce to Milan, begun in 1179, and extended and im- proved under the direction of Leonardo da Vinci in the fif- teenth century, had, through neglect, become choked up so as to be a nuisance, rather than a benefit, and was nick- named by the peasantry, Aavig/iacrto. Under the Spanish Government, some feeble attempts were made to restore the Canal; but in 1805, a decree of the French Government effected the completion of the whole line of canal to Pavia ami the Ticino. . * Mbrgau'v Ttaly, vol. i. pp. 118—120TM3E C A THE©®.AIL OF MEILiAlf „ london. Publish wi "by J. Duncan. Paternoster Bxrw. 1634.MI LAW. 355 munificence of St. Charles Borromeo, and still un- finished, when Milan Ik came the second capital of the sovereign of France and Italy. Of this 1 famous cathedral,' as Evelyn terms it, next to St. Peter's at Rome the largest in Europe, we have the following description in the Diary or that excellent person, under the date of 1646. 4 We entered by a portico so iittle inferior to that of Rome, that, when it is finished, it will be hard to say which is the fairest. The materials are all of white and black marble, with columns of great height of Egyptian granite. The outside of the church is so full of sculpture, that you may number 4000 statues, all of white marble, among which that of St. Bartholomew is esteemed a master-piece.* The church is very spacious, almost as long as St. Peter's at Rome, but not so large. About the quire, the sacred story is finely sculptured in snow-white marble, nor know I where it is exceeded. About the body of the church are the miracles of St. Charles Borromeo ; and in the vault beneath is his body, before the high altar, grated, and inclosed in one of the largest crystals in Europe. To this also belongs a rich treasure. The cupola is all of marble within and . * 4 We saw the celebrated statue of the flayed St. Bartho- lomew in the choir. The subject is so unpleasant, that the greatest excellence would be exhibited on it in vain; but it did not appear to me that its execution was such as to render the inscription necessary, which disclaims its being the work of Praxiteles.'—Sketches, &c., vol. iv. p. 238. Mr. Cadell sayp, the effect is that of an anatomical figure, without expression. The saint has his skin tlirown over his left shoulder. The inscription is: ' >on me Praxiteles > s'd Marcus Jinxit Ayrati3.56 MILAN. without, and even covered with great planks of marble in the Gotick (Gothic) design. The windows are most beautifully painted. Here are two very fair and excellent organs. The fabric is erected in the midst of a fair iazza and in the centre of the city...... ' Milan,' continues the old Cavalier, 4 is one of the most princely cities in Europe. It has ho suburbs, but is circled with a stately wall for ten miles, in the centre of a country that seems to flow *vith milk and honey. The air is excellent, the fields fruitful to admiration, the markets abounding with all sorts of provisions. In the city are near 100 churches, 71 monasteries, 40,000 inhabitants. It is of a circular figure, fortified with bastions* full of sumptuous palaces and rare artists, especially- for works in crystal, which is here cheap, being found among the Alps. There are curious straw- workers among the nuns, even to admiration. It has a good river, and a citadel at some small dis- tance from the city, commanding it, of great strength for its works and munitions of all kinds: it was built by Galeatius II. . . . . . . Milan is a sweet place; and though the streets are narrow, they abound in rich coaches, and are fill] of noblesse, who frequent the course every night.' * ' Milan struck us from the first,' says Mr. Simond, who visited it in 1817, ' as a very splendid city, in which a mean-looking house seemsJ as * Evelyn's Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 210—215. Burnet also speaks of the 1 great magnificence in Milan.* ' The nobility affect to make a noble appearance, both in their clothes, their coaches, and their attendants.' He speaks of the nobleness of the buildings and the surprising riches of the churches and convents.Milan. rarely to be met with as a palace elsewhere.* Most of the houses are built according to the orders of architecture ; and carriages in the streets roll along smoothly on flat stones laid in parallel lines, like iron railways, leaving the rest of the pavement sufficiently rough to afford safe footing to the horses. Much of the present neat appear- ance of the city is, I am told, due to the Austrian Government.' t Lady Morgan, we have seen, ascribes all the improvements to the French Emperor. 'Because lie is known to have con- tributed greatly to beautify the city,' remarks a less partial witness, 'strangers are apt to give him credit for every building and erection that bear a modern appearance. But they need not exaggerate the improvements effected by Napoleon. Besides the Canal to Pavia, he built a circus, he finished the front of the Cathedral, and was proceeding with the interior; he made the Passeggio (or Public Gardens) and the present drive on the ramparts ; instituted a Mosaic-manufactory ; esta- blished a mint; began the Porta di Sempione; and, what ought to have been best of all, broke up the convents. ' Of all the buildings, old or new, in Milan/ continues this pleasing Writer, 4 the most striking is, unquestionably, the Cathedral, which is entirely built of white marble. Its* vast size, as well as rich architecture, entitles it to be ranked among the principal edifices of Europe; but, though it is by far the finest Gothic structure in Italy, the * ' The houses are, generally, "far from remarkably splendid.'—Sketches, &c., vol. iv. p, 235. t Simond, p. 11.o58 MILAN. purity of that style is not perfectly preserved. Five Grecian windows in the principal front are, indeed, unlucky intruders. Notwithstanding this defect, the exterior of the building is most beautiful. Though rich in all the ornaments of Gothic archi- tecture. though covered with statues, niches, pinna- cles, sculpture, and decorations of every description, its whole appearance is not more splendid than majestic ; an effect which it owes, perhaps, to the simple elegance of the material of which it is formed. The interior still remains unfinished. This is the less to be regretted, as its design is not equal to that of the exterior. It is also Gothic, but here, there is an overload of ornaments. The eight niches, rich in fret-work, that surmount the capital of each pillar, conceal the spring of the arch, and appear to weigh down the pillar itself. Nor was this the only fault that struck my eye, in the long and wide extent of this magnificent build- ing. Yet, taking it altogether, it is to me, un- questionably, the finest church of Italy after St. Peter's, and the only one capable of rivalling that splendid structure.'* *x Sketches, &c., vol. iv. pp. 236—238. It is sometimes amusing, sometimes vexatious, to find how little dependence can be placed upon the careless assertions and opinions of splenetic or capricious travellers. Mr. Matthews has been praised by Lord Byron: the only notice he bestows upon this edifice, is contained in the following sentence. ' The Cathedral;—a new cathedral, especially if it be built of white marble, as is the cajse at Milan, is an ugly, staring thing.'—Diary, p. 296. Mr. Rose dismisses Milan alto gether in the following sentences. ' Milan is large and situated on a plain, and is what, I suppose, would be called a fine'city ; but it has nothing very striking either within orMILAN. 359 These slight and general remarks will serve to introduce the more full and scientific description of this celebrated edifice, furnished by an accomplished English architect. 4 The present building was founded in 1385, by order of John Galeazzo, first Duke of Milan. He died in 1402, and it is probable, that most of the old work was performed during this interval.* without to recommend, it. Add, that it is hot in summer, foggy in the fall, and cold in the winter. I think I never saw such a number of deformed and diminutive wretches in any city of Europe.'—Letters from the North of Italy, vol. ii. p. 201. In Lady Morgan's florid and diffuse pages, there is at least more information. She thus describes the Duomo. * As we first saw it, in the radiance of the mid-day sun, its masses of white and polished marble, wrought into such elegant filigree as is traced on Indian ivory by Hindoo fingers, its Sim and delicate pinnacles, tipped with sculptured saints,—it looked, all gigantic as it is, like some fairy fabtic of virgin silver; and left the eye dazzled, and the imagina- tion fascinated. Its exterior lustre was strikingly contrasted with its interior solemnity; and as we drew back the folds of the heavy drapery which shades the entrance of this, as of all Italian churches, nothing could be more impressive than that long, solemn sweep of nave whose deep perspective fades and mellows as it recedes from the eye, and is finally almost lost in distance and obscurity. Before the high altar stands the shrine of St. Charles Borromeo, with its circle of burning lamps. The spacious choir rises behind it. The lateral aisles, with their massive columns of red granite, and Yotive chapels, the porphyry baptismal font, the marble pavement, were tinged with the brilliant hues which fell through the high-arched and richly painted windows.'— Morgan's Italy, vol. i. p. 124. * The name and nation of the original architect are wholly uncertain. A German of the name of Gamodia had some share in the building; but his claim to the merit of the design is very questionable. Marco da Campione, native of a village near Lugano, appears tc have been the360 MILAN The church was not, however, consecrated till 1418, when the ceremony was perforated by Pope Martin V. About the middle of the sixteenth century, St. Charles Borromeo undertook to com- plete the edifice, and employed Pellegrini to design a suitable front. This architect is said to have conceived the idea of so engrafting upon Gothic the beauties of Grecian architecture, as to make a harmonious whole out of the discordant materials. If such were his endeavours, we need not wonder that lie did not succeed. A part only of his design was executed by the direction of Cardinal Frederic Borromeo, the cousin and successor of St. Charles in the archbishopric of Milan; and this part has been suffered to stand, although the completion of tl e rest of the facade, in a style imitated from the Gothic, has served to make its utter discordance with the rest of the building much more obtrusive.' 1 Pellegrini's plan was, to place ten Corinthian columns in front; but, to judge from what is done, and from the three stories of windows of unequal elevation,* he could hardly have proposed to unite them in a simple portico. The mouldings and ornaments were all of "Roman architecture. Of this design, the columns were never erected ; but the five door- ways, and as many windows over them, are pre- served as parts of the present composition. Two first architect; he died, however, in 1390. See Sioria e Descrizione del Duomo di Milano} esposta da Gaetano Fran- chetti. M ilano, 1821. * A view of Pellegrini's design is published in Gravii Thes. Ant, et Hist,. Ital, torn, ii; in which the design of jfhe windows is ascribed to Butius, the architect of the city, to whom the execution was entrusted.MILAN. 361 other windows of this design are concealed by Gothic tracery. The remainder, which is only just finished, is imitated from the old work; but the architect (Amati), by Grecising the ornaments, and cutting the upright mouldings, has failed as signally in the details, as in the general composition. ' Separating the old work from its injudicious additions, and considering it only as a portion of an unfinished building, the exterior is very rich and very4 beautiful, with its parts well composed and well combined. The pinnacles rise gracefully from the general line, and are richly ornamented with subordinate pinnacles and statues ; and the workmanship is very good. One may imagine what a sumptuous edifice it would have been, with two lofty western towers, and a light and highly decorated lantern in the centre. ... Abstractedly from their want of suitable character, the modem ornaments are poorer in design than the ancient, and inferior in execution. At present, the ancient part of the lantern is surmounted by a slender steeple, whose outline is that of a column support- ing a spire. • This was added by Brunelleschi, (employed by Philip, the son of John Galeazzo, who reigned from 1412 to 1447,) and it is asto- nishing that, living so nearly in the time of the Gothic architects, he should have been so deficient in understanding the character of their architec- ture.* The front is a mere triangle, and excess * Mr. Cadell states, however, that the spire is a modern erection. f The columns, at the intersection of the nave and transept,' he says, ' are not strong enough to support a tower or spire proportioned to the size of the building ; the pillars that support the spire, as well as those of the nave/ VOL. I. Y362 MILAtf sively poor. The artists, among them, have con- trived to produce a Gothic building, of which the -outline, contemplated as a simple mass without the details, is everywhere displeasing. ' Another remarkable circumstance is, the want of apparent size. That it does not look very high, (although the head of the figure which crowns the spire, is 360 feet from the pavement,) may, perhaps, be attributed to its actual magni- tude. Yet, in the distant view, where the lower part of the building is lost, it does not suggest the idea of a lofty edifice ; and the front, although extending 200 feet, almost looks little. Perhaps, this may arise in some degree from the style of the Italian houses, which are so much larger and loftier than ours. The following are the principal dimensions : Length, internally, 493 feet. Whole width, 177 feet. Length of transept, including the chapels, 284 feet. Height of the nave, 152 feet. To the top of the lantern, 247 feet. To the top of the spire and statue, 356 feet. There are 52 piers, 98 pinnacles, and, inside and out, 4400 statues. being about ten feet in diameter. The spire, as it is, looks Kke a set of small pinnacles substituted in place of a com- plete spire. It was doubtful if the building could support even this spire. Frisi and Boscovich were consulted i# 1765, before the spire was erected. On the top is a figure of the Virgin, to whom the church is dedicated.' Cadell, vol. ii. p. 79.—Eustace states, that' the obelisk was erected about the middle of the last century, contrary to the opi- nion of the best architects.' He mentions also the thinnfess the of clusters of pillars (fifty-two in number), Which sup- port the vault without concealing any part of the edifiee; making them to be ninety feet in height, and only eighth* diameter. , Ian law; 363 ' The first particulars that strike you on passing to the interior, are, that it is dark and gloomy, and that the leading lines are very much inter- rupted by the shrines introduced in the capitals of the piers, which injure also the apparent solidity of the building. And when you are told, that it is nearly 500 feet long, 180 feet wide, and 150 feet high, you can hardly believe it. The height of the side aisles (96 feet), certainly dimir nishes the appearance of that of the nave; but the width of the nave (55 feet) is not remark* ably great in proportion to the other dimensions.4 ' With all these defects, however, and with some feeling of disappointment from having heard so much of this building, it was impossible not to acknowledge the sublime effect of the inter iori The style does not correspond to any of out English modes of pointed architecture. The vaulting is simple, without any branching ribs or any ridge-piece; it is so much super-vaulted, that each bay appears to be the portion of a dome ; and the disposition of the materials in concentric circles, or in portions of such circles, makes me be- lieve that this is nearly the case. The windows of the clerestory are extremely small and insignificant: those of the side aisles are long and narrow; They aire ornamented with quatrefoilsbut a division ©ff the > heightinto' two '-'paste by arched ribs, (which have not precisely the effect of tran* . * The width of the nave of the cathedral at Amiens is 45£ feet; the length, 442; the height, 140 feet. This is 10 feet wider, and above 50 feet higher than that of Salisbury Cathedral, The nave of York Minster is 47 feet in width. Y 2364 MILAN. soms, because they do not cross the window at the same level,) indicate a very different period oi taste from that of the rose and quatrefoil heads in France and England. The lower part of the capitals has something of the running foliage of the fourteenth century in England; but the shrine- work, which forms their upper part, is perfectly unique. The bases and the plans of the pillars are equally anomalous, and any person would be baffled in attempting to determine the date from the architecture ; only he might safely decide that it could not be very early. The smallness of the upper windows produces a gloomy appearance and oppressive feeling, like that of the cavern style of architecture in the South of France, with which it has nothing else in common. There are three fine large windows in the polygonal end of the choir; but even these are ill placed, and have little effect.. .. The roof is covered with slabs of marble. It is every where accessible, and is a fine place on which to ramble about undisturbed, and examine the details of the architecture; or, turning our eyes to more distant objects, to survey the wide extended plain of fertile Lombardy, and the long continued ridges of the distant Alps. Even at this distance, (nearly 80 miles,) I never con* template the splendid summit of Monte Rosa without a new impression of its stupendous magni- ficence/ * One circumstance peculiar to this cathedral is mentioned by Eustace, and, together with the expla- nation, deserves notice. ' There are no chapels* * Woods's Letters of an Architect, vol. i. pp. 205—210. rjfrlLAlNr. 365 -properly so called, because the Ambrosian rite, which long retained the ancient custom of allowing <>ne altar only, and one service, in each church, not having conformed to the modem mode when the cathedral was commenced, no provision was made, in the plan, for private masses and oratories. This omission contributes much to the simplicity and the unity of the edifice. Altars, however, there now are in abundance, but placed in such a man- ner as not to interfere with the general design.'* The high altar stands, as in the Roman basilicas, in front of the chancel, with the choir, in a semi- circular form, behind it. There is no screen ; and the chancel is entirely open, separated from the nave only by its elevation. This Traveller describes as the most remarkable Object in the interior of the cathedral, 4 the subter- ranean chapel,' to which Evelyn refers, in which the body of St. Charles Borromeo reposes. ' It is immediately under the dome, in form octangular, and lined with silver, divided into pannels repre- senting the principal actions of the life of the saint. The body is in a shrine of rock crystal, on, or rather behind, the altar. It is stretched at full length, dressed in pontifical robes, with the crosier and mitre. The face is exposed, very improperly, because much disfigured by decay; a deformity • Eustace, vol. iv. p. 9. The multiplicity of altars in the churches of Italy, is a striking feature of their conformity to the temples of the pagan worship, and a marked indication of the progress of the great apostacy. 1 Was there ever a temple in the world,' remarks Dr. Middleton, ' not strictly heathenish, in which there were several altars, all smoking with incense, within one view, and at one and the same time?'—Pref. Disc, to the ( Letter from Rome.'MILAN. increased and rendered more hideous by its con- trast with the splendour of the vestments which cover the body, and by the pale, ghastly light that gleams from the aperture above.'* The other churches of Milan are not, in general, beautiful either externally or in the interior; and, as antiquities, most of them have lost their interest by being modernized, particularly the inside. This appears to have been done much at the same period; probably about the time of St. Charles Borromeo. ? Next to the cathedral/ continues Mr. Woods, 4 the most interesting church in Milan is cer- tainly that of St. Ambrose, or perhaps many might put it in the first place. It is said to be the very church which that saint closed against Theodosius, after the massacre at Thessalonica, in 390. They even pretend to shew you the identical doors ; but the more probable opinion is, that these doors are of the ninth century, made by order of Archbishop Anspert: they are covered with a profusion of carving in figures and foliage, but the wire-work added to protect them, almost hides the detail. The most ancient part of the building which pre- sents any character of architecture, is probably of the same period, though one would not venture to deny that some remains of the original church of St. Ambrose may still exist. The court in front is acknowledged to be of the ninth century, and the church exhibits very much of the same style of art* The court is a parallelogram, surrounded with arcades, having three aTches at each end, and six On each side. The walls abound with fragments * Eustace, vol. iv p. 16 •MILAN* 167 of inscriptions, and one or two curious tombs are built up in them; particularly a large, rude sar- cophagus of Paganus Petresanta, captain of the Florentines, who died in 800, and at whose funeral four cardinals were present. Considerable ves- tiges of the old painting in stucco remain on the wall, but the subject is no longer discernible. There is nothing in the details of the design, or in the execution of this little court, to demand our admiration; and yet, it is exceedingly beautiful, from the mere simplicity and harmony of the general disposition. The tower is a square brick building. The inside of the church was originally divided, on the plan, into square portions, each division having two semi-circularly arched open- ings on each side, on the ground, and two above to the gallery ; and a vaulting of semi-circular groined arches. The two first squares remain in this state; but the third has two pointed groins springing from a lower point: the strong ribs which separate the squares, unite likewise in a point The fourth square is that of the lantern, which, from the external appearance, is probably an addition of the thirteenth century : within, it is entirely modernized. There is no transept. The parallel walls of the building continue a little be- yond the lantern, and the building terminates in an ancient niche or apsis. 4 The choir has been modernized, except the apsis, which is ornamented with mosaics repre- senting our Saviour, and with saints and angels. It is said to have been executed by Greek artists in the tenth century. The pieces of the mosaic are formed of a thin lamina of gold, or metal, laid368 MILAN* x>n a thick die of glass, and covered with a very thin plate of the same material, and the whole united by exposure to heat. In a little chapel of San Satyro, in this church, is another mosaic of the same sort, which is thought to be still more ancient. The great altar contains the ashes of St. Ambrose, St. Gervase, and St. Protasius.* Over it is a canopy, supported on four columns, of a beautiful red porphyry. The canopy is attributed to the ninth century, but the columns are esteemed much more ancient, and I dare say they are so, but not in their present situation. They pass through the present paving; and tradition says, they are as much below it as they are above, which is about ten feet. The bases of the piers in the nave, shew the pavement there to have been raised above a foot; that of the choir is about two feet above that of the nave: if we add these two dimensions to the present height of the columns above the pavement, we shall probably have their total height* The canopy is composed of four arches, each some- what exceeding a semi-circle, and of four gables of a greenish colour, richly adorned with gold. The ornament of the archivolt is formed of a series of intersecting arches, all gilt; and little gilt crockets run along the gables. The altar is also very rich with gold, silver, and precious stones. Besides the altar, this church contains part of a granite column with a marble capital much too small for the shaft; and upon this is the identical * ' Many churches in Italy, Gaul, &c. were dedicated to these unknown martyrs, of whom St. Gervase seems to liave been more fortunate than his companion.'—Gibbon^ «h. 27.MILAN* 369 brazen serpent made by Moses for the children of Israel in the wilderness! More moderate people say, that it was made in imitation of that of Moses. It is entirely devoid of use or beauty, and does not seem to be an object of reverence.* Near this is a sculptured sarcophagus of white marble, of Christian times, supposed to have been made to receive the ashes of Stilico and his wife Serena, Over the sarcophagus, and partly resting upon it, is a marble pulpit, which, with the eagle of gilt bronze that forms the reading-desk, is of the twelfth century. 4 On leaving this church, I went to visit a little chapel where St. Augustine was baptized; but it has been modernized.'f * ' Brought from Constantinople by the Princess Helena, daughter of the Emperor, as part of a nuptial present to her husband, Otlio III., in 1002, who died before she arrived. There were three objects of religious worship in S. Ambrosio: First, an antique marble, representing Hercules; and as long as it remained in its place, the* dukedom was secure. Secondly, the bishop's marble throne in the choir, on which pregnant women sitting, were ex- empted from danger in child-birth. Thirdly, the serpent, which had the virtue of curing children of worm-disorders.'-— Verri's Storia di Milano, cited by Mr. Pennington, vol. i. p. 253. f Woods, voL i. pp. 213—216. 1 We revisited St. Am- brose's church. Near it, they shewed us a pit or well (an obscure place it is) where they say St. Ambrose baptized St. Augustine, and recited the Te Deum, for so imports the inscription. The place is also famous for some councils that have been held here, and for the coronation of divers Italian kings and emperors, receiving the iron crown from the bishop of this see. They shew here the History by Josephus, written on the bark of trees.'—Evelyn's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 214i This is doubtless the MS. now in the Ambrosian Library.374 MILAN. This modernizing* for the purpose, generally, of decoration, rather than of repair, is most fatal to the historic interest of architectural monuments of other days. In this church, however, if any where in Milan, the traveller may surrender himself to the illusion which connects the mind with distant times. Few names so truly illustrious occur in the annals of Milan, as that of St. Ambrose, the in- trepid champion of the church and the people in the dark and stormy period which closed the fourth century; of whom Gibbon records, that he de- served the esteem and veneration of his flock* 4 without soliciting the favour, or apprehending the displeasure of his feeble sovereign. Besides the pulpit in which he is said to have preached, ' of plain stone, very large, and of a square form,'* there is shewn the saint's bedstead. These may or may not be genuine, but his earthly relics at least slumber beneath the altar. The Ambrosian ritual, peculiar to the churches of Milan> has suffered innovation in some respects ; (and inno- vation in the Romish Church is always deteriora- tion ;) but the mass and ceremonies still differ from the ritual observed in all other Roman Ca- tholic churches, in retaining more of the ancient simplicity.f In this church, the scene of eccle- * Sheppard's Letters, p. 103. We know not whether this «tone pulpit be the marble one of Mr. Woods. It is de- scribed by Mr. Sheppard as having, in like manner, a bird of brass in front, and a. brass crucifix on its edge. f 1 As for the devotions of this place,' says Bishop Burnet, i I saw here the Ambrosian office, which is distinguished from the Roman, both in the music, which is much simpler, and in some other rites. The Gospel is read in a high pulpit at the lower end of the choir, that so it may be heardMl LAI?. $71 siastical councils and civil conflicts, the German emperors ordinarily received from the archbishop the royal crown of Lombardy.* Napoleon, it is said, deviated from the usual custom, by assuming the iron crown in the cathedral, but immediately afterwards repaired to the church of St. Ambrose. The Milanese are most proud of their Duomo, and San Carlo is their favourite saint j but the more ancient structure wakens the deepest interest, as it bears a far more venerable name. Another church which claims the traveller's notice is the Madonna delle Grazie, which formerly be- longed to a rich convent of Dominicans, celebrated for containing the Last Supper of Leonardo da Vinci. The church itself is not without interest. i The nave is ancient, with a sort of half moderni- zation which lets the antique" character peep through. To this have been added a large square edifice, forming the centre of the building, crowned with a lantern of sixteen sides, and a choir. The central part is just of the beginning of the restora- tion of Roman architecture, and retains traces of Gothic taste; but the parts are so well disposed and so well combined, that it forms one of the most picturesque compositions possible.! by all the people: though this is needless, since it is read in a language that they do not understand. When they go to say high mass,, the priest comes from the high altar to the lower end of the choir, where the offertory of the "bread and the wine is made by some of the laity. They w«re nuns that made it when I was there.'—Burnet's Travels, p. 89. * See p. 348.—One proof of the high antiquity of the Basilica Ambrosiana, Eustace says, is the elevation of the ground all round it, so that you descend some steps to enter it. f Woods, vol i. p. 216.m MIL Air. The fanlous Cenaeolo of Da Vinci still exists ift what was once the refectory of the convent ;* but it is in so bad a state, that hardly any thing but the general design and composition are now discernible. Unhappily, in this masterly production, Da Vinci chose to try the effect of some unknown material, (not oil,) in preference to the more durable process of fresco. The consequence is, that a great portion has scaled off from the wall, and that which stiK adheres, has become of a dingy black, owing prin- cipally to the effect of damp. The level of the floor is so low as to be at times three feet under water and the walls are never quite dry. Under /Eugene Beauliarnois, the room was drained, and every thing possible has been done for the preservation Oi the picture from further injury. Mr. Eustace, evef glad of an occasion to abuse the French, accuses them of having used this picture as a target for the soldiers to fire at; adding, to deepen the atrocity of the outrage, that the heads were their favourite marks, and that of Our Saviour in preference to the others* Lady Morgan flatly pronounces the story entirely false from beginning to end. The fact appears to he, that although much of the accusation is gra- tuitous, and the whole, has received a strong portion of colouring from Mr Eustace's imagination, the picture has received injury from the French sol- diers. 4 Wishing,' says Mr. Simond, 4 to ascer- tain whether Eustace's accusation against the French were true, I examined the picture closely, and certainly discovered a number of round holes like balls, plugged up with something like putty, * Mr. Simond states, that this hall ' was the very place' of meeting of the Inquisition.'MILAN. and likewise dents in the wall, apparently the effect of brickbats thrown against it, fragments of which still remained in some of the holes. As to when and by whom the mischief was done, a woman who has lived next door for the last seven- teen years, told me, that she had heard of soldiers firing at the pictur-e before her time ; that a soldier of the sixth regiment of French hussars had told her, that he himself with others had done so, not knowing what it was, when guarding prisoners confined in the hall; and that these prisoners* men of all nations, threw stones and brickbats against it by way of amusement. When Bona- parte came to Milan, he called to see the picture, and finding the place still used as a place of con- finement, " shrugged his shoulders and stamped with his foot," the woman said ; and ordering the prisoners away, had a door, which she shewed me, near the picture, walled up, and a balustrade, or low wooden partition, drawn across the room before it for protection.'* The painting has suffered more serious injury; however, from the impious hands, not of the French, but of the monks themselves. Forsyth asserts, that they once white-washed it! The feet of Our Saviour were cut away by a superior of the convent, to heighten a door-way ; a circumstance Mr. Eustace of course forgets to mention. Ac- cording to Lady Morgan, it has also been defaced by attempts at restoration.t It originally occupied * Simond, pp. 11, 12. I ' As long back as the year 1550, according to the tes- timony of Armanini, it was half destroyed ; and in Vasari's time, " una mcicchia abbagliata/' a confused blot. In 1726,374 MILAN. the whole side of the wall, about 30 feet in length, and 15 feet in height. The head of Our Saviour is stated by Yasari to have been left unfinished by Leonardo ; and Lanzi, who throws a doubt on this circumstance, acknowledges that, in its present state, three heads of the apostles alone remain of the original work. Yet, the countenance of Our Saviour has been particularly admired for its ex- pression. On the opposite wall there is a fresco, in comparatively good preservation, although somewhat older. The date, 1495, and the name of the artist, Donatus Mototarra, are inscribed upon it. 4 The helmets of the warriors,' Mr Simond feays, 4 come out in actual relief on the wall, with a view, probably, to increase the fierce- ness of their looks ; a trick worthy of the rest of the picture, which was bad, Two of the figures in the foreground, painted in oil over the fresco, it was restored by Ballotti, and, some years afterwards, almost entirely repainted by a vile dauber of the name of Mazza. When the French arrived in Milan, no part of the picture remained uninjured but the sky, (which, being painted in ultramarine, a colour not easily decomposed by moisture, had resisted the injuries of time,) the three figures of the Apostles to the left, which had been restored by Bal- lotti, and the profanations of Mazza. The barbarians, there- fore, who have destroyed it are, the saltpetre which exudes from the wall, the smoke of lamps, the good cheer of Ihe monks, and Signor Mazza.'-—Morgan's Italy, vol. i. p. 136. Forsyth states, that, owing to the new kind of imprimatura injudiciously chosen by Da Vinci, 'in half a century half the picture was effaced.' Morghen, whose magnificent print is esteemed one of the finest works in its kind that has ever been executed, f found this picture so altered by re- storers, that he was reduced to seek the original in its copies, two of which were painted in Da Vinci's time upon more fortunate walls,'—Forsyth, vol. ii. p. 139.MILAN. in order, probably, to give them more vigour, have become of the same dingy black as those of Leonardo da Vinci.'* By order of Napoleon, an accurate copy of Da Vinci's painting was made by a skilful Milanese artist, Giuseppe Bossi; and from this copy, Sig- nor Rafaelli, of Rome, has executed another copy in mosaic, which, Mr. Simond says, 4 possesses all the correctness of design, and all the ex- pression still distinguishable in the decayed origi- nal, together with the strength of colouring and harmony which that has now lost.' The work was begun by order of Eugene, has been con- tinued for the Emperor of Austria, and has been recently completed, after having occupied the labour of eight or ten men during eight years. The change of its destination, which has trans- ferred it to Vienna, is much to the dissatisfaction of the Italian citizens. The workshop of Rafaelli was one of the principal 4 lions' in Milan. The church of St. Mark's is an edifice of the thirteenth century, and its beauty is said to have been at one time proverbial. 4 The proportions,' Mr. Woods says, 4 are very good, though low in comparison with those usual with us. The front seems to have had a magnificent rose-window, which is now filled up. The inside has been entirely modernized^ but enough of the exterior remains to shew how very inferior the architecture of Italy was, at that period, to that of France and England. * Simond, p. 12. Mr. Woods states, we know not on what authority, that these two figures in oil were painted by Leonardo, previously to the execution of his own subject.MILAN Though adopting a slightly pointed arch, the buildings do not seem to have risen above the plainness and rudeness of the Saxon style, till the middle of the fourteenth century.'* 4 The church of S. Eustorgio deserves a passing glance. The outside is of brick, probably of the thirteenth century, as, in 1*220, it came into the possession of the Dominicans. The inside has been modernized, but it contains some interesting tombs of the Visconti, and of the early restorers of Greek literature in Italy. Here also they pre- tend to shew the marble sarcophagi of the three wise men—kings they are pleased to call them, who followed the star of our Saviour from the East. An archbishop is said to have brought the bones from Asia to Milan in the fourth century; and Frederic Barbarossa, in the twelfth, seized and carried them to Cologne ! 4 The little church of San Satyro still exnibits some of the architecture of the ninth century. It is a mere fragment, of no great interest, except as it serves 4to prove, that the taste of that period was very much like that which we call Norman, with capitals more nearly resembling the ancient Co- rinthian ; but I could not trace anything,' adds Mr. Woods, 4 of the beau tems de Rome, which is said to characterize this edifice.'f * 1 The artists then began,' continues Mr. Woods, ' to Copy the forms they found in France, but without adopting the greatly elevated nave, and without abandoning the strong expression of horizontal line and horizontal extent which they had retained from the Roman architecture. In the following agfe, Gothic was entirely abandoned.' The Roman was then restored under Brunelleschi. •}• Woods, vol. i. pp. 217, 212.MILAN. 377 Evelyn mentions San Celso 4 as a church of rare -architecture, built by Bramante; the carvings of the marble faciata, by Hannibal Fontana. In a room joining to the church is a marble Madonna like a colosse, of the same sculptor's work, which they will not expose to the air. There are two sacristias, in one of w7hich is a fine Virgin of Leonardo da Vinci; in the other is one by Ra- phael d' Urbino, a piece which all the world admire. The Sacristan shewed us a world of rich plate, jewels, and embroidered copes, which are kept in presses.'* Mr. Woods speaks of the church of the Madonna di San Celso as an edifice built towards the close of the fifteenth century, and attributed to Bramante, and also to Solari, a Milanese; while the font is the design of Ga- leazzo Alessi, who was not born till about the year 1500. ' The entrance is from a court sur- rounded with arcades, which has a very elegant appearance. The edifice is of marble ; and both the court and the interior of the church are well proportioned, and produce a pleasing impression, though the details are bad.' Mr. Forsyth briefly mentions this same church as boasting of some admirable statues : 'its front, indeed, is injured by them.' The Milan Guide tells us, and is echoed by Lady Morgan, that the church of S. Maria della Passione is one of the handsomest in Milan. M found it,' says Mr. Woods, 4 very large and very ugly. Near to it is a shabby little church, (I * Evelyn, vol. i. p. 212.—Mr. Cadell mentions { the vestibule of the church of the Madonna presso San Celso,' as being by Bramante.m MI LAX, know not to whom dedicated,) which struck me as giving the outline of what, perhaps, ought to have been the composition of the cathedral; a large octagonal lantern at the intersection, and at the west end, two towers rising considerably higher than the lantern. Under every disadvan- tage, the experiment proves the excellence of such an arrangement.' The steeple of St. Gothard, built in 1336, is described by the same Traveller, (whose archi- tectural notices are always highly valuable,) as a curious specimen of that age. 4 It is of brick, except the little shafts which decorate it; and these are of stone. The four lower stories, ap- pearing above the roof of the church, are plain octagons with unequal faces, with a row of orna- mental intersecting arches to each cornice, and a shaft or bead at each angle, which interrupts all the cornices. Over these are two stories, rather smaller, and forming an equal-sided octagon ; and above all is a spire, cut to indicate scales or shingles, terminating in a globe and a little winged figure supporting a weathercock. Though built in the fourteenth century,, it exhibits more of what we call Norman, than of the Gothic. There are several steeples of this sort at Milan, but this is the best. It was highly extolled by contempo- rary writers; and it derives some additional in- terest from having contained the first clock which ever sounded the hours/* * Woods, vol. i. pp. 210,11.—The details, which are more fully given by the Author, strongly distinguish, in his opi- nion, the Lombard buildings from edifices of the same date in France and England.MILAN. 379 It is remarkable, that scarcely two travellers Select the same churches in this city, as deserving of specific description. We have mentioned all which appear to derive any particular interest either from their history or their architecture. Mrs. Starke, however, mentions that of S. Alesmn- dro as of considerable architectural merit; with good frescoes in its cupola, and a remarkably handsome high altar and ciborio. Burnet mentions the 4 noble cupola' of San Lorenzo: that church is described by Forsyth as 4 a mixed and intricate octagon, with arches over arches/ a Doric with gridirons in the metopes, an attic with an entabla- ture not its own.' It is embellished with columns, the bases of which appear to have originally been capitals to other pillars; and it is probable that the church has been manufactured out of a more ancient edifice. Before this church is the only good specimen of ancient Roman architecture now remaining in the once imperial city. Eustace calls it a Roman bath, and describes it as consist- ing of sixteen beautiful Corinthian columns, of white marble, fluted, with their architrave. 4 They are of the best proportion, and placed at the dis- tance of two diameters and a quarter, the most regular and most graceful intercolumniation. The houses behind the pillars, and indeed the church of S. Lorenzo itself, evidently stand on ancient foundations.' The extreme elegance of this noble remain marks it as belonging, he thinks, to a period earlier than the 4 iron age of Maximian.' * * Eustace, vol. i. p. 32.—< The inscription on one of the pilasters, is generally acknowledged to have no reference to ihis edifice.' The inscription is given by Evelyn, as yet380 MILAN. Of the other edifices mentioned by Ausoniutf, in his panegyric upon the ancient magnificence of Milan, the names alone remain, annexed to the churches built on their site or over their ruins,-— Sta. Maria del Circo, S. Giorgio al Palazzo, S. Vittore al Teatro. The last is described by Forsyth as 4 an old basilica magnificently rebuilt.' Mr. Simond, who visited only this church besides the cathedral, states, that it has been called * Little St. Peter's,' on account of its magnificence, being literally gilt all over. Pillars, altars, the very walls are gilt; and a profusion of light from numerous windows, brightens the whole. These gilt pillars resemble the legs of certain old-fashioned tables and chairs with worn-out gilding, shewing the white paint under it. The general effect is that of a gaudy plaything, rather than a place of worship' . . Most of the churches in Milan are full of good paintings, chiefly by Luini, Crespi, and Procca- cini. Lady Morgan mentions the church of San Pietro in Gessate as ' the most interesting, from its frescoes being painted by Bernardo Zenale, the friend of Leonardo da Vinci,'—who is said, more- over, to have 4 assisted Leonardo in the plan of the Cenacolo.' The 4 fine old Gothic cloisters' of the monastery adjoining the Madonna delle standing in 1 the ruins of the Temple of Hercules.' It is in honour of the Emperor Aurelius Verus. Mr. Woods says: ' The columns are very much mutilated, but enough remains to shew that they were of good style and well exe- cuted.' Forsyth, supposing them to be the remains of Maximian's Baths, speaks of them as the latest remains that he had seen of the ancient Corinthian,Milan; 38 F Graziey are also enriched with fine frescoes by Zenale. In the church Del Sepolcro, Mr. Pen- nington says, 4 the only remarkable things are the statues of Our Saviour and the twelve Apostles, as large as life,—subject, Washing the Feet of the Disciples ; and opposite, The Flagellation, statues equally large.' If these • things' were of a high order of merit, they would probably have attracted the notice of other travellers. Addison says; 4 At the convent of the Celestines, is a picture in fresco, of the Marriage in Cana, very muck esteemed ; but the painter, whether designedly or not, has put six fingers to the hand of one of his figures.' He was told, that there were at that time in Milan (1699), sixty convents of women, eighty of men, and 200 churches *. All the convents were 4 secularized' under the late Government. Some have been converted into inns, and others appropriated to various worldly purposes. The grandest collection of pictures is in the Brera, originally the principal establishment of the order of Umilianti; f afterwards a college of Jesuits; converted, on the suppression of that order, into a university, which changed its name under the French to Institut; and now styled, the Gymnasium or Palace of Arts and Sciences. Be- sides a picture gallery, and a collection of casts and * Addison's Remarks, p. 30. j- These Monks having1 widely departed from their pro- ssed character, St. Charles Borromeo attempted to intro- duce certain unpalatable reforms, on which account, the heads of the order are said to have conspired against his life. The order was suppressed in consequence of this charge in 1570»382 MILAN* engravings, this noble establishment comprises & well-furnished observatory, a good library, and a botanic garden. The great court is surrounded with an arcade of two stories ; the lower resting upon coupled Doric, the upper upon coupled Ionic columns. Mr. Woods attributes to this arrangement a delightful lightness and airiness of effect, although the judgement is not easily re- conciled to arches suspended upon stone posts. For some further account of this noble institution, we must have recourse to Lady Morgan. ' The upper portico of this fine building now contains the magnificent gallery, into which all that could be obtained or purchased of the ancient school of Lombardy, is elegantly arranged; and the public library, where, to the books left by the Jesuits, were added (by the late Government) the library of Pertusati, a part of that of Haller, and a small collection left by Cardinal Durini, to- gether with a portion of the books collected from the suppressed convents. A few medals, once preserved and neglected at the Mint, were given to this'Institution, and formed the basis of a col- lection which, under the direction of Signor Cataneo, one of the most learned numismatists in Europe, has grown to an extent almost unrivalled in Italy. In the portico, some ancient monu- ments have been collected. Others have been erected to the memory of natives illustrious for their talents. The Picture Gallery (or Pinacoteca) is the first on the frontiers of Italy that stays the keen appetite of the traveller. The corridors which lead to the first room, are covered with the works of the masters of the fifteenth and sixteenthMILAN. 383 centuries. They are frescoes most ingeniously cui from the walls and cells of convents, where they were perishing in damp and darkness.* The paintings of Luini, long known only by tradition, have thus been brought to light and restored to the Arts, in whose history they form an epoch.5 In this noble gallery, the two pictures which more particularly struck and fixed the Writer's at- tention, were, Le Nozze della Madonna,t4 an early work of Raphael, in his first manner, when Nature and Perugino still struggled for the mastery over his penciland, Abraham dismissing Hagar, by Guercino, which is reckoned a chef-d'ceuvre.i Besides these, the catalogue exhibits the perfor- mances of Albano, the Caracci, Caravaggio Correggio, Crespi, Guido, Giordano, Salvator Rosa, Giulio Romano, Tintoretto, Paul Veronese, Rubens, Vandyck, and other masters less known in this country. A dead Christ, by Benvenuto Garofolo, is much admired: the same subject is treated by two other artists, Salmeggia and Bellino. This gallery seems to present a sort of epitome of * '.The great virtuoso, Francis I. of France,' as Evelyn styles him, wished to remove the whole wall on which the Ccena Domini of Leonardo is painted, by binding it about with ribs of iron and timber, and so conveying it to France. The architects whom he consulted would not undertake it; and the possibility of cutting it from the walls was not then thought of. f This subject has been treated by many artists. The. legend is, that the Virgin, having many lovers, was directed by a divine inspiration to choose him whose wand should germinate; and a full-blown lily, springing from the wand in Joseph's hand, reveals him to be the elected bridegroom. J Morgan's Italy, vol. i. pp. 140—146.384 MILAN. the art, as almost every stage of its progress may be traced, from the stiff attitudes and hard finish of early times, to 4 the grace of Correggio and the glow of Titian.' Milan is indebted to the munificence of Cardinal Frederic Borromeo, the nephew and successor of St. Charles, for the celebrated 1 Ambrosian Library/ which is said to contain upwards of 35,000 volumes md between 14,000 and 15,000 manuscripts. The iTionastic libraries of the Benedictines formed the nucleus of this collection, which has gradually attained its present importance. The learned Muratori was for some time librarian here, before he became superintendent of the Este library at Modena. The chief treasure of the Ambrosian Library is the Codice Atlantico,—the MSS. of Leonardo da Vinci, consisting of his notes on various subjects, with mathematical diagrams, some of them intended to illustrate the theory of eclipses. The writing is in general close and formal; and some of it, running from right to left, requires to be read by a mirror. He is said to have adopted this childish expedient with a view to conceal what he wrote from his scholars; a purpose, Mr. Simond remarks, unworthy of the man though not of the times.* Another less * Simond, p. 14, It has been asserted, that there were originally twelve of these MS. volumes, which were carried off' by the French; and that only this one has been returned. (See Sketches, &c. vol. iv. p. 243. Sheppard's Letters, p. 90.) The truth is sometimes hard to get at. Several romantic stories have been connected with this volume, but Evelyn's account will probably be esteemed the most likely to "be authentic. 4 In this room,' he says, 1 stands the glorious (boasting) inscription of Cavaliero G-aleazzo Arco»MILAN. 385 valuable, but highly interesting MS., is "a Virgil, on vellum, with marginal annotations, in Petrarch's hand-writing; and on the first leaf is a note (in Latin), written by Petrarch as a memorial of the death of Laura.* Bishop Burnet mentions as a manuscript of great antiquity, (it is on papyrus,) 4 Ruffinus's translation of Josephus, written in the old Roman hand, which is very hard to be read. But there is a deed in the curious collection that Count Mascardo had made at Verona, which, by the date, appears to have been written in Theo- dosius's time, which is the same sort of writing with the manuscript of Ruffinus, so that it may be reckoned to have been written in Ruffinus's own fcati, valuing his gift to the Library, of several drawings by Da Vindi; but these we could not see, the keeper of them being out of town, and he always carrying the keys with him. But my Lord Martial, who had seen them, told me, all but one book are small; that a huge folio contained 400 leaves full of scratches of Indians, &c. (in India ink ?) ; but, whereas the inscription pretends that our JCing Charles had offered 1000/. for them, the truth is, and my Lord himself told me, that it was he who treated with Galeazzo for him- self, in the name and by permission of the King, and that the Duke of Feria, who was then governor, should make the bargain; but my Lord, having seen them since, did not think them of so much worth?—Evelyn's Mem. vol. i. p. 213, Addison's version of the same story is, that 'King James I. could not procure' this MS. of Leonardus Vincius, ' though he proffered for it 3000 Spanish pistoles. It con- sists of designs in mechanism and engineering. I was shewn in it a sketch of bombs and mortars, as they are now used.'—Addison's Remarks, p 32. Mr. Pennington repeats this statement, and says, that James I. offered nearly 11,000/. for the (celebrated book of mechanics by Leonardo da Vinci, which was refused !' vol. ii. p. 281. * Cadell's Journey, vol. ii. p. 91. The note is published by Tiraboschi. VOL. I. Z386 MILAN* time. And this is the most valuable, though the least known curiosity in the whole library.' So it might be deemed at that time ; but trea- sures of far greater value, the existence of which was not even suspected, have since been brought to light; and the discovery is one of the most in- teresting circumstances in the annals of modern literature. Among the documents which had been lurking here for ages in dust and darkness, were the manuscripts which had belonged to a monas- tery at Bo bbio, founded in 612, and which had been collected in part by its superior, Gerbert Gallus, afterwards Pope Silvester II. On exa- mining one of these manuscripts, containing the works of Sedulius, a Christian poet of the fifth century, Signor Maio, then curator of the Ambro- sian Library, was delighted to find that it had been written over another text imperfectly erased; and, after a little examination, he discerned plainly the phrases and proper names of Cicero peeping out from beneath the barbarous verses of Sedulius.* The raptures of the worthy Curator were now at their height. His first discovery, indeed, amounted to little more than a few disconnected fragments of three Orations ; but, stimulated to prosecute his * The fact, that the practice of erasing an ancient manu- script, to make room for another 011 the same parchment, was common to the Greek and Latin copyists of the middle ages, (though first adopted by the Latin' scribes.) had been noticed by Montfaucon; who had also remarked, that, whether from the imperfection of the instrument or the inexpertness of those who used it, the erasing was seldom complete. The Codex Ephrem, one of the oldest and most valuable of the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, is a palimpsest or codex rescript us.MILAN. 387 researches, he was soon rewarded with further dis- coveries. A manuscript Latin version of the Acts of the Council of Chaicedon, was found to have been written over fragments of three other Orations of Cicero, with a commentary. The sheets com- posing the volumes, were remains of a great number of ancient manuscripts cemented together; and, in addition to the Ciceronian fragments, were found other remains of less value. These, Signor Maio published in the order of their discovery ;* following them up, in 1817, with fragments of an old commentary on Virgil, which he had traced beneath the Homilies of St. Gregory. The success of his first researches having attracted towards the Curator of the Ambrosian Library the attention of the learned world, he was promoted to the honour- able office of Librarian to the Vatican ; and on re- commencing his labours amid that copious and opulent collection, he was soon fortunate enough to recover two hundred pages more of Cicero, (his celebrated treatise De Republican of which merely a few fragments had come down to us,) concealed * The learned Curator's first publication,1M. Tullii Cice- ronis Sex Orationum Fragmenta inedita. Impressum Me- dio/ani, 1814'—was reprinted in London, in 1816. See an account of this volume in Eclectic Review (2d series), vol. xiii. p. 24. This was followed by the Orations of Symma- chus (Milan 1815) ; Fragments of Plautus and Terence (Milan 1815) ; a part of Dionysius Halicarnassus, wanting in the printed editions (Milan 1816), and some others. t t Cicero de Republica, e Codice Vaticano : descripsit Angelas Maius, Bibliothecce Vaticance Custos, 1823.' Of this, a French translation appeared, shortly after, by M. Ville- main of the French Academy, in 2 vols* A full account of this work will be found in the Eclectic Rev. (2d series), vol. xx. p. 413,388 MILAN, Haider St. Augustine's Commentary upon the Psalms. This valuable result of his indefatigable labours, was given to the world in the year 1823. A notice of his subsequent discoveries scarcely belongs to this place. Lady Morgan had the good fortune to 'be presented to* the learned Abate, while still Curator of the Library at Milan, and in the first triumph of his new discoveries. His fine head, face of transparent paleness, strongly marked features, and large, dark eye bent on his beloved manuscripts, are described as forming 4 one of those splendid originals which Italy alone supplies to the genius of painting.' 4 The life of this learned man has been little more than a passive transpor- tation from one ancient library to another. He lives with the ages that are gone, and is illumined by lights that gleam only for those who resemble him.' Among the early printed books in the Ambrosian Library, is a Boccaccio printed at Milan in 1471 ;* the Ambrosian Missal, Milan, 1475; and the first book printed at Milan, the 1 Miracoli della Gloriosa Vergine Maria,' 1469. There is a manuscript Pliny of the thirteenth century, in black letter. Forty Greek Orations of Gregory Nazianzen, on vellum, partly in gold letters, obtained from the island of Chios in 1606, is ascribed to the seventh or eighth century. There is also a fragment of the Septuagint on vellum, brought from Macedonia, and supposed to be as old as the sixth or seventh century. * The only other known copies are in the King's library at Paris, and in Lord Spencer's collection.MILAN. 389 In the hall of paintings annexed to this Library, there is the original sketch of Raffael's School of Athens, in black chalk. Evelyn mentions i many rare things of Hans Breugill (Brueghel) ; and among them, the Four Elements/ Addison men* tions a portrait of Titian, by himself.* There is also a fine head of Louis the Moor, by Leonardo da Vinci; a fine copy of the Cenacolo; a Holy Family by Bernardino Luini, the contemporary of Da Vinci, and, in this painting, the rival of his master ; Christ crowned with thorns, by the same great artist; a dead Christ, and a Holy Family by Titian ; a sketch, by Raffael—part of the Battle of Constantine ; sketches of the Last Judgement, by Michael Angelo ; sketches by Pietro da Cortona, by Caravaggio, and other great masters; and ' a Miniature of the Celestial Regions,' by Albano. If these sketches are undoubted originals, they must be invaluable. Among the few private libraries that will repay the visiter, is that of the Casa Trivulzio. The pictures in this mansion, * are few, but good and curious; and the library/ Lady Morgan says, * is singularly rich in MSS. and in rare and precious editions of the fifteenth century.' Among the latter is a Petrarch, printed fifteen years after the death of the Poet. Among the former is the oldest MS. Dante that is known to exist, with a date affixed. A still greater treasure is, ' a sort of Album of Leonardo da Vinci, where a page of geometry is followed by a page of caricatures, (taken, perhaps, * ' Among the heads of learned men,' says Addison, 11 met with no Englishman, except Bishop Fisher, whom Henry VIII. put to death for not owning his supremacy.' z 3390 MILAN. from originals in the Borghetto,) and a vocabulary is succeeded by a sketch marked by all his genius.' Another still more curious MS. is 4 a Primer writ- ten and beautifully illuminated by Leonardo for the use of the young Maximilian, son of Louis the Moor. The vellum pages of this compendium con- tain, after a few trite maxims of conduct, a little series of vignettes, admirably preserved in all their original freshness of colouring, their gold, silver, and ultramarine tints perfectly fresh/* 4 A Lucan, done in France in 1363, in which Caesar is always painted decked with fleurs de lis, to shew that he was of the reigning house of France; and a little book presented by Henry IV. to his beautiful mis- tress, Gabrielle d'Estr^es, containing a sonnet of his composition and in his own hand-writingare also among the curiosities of this library. In the collection of antiquities are some consular dyptics, (one of the time of Justinian,) a part of the chair of the Exarchs at Ravenna, a beautiful fawn in rosso-antico, and Etruscan vases, medals, cameos, coins, &c. without number, f The palaces of Milan will not long detain us. On the site of the old Sforza palace, a new go- vernment-house was erected for the French vice- roy, which is now inhabited by the Imperial vice- roy, the Archduke Regnier. The fa£ade, which looks on the Piazza del Ducmo, and adds to its beauty, is elegant; but the edifice is less remark- able for its external appearance, than for its mag- * Are not these part of the twelve volumes which the French arfe charged with having purloined from the Bibliotheca Am- brosiana? f Morgan's Italy, vol. i. pp. 205-209. .....MILAN. nificent staircase and spacious suite of state apart- ments. Of nothing in this palace, however, are the Milanese so proud, as the frescoes with which the coved ceilings and walls are embellished by a native artist, Andrea Appiani. 4 Many of the sub- jects are taken from the fasti of the late revoke tionary government; and for the magnificent head of Jupiter Tonans, in some of the allegorical de- vices, that of Bonaparte has been copied ; exactly as Louis XIV. was the never failing Apollo of the paintings at Versailles/ * Of the floors, some are very beautifully inlaid with different sorts of wood; others are of the Venetian stucco, into which, while yet soft, different kinds of marble are worked, and the whole is afterwards polished. Some of the rooms are hung with Gobelin tapestry. There are two large and lofty saloons, the largest of which has a gallery supported by caryatides: one or two of these are justly admired for their execution, particularly a veiled figure. The other is a music- room, the ceiling of which is supported by columns. Both these rooms have been ornamented with paintings, representing the exploits of Napoleon, which are now removed, f The vice-regal court of Eugene was splendid in the extreme. In this, he consulted the character * Morgan's Italy, vol. i. p. 156.-—Mr. Woods was in- formed, that the frescoes are partly the production of a Ro- man artist named Traballesi, and partly of his pupil, Appiani. "f A' female traveller (not Lady Morgan) remarks, that 4 the apotheosis of Bonaparte, a painting too good' for its subject, on one of the ceilings, can scarcely appear more profane and Contemptible now, than it must always have done in the. eye of decency and good sense.'—Sketches, &c, vol. iv. p. 253. • • <MILAN. of the Milanese, who are said to be almost as pas- sionately fond of gayety and amusement as the Pa- risians ; their character, like their geographical po- sition, being something between the Italian and the French. The evening promenade of Milan is still, as to equipages, horses, and liveries, the most splendid in Italy. After the Duomo, Lady Morgan says, there is no edifice in Milan so highly prized as the theatre of La Scala, built in 1778, from the de- signs of Piermarini, 4 on the ruins of the ancient church of Santa Maria delta Scala * In point of architecture, this theatre is pronounced to be the most beautiful opera-house in Europe ; and except the great theatre at Parma, and that of S. Carlo at Naples, it is the most spacious. The orchestra also is of high excellence; but, for music, the fashionables of Milan, it seems, have no ears :*—on n9 kcoutequele ballet. Mr. Simond thus'describes the disappointment which awaits the inexperienced traveller, who should go to this theatre in antici- pation of hearing an opera performed. 4 The house, which is certainly very fine, ex- ceeds perhaps any in Paris or London; and the full band in the orchestra, when it struck up, filled it well. Soon, however, the flapping of doors, incessantly opening and shutting, the walking to and fro over that part of the pit which is without * Yet, the common people delight in music. (There is hardly a street in Milan,' Mr. Galiffe says, ( where the sound of the guitar may not be heard at any hour of the night/ Genoa is thp very opposite in this respect. The feelings of the people are, perhaps, more alive to music, but it is rarely heard in the streets; and seldom does the tinkling guitar meet the ear.—Spinster's Tour, p. 342.MILAN *393 seats, and, above all, the universal chattering, overpowered the music. It was quite ludicrous to see singers with open mouths uttering eilent screams, and the furious scraping of 100 fiddle- sticks over sonorous chords producing no audible sounds. Disappointed in our expectations of hearing Italian music, and finding our attention to what was passing on the stage altogether fruitless, we turned to the spectators, and observed that the boxes, which are little rooms very neatly fitted up, had by degrees filled with company ; and tho lights in some of them (for there were none in the house, except the row of lamps on the stage) enabled us to see the people receiving company, taking refreshments, gesticulating in earnest con versation, and laughing. In those boxes where there were no lights, the company remained in visible, and a so# of chiaroscuro pervaded the fore part of the house, which we found best adapted for seeing what was passing on the stage without being seen. But when the ballet began, the general hubbub at once ceased, and heads sud- denly popped out, cards and conversation being suspended to look at the dancing. Although much inferior to that of Paris or London, it evidently possessed attractions superior to those of music, which was no sooner resumed after the ballet, than the noise began again as before. At half after eleven, having sat tliere several hours, we went away heartily tired of this dumb show of an opera, which was to last till one or two o'clock in the morning.'* * Siraond, pp. 17, 18. ' The tiresome custom in tho Italian theatres, of playing the same opera for six weeks or394 MILAN. The Scala, Lady Morgan tells us, in language not apparently intended for satire, 4 is the evening home of almost all ranks; the recreation of the tradesman, the exchange of the merchant, the closet of the critic, and the rendezvous of the politician ; for there alone, amid the openest pub- licity, can privacy find an asylum against the intrusions of espionage. The box is sacred; none can intrude there but the intimate friends of the lady, or her husband ; and the numerous arie de sorbetta call for no attention even from musical enthusiasm, while, with their accompaniments, they drown the whispered conversation, whatever may be its tendency.' This representation suffi- ciently indicates the state of society in this Cisal- pine Paris. There is, however, another theatre which nearly disputes popularity with the Scala. This is the Giralomo del la Crena, 4 so called from the name of the principal puppet, who is a very powerful rival of the veteran Policinello. Whatever piece is represented on this stage, Giralomo is always the principal actor. His distinctive character is, that he speaks Piedinontese, and makes stupid mistakes to please the inhabitants of Milan, and to fefed their municipal prejudices against their neigh- bours ; exactly as the Milanese Menichino performs two months, prevails at "Milan, and is endured, Lady Morgan says, chiefly on account of the splendour and in- terest of the ballet.' These are { superior to every thing of the same kind in Europe.' The old nobility 1 consider this increasing passion for the ballet as a heresy of the revolution.* It might almost warrant Mr. Rose's sarcasm on the Boeo- tians of Italy.MIEAJf. 395 for the amusement of the rest of the North of Italy, and as honest Pat is travestied on the London stage, to flatter the cockney prejudices of .John Bull. The people of fashion in Milan go once in the season to Giralomo, as, at Paris, the same class go to the Ambigu and the Gaiete \ but the people find Giralomo good fun every night in the year, and rarely desert him ; though the Piazza del Duomo nightly exhibits puppet-shows, and the steps of the cathedral are crowded with an au- dience who have not the means of paying for a box at Giralomo's little theatre.'* There are two or three smaller theatres, at some of which itinerant companies perform morning and evening ; the Canobiana> in shape resembling La Scala, but less spacious ; the Teatro Re; and the Carcano. On one side of the Foro-Bonaparte, or, as it is now called, Place du Chateau, is the modern antique amphitheatre, erected by order of the French Emperor, but never finished, although naumachia were represented there on 4 an ocean four feet deep.' 4 The walls of this counterfeit of a Roman work,' Mr. Simond says, « are scarcely 25 feet high, and their thin facing of stone, al- ready giving way, shews the rubbish underneath. The apparently huge blocks of granite tottering under your feet, are only thin slabs. But the palace annexed to this circus is adorned with real columns of red granite of great size, and each * Morgan's Italy, vol. i. pp. 173—5. t The Giralomo is considered as the best theatre of puppets or marionets in Italy. The precision and vivacity in the motions of the actors, produce a complete illusion.'—Malte Brun, vol. vii. p. 621.396 MILAN. made of a single block. It is in every respect als beautiful as the rest is paltry and contemptible. The Villa Bonaparte is also a beautiful palace, built 30 years ago by Marshal Count Belgioioso, given by the municipality of Milan to General Bonaparte, and afterwards assigned as the resi- dence of Prince Eugene.'* The Foro-Bonaparte, above-mentioned, is an immense esplanade planted with trees, terminated by the superb triumphal arch leading to the Simplon road, which this Tra- veller characterises as one of the finest specimens of modern architecture : 4 several of the eight bas- reliefs on the basement are extremely beautiful.' The Corso delta Porta Orientate is rendered 4 par- ticularly striking' by several new palaces raised upon the site of demolished convents and churches; and on the left of this corso is the public garden, which was but just finished at the Restoration, from which a flight of steps leads to a public walk of considerable extent upon the ramparts. Just be- yond the eastern gate is the Lazaretto. Towards th£* end of the fifteenth century, Duke Ludovico Sforza, surnamed II Moro> a prince not renowned for his humanity, founded an asylum for those infected with the plague. The patients were accommodated apart from each other, in a low but very extensive range of buildings surrounding a square court, 1200 feet each way, and inclosed within high walls.f The Spedale Grande, though almost twice as large as the new Bedlam in St. George's Fields, has nothing in its architecture to recommend it, but appears to be under excellent * Simond, p. 19. f Ibid. p. 20.MILAN. 397 regulations. Every applicant is received, what- ever be his country, his religion, or his disorder; and there is a magnificent dispensary, where me- dicines are delivered to the poor gratis, on the specification of any physician, or are sold to those who can pay for them.* We have now enumerated, we believe, nearly all the * sights' of Milan; of which city, hither- to, no English traveller has taken the trouble to give anything approaching to a fair or complete description, In 1820, the workshop of Signor Raffaelli; the mineralogical collection of Mon- sieur Breislac; the apartments of S. Morosi, the royal mechanician, at the Hotel de Monnaie ; the Egyptian school established for the subjects of the Pasha; the Lancastrian school established by Count Confalonieri; were also among the objects that claimed the traveller's attention, t It would be unpardonable, moreover, Lady Morgan says, * Woods, vol. i. p. 220. This hospital, founded by Duke Francis in the middle of the fifteenth century, has been enlarged in consequence of the bequest of a Dr. Macchi, who is said to have lived in penury, in order to be able to leave 3,000,000 of livres to this institution. An inhabitant of the name ofSannazari, who died in 1804, bequeathed 4,000,000 of livres (about 120,000/.) to this same hospital. f Among the curiosities ought perhaps to have been enu- ineiated, a pillar near the church of St. Ambrose, called the Pillar of Infamy, to which, a recent traveller tells us, ' martyrs were chained and stoned to death.' Its real story is told in a Latin inscription copied and translated by Addison. It occupies the site of a barber's shop,—one John James Mora, who, during a raging plague, conspired with the commissary of health to poison his fellow citizens, and was, with his accomplice, broken on the wheel, and other- wise tortured to death, in 1630. vol. i. 2 a398 MILAN. to pass over in silence the collection of Etruscan vases in the Casa Porro, which all strangers visit, and which contains some of the most beautiful specimens of those beautiful antiquities. To the Milanese, an object of far greater curiosity and admiration, is the gas apparatus which Count Porro, in conjunction with Count Confalonieri, has introduced into Italy, and with which his whole house is splendidly illnminated. A Cor- reggio and some other specimens of the fine arts, still render the Casa Litta an object of attention ; and a very curious collection of gems adorns the mansion of the Marche&e Malaspina. Every where in Milan, says this Traveller, ' we found traces of the ardent but rational patriotism with which a little band of nobles are unceasingly occupied in bettering at once the moral and the physical aspect of their country.'* The neighbourhood of Milan abounds with villas; but few of these bear any resemblance to the seats of the English nobility, being mere places of tem- porary retreat or casual recreation. ' The nobility go regularly, at St. Martin's Eve in November, to settle with their tenants, and frequently stay till Christmas. Their other visits to the country are few and distant; and their villeggzaturas last but for a few days.' When the proprietors of these villas give a fdte champetre, they generally return to town with their guests, to finish the evening, as usual, at the Opera. Whoever wishes to contrast the ancient with the modern style of villa, Lady Morgan says, should visit the Simmonetta, men- * Morgan's Italy, vol. i. pp. 210—214.MILAN. 399 tioned by Addison,* and described in all guide- books for its echo, but which is much more interesting as a specimen of the taste of former generations. Altogether, Milan, though much less striking in its appearance than the showy little capital of Piedmont, or the picturesque city of Genoa, is not only much larger and more considerable, but richer in objects of varied interest, claiming the notice of the antiquary, the architect, the artist, or the general observer. Of the six or seven score thou- sand t which compose its teeming population, we have a very imperfect and inadequate account. Their physical appearance, to whatever cause attri- butable, is said to be very inferior to that of the in- habitants of Southern Italy. Not only is the stature of th*e inhabitants diminutive; but the number of * ' At two miles distance from Milan, there stands a building that would have been a master-piece in its kind, had the architect designed it for an artificial echo. We discharged a pistol, and had the sound returned upon us above fifty-six times, though the air was foggy. The first repetitions follow one another very thick, but are heard more distinctly in proportion as they decay. There are two parallel walls, which beat the sound back on each other, till the un- dulation is quite worn out, like the several reverbera- tions of the same image from two opposite looking-glasses. Father Kircher has taken notice of this particular echo, as Father Bartolin has since done in his ingenious discourse on sounds.'—Addison's Remarks, p. 36. f c Eleven gates lead to different parts of the country j and the length of Milan, between the western and the Ticino gates, may be about 3000 yards. The number of houses is not less than 4800; and the population amounts to 140,000 inhabitants.'—-Malte Brun, vol. vii. p. 618. According to the table given at p. 755 of the same volume, however, the census of 1825 stated the inhabitants at only 124,647. 2 A 2400 MILAN. deformed persons of both sexes, Mr. Pennington remarks, which one meets in the streets, is particu- larly painful to the feelings. Bad nursing, and the practice of swathing the infants, as well as the want of due nourishment in the case of children put out to nurse in the country, are assigned as the probable causes of this imperfect or distorted development of the human frame.'* Mr. Galiffe, on the other hand, speaking of these same Milanese, tells us, that' there is no nation so like the English as the Lombards. Their fea- tures have that general uniformity of style which characterizes a peculiar race of men. The nose is straight; the under-lip retired, or smaller than the upper one; the complexion, fair; the eyes and eyebrows, strongly marked and expressive; the forehead, high and noble, and divided exactly in the middle, by a vein which becomes distended and visible on every strong emotion; the hair, of a light brown: the general expression of the countenance, gentle, mild, and open. There are, however, few very handsome women.' In this last respect, the inhabitants of Milan are repre- sented as being strikingly distinguished from those of Brescia. 4 It is impossible/ we are told, 4 to imagine a more beautiful race than the population of that city and its neighbourhood. Raffael's most sublime conceptions of ideal beauty fall short of the living specimens which engaged our admi- ration in Brescia, and on the road to Verona. I am persuaded, that I saw a greater number of handsome women in that space, than I had seen * Pennington, vol. ii. p. 283.MILAN. 401 in all Europe besides; and many of *them were more exquisitely beautiful than any individuals I had ever met with. What peculiarly characterizes their style of beauty, is, the commanding noble- ness of their countenances, mingled with a de- gree of mildness and candour.'* ' I have travelled a great deal,' says the same Traveller, ' and have not merely visited, but have resided in many countries, but nowhere have I met with a more amiable people than the Milanese. They have all that vivacity of imagi- nation, all that liveliness in their exterior appear- ance, which one expects to find in Italians, with- out the least mixture of that low cunning with which the Italian nation is so universally re- proached. The character of the Milanese is frank and open ; they are more cordial than complaisant; and their civility is blunt and hearty, yet graceful.'f Very opposite is the representation given by Mr. Rose, of their physical and intellectual cha- racteristics. 4 As, in the Milanese, man is often cut short of his fair proportions, so, I should say, he is behind all the other. Italians in mental qualifications, being ordinarily heavy and slow of understanding.' Yet it is admitted, that there have been at least some brilliant exceptions. One is instanced by this Writer, in Parini, a lyric and satirical poet of deserved popularity, born in the neighbourhood of this city, which was long his residence, and now contains his ashes.J Cardan, * GalifFe, vol. i. pp. 72, 82. f lb. vol. i. p. 47. J Letters from the North of Italy, vol. ii. p. 202. An in- teresting critique on the poetry of Parini occupies the fifty- fourth Letter.402 MILAN. the famous mathematician, born at Pavia, was of a Milanese family, and was professor of medicine at Milan. The Marquis Beccaria, celebrated for his work on crimes and punishments, which contributed to the abolition of the torture in France and Swe- den, was a native of this city, where he held the professorship of political economy in the Uni- versity, instituted by the Empress Maria Theresa. The learned Tiraboschi, who has published a dis- course on the literary history of Milan, was him- self a native of the State, if not of the capital. Milan was better known, however, in the olden time, for its manufactures and the industry of its inhabitants, than for its learned men. Our' ori- ginal milliners were the tradesmen who sold the gay daggers, ouches, girdles, and other wares of Milan. The city owes as much to the munificence of its obscure but public-spirited citizens, as to its domestic tyrants, the Yisconti and the Sforzas, and far more than to its Spanish or Austrian masters. The family of Borromeo, who did so much for the capital of Lombardy, were of Tuscan origin, and, like all the principal families in that State, are said to have been manufacturers. The silk- worm, which is extensively cultivated throughout Lombardy, supplies one branch of manufacturing industry in Milan. The trade and the wealth of the city, have shared in the political vicissitudes of the country; and of the present state of things in these respects, no accounts that can be depended upon can be obtained from the vague and hasty reports of travellers. As a residence, Milan unites the recommenda- tions of cheap and plentiful provisions, regularMILAN. 403 public amusements, moderate carriage-hire, a well-regulated police, and polite society. The drawbacks are, the heats of summer, the fogs of the fall, and the trouble to which visiters are ex- posed, in being obliged perpetually to renew the permission of the police to remain in this part of his Austrian Majesty's dominions. Into the grievances of the Milanese, it is not within our province to enter. They were not con- tented under their French masters: they are still less satisfied with their German ones. Yet, they are not quite Italians, either in language or in charac- ter. The Milanese idiom and pronunciation * are very different from the dialects of Southern Italy, and the higher classes speak better French. In short, the Milanese are Lombards. When another Roman sovereign shall fix his capital at Milan, then Lombardy may be called Italy: at present, it is but a Cisalpine Gaul,—a province of the Austrian empire. * ' The Milanese dialect is not much more like what we call Italian, than any other European language. It contains a strange mixture of several languages, in which Italian of course predominates; but the pronunciation is so peculiar as to make it quite another language. The u is pronounced as it is in French; and there are some words (such as coeur, heart) which ar# both written and pronounced exactly the same in both languages. The Milanese have likewise the same nasal sounds as the French. Several of the termi- nations are Spanish. The whole compound forms a harsher language than any I know, except the German.'—Galiffe's Italy, vol. i. p. 77. END OF VOL. I.LONDON: Printed by William Clowes, Duke-street, Lambeth.This book is a preservation facsimile produced for the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. It is made in compliance with copyright law and produced on acid-free archival 60# book weight paper which meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (permanence of paper). 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