Ex Libris 
 C. K. OGDEN
 
 L &
 
 \ 
 
 \
 
 LETTERS 
 
 FROM 
 
 FRANCE AND ITALY. 
 
 BY 
 
 THE REV. P. POUNDEN. 
 
 To regions where, in spite of sin and woe, 
 Traces of Eden are still found below, 
 Where mountain, river, forest, field, and grove, 
 Remind him of his Maker's power and love. 
 
 COWPER. 
 
 DUBLIN j 
 RICHARD MOORE TIMS, 85, GRAFTON-ST, 
 
 HATCHARD AND SON, PICCADILLY, AND J. NISBET, 
 
 BERNERS-STIIEET, LONDON; WAUGH 
 
 AND INNES, EDINBURGH. 
 
 M.DCCC.XXX.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The establishment and continuance of 
 peace between Great Britain and the Con- 
 tinental nations, has opened an intercourse 
 so free between their respective people, 
 that the customs and curiosities of France 
 and Italy are almost as familiar to our 
 minds, as the customs and curiosities of our 
 native land. 
 
 Thither the Artist hastens for the culti- 
 vation of his taste, or the examination of 
 those models, which the superior skill of 
 by-gone ages has bequeathed to their pos- 
 terity. Thither the Antiquarian bends his 
 steps, that he may sit with admiring con- 
 templation, beside the vestiges of antiquity. 
 Thither the Naturalist wanders to explore 
 that loveliness which Nature unfolds be- 
 neath a softer sky, and more genial climate, 
 
 -A. V> +Jl <.; O'O
 
 IV. 
 
 Had the design of the following pages been 
 merely to narrate the ordinary incidents of 
 a journey, or to describe the objects which 
 usually present themselves to the traveller's 
 view, such an undertaking had been quite 
 superfluous; by reason of the general infor- 
 mation which prevails upon the subject, 
 as well from personal narrative, as from the 
 elaborate and superior publications which 
 abound. 
 
 The reader will however perceive that 
 mere narrative is not the primary object 
 which the writer has in view ; although for 
 the fidelity of the narrative, he can appeal 
 to the testimony of those who, at the ter- 
 mination of the late war, trod along the 
 same track, But in a day like this, in which 
 fiction has been so often resorted to, as the 
 medium for conveying religious and moral 
 truth to the rising generation, the author 
 has deemed it preferable to adopt as his 
 ground-work, a real narrative, conceiving 
 it to be the safer vehicle for combining the 
 
 D 
 
 two-fold end of at once amusing the mind, 
 and infusing a love of sacred truth into the 
 youthful breast.
 
 PRIVATE REMARKS, 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Dieppe. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 YOUR parting request was so urgent, that 
 it has imposed on me a weighty obligation, which 
 I feel conscientiously bound to discharge. The 
 mutual friendship that has so long subsisted 
 between us, founded on a similarity of opinions 
 and pursuits, removes any diffidence I might feel 
 in giving the desired account of whatever I might 
 find interesting in my present excursion to the 
 Continent. And the same friendship which 
 prompts me to comply with your wishes, shall 
 induce you to pardon every deficiency in the 
 attempt. But I know you prefer that these 
 common-place introductions should be dispensed 
 with ; and although I feel that some excuses in 
 my case, are not the offspring of affectation, yet 
 I yield to what I know to be your own senti- 
 ments on the occasion ; and shall now engage
 
 TRAVELS THROUGH FRANCE. 
 
 you as a fellow-traveller if not in person, at 
 least in your favourite vehicle of fancy. 
 
 As I shall communicate my more minute and 
 domestic arrangements to the other dear relatives 
 to whom I write, you may expect, for your own 
 share, little else than what may coincide with 
 your peculiar taste ; or, at least, afford you that 
 satisfaction which springs from a sympathy in 
 the personal feelings of your friend. 
 
 In the beginning of March I sailed from Brigh- 
 ton to Dieppe, and never before suffered so much 
 from illness and apprehension. Having, in an 
 open boat, gained the packet, which lay at a 
 considerable distance from the shore, we seated 
 ourselves around the cabin fire. Madame, one 
 of the passengers returning to her native land, 
 amused us not a little, by the favourable opinion 
 she was bringing to her friends of our English 
 customs and climate. A puff of wind enveloped 
 us in smoke. r" Helas .'" she cried, " your 
 English fires choke one ; I have experienced 
 nothing but head-ache from your English fogs 
 and vapours." She had better reason to find 
 fault with our English winds and waves. The 
 packet heaved from side to side ; by another roll 
 it leaned down so much on one side, that stools, 
 passengers, Madame and all, were huddled toge- 
 ther in a corner.
 
 DIEPPE. 3 
 
 At length we retired to our births and my 
 illness was seconded by my apprehension ; all 
 seemed to be in commotion, and I resigned my- 
 self to the care of a protecting Providence ; this 
 allayed my fears ; yet, again, when I thought on 
 my friends at home, I shuddered at the idea of 
 overwhelming waves. Dawn, however, bright- 
 ens the prospect clouds and fears are dispelled, 
 and the wind shifts in our favour. 
 
 On rising I discovered that my alarm was 
 heightened by my inexperience in nautical mat- 
 ters ; for although, as usual, the weather was 
 the prevailing topic among strangers, yet there 
 was no intimation that any real danger had 
 existed. Yet, as my gratitude should be no less 
 sensible towards our supreme and merciful Pro- 
 tector, for preventing the approaching clanger, 
 than for averting it when it came, I failed not, 
 on my arrival at Dieppe, to pour out my heart 
 to him " who layeth his beam on the great deep, 
 and rideth upon the wings of the wind." As my 
 expectations were, in no small degree, excited to 
 the hope of finding, at once, that superiority in 
 France, by which Madame so proudly triumphed 
 over poor England, I confess that the first view 
 of Dieppe did not serve to gratify them. On 
 approaching the harbour, we were assailed by a 
 squalid, night-capped set of gentlemen, who
 
 * TRAVELS THROUGH FRANCE. 
 
 overwhelmed us at once with their tickets and 
 their noise. We escaped the dangers of the sea, 
 but had to encounter other storms ; 1 followed, 
 however, the least vociferous, who conducted me 
 to the hotel de Rouen. 
 
 All now appeared new to me as do the most 
 familiar objects to the inquisitive child just be- 
 ginning to exercise his senses ; and, after London 
 and Brighton, where the attention of the travel- 
 ler is caught by so many brilliant objects, Dieppe 
 could only offer the novelty of French habits, 
 and a foreign tongue ; these, however, were suf- 
 ficient to employ the mind and senses. The 
 antique chapeau the rusty sword the long 
 queue these distinguishing badges of the police 
 officers, were quite agreeable to my expectations; 
 and having carefully revised our passports, we 
 were, by them, politely ushered into the land 
 which has been styled, " the gay smiling world. 1 " 1 
 The first object which arrested my notice, was, 
 the large wooden crucifix on which the image 
 I presume, of Christ, is saluted by the mechani- 
 cal devotion of the natives, as they pass. To 
 the stranger, who, from the book of God, derives 
 an unmutilated decalogue not smothering (as 
 the unnatural mother did her child) one of its 
 commandments nor like her at the judgment- 
 seat of Solomon, proposing to divide the other ;
 
 DIEPPE. 5 
 
 to such an one, the idolatrous exhibition is re- 
 volting to his very soul. True, the great event 
 it represents, should never be effaced from the 
 heart. The Saviour's cross is the sinner's hope ; 
 but its legitimate memorial is his own sacrament, 
 and its proper image must alone be there, where 
 the true Christian can present to its author, the 
 spiritual worship he exclusively demands. 
 
 Leaving the bustle of the market-place, we 
 enter some of the principal streets ; the houses 
 of which have a prison-like appearance, from the 
 iron balconies which are affixed to the windows. 
 There is, throughout, an air of decayed gran- 
 deur ; it wears the aspect, not of a place in that 
 stage of imperfection which is to be found as it 
 advances from the rudiments of civilization, but 
 as of a town verging into actual caducity it only 
 deserres a passing regard. But I cannot forbear 
 mentioning to you, the costume of the French 
 grisettZf one of the most striking curiosities of 
 the place : The hair is tightened back, under a 
 close-bound cap, which dwindles nearly to a 
 pique, about a foot above the crown of the head ; 
 the two lappets, which hang fluttering in every 
 breeze, are just appendages of an airy people. 
 Every colour may be seen in their garments ; 
 red skirts and white aprons green bodies and 
 blue sleeves, with gilded crosses hung around the 
 B 3
 
 6 TRAVELS THROUGH FRANCE. 
 
 neck. Many of the men wear ear-rings, and 
 tramp along in the wooden shoes from which our 
 William delivered the free-born sons of .Britain. 
 
 But you will say, I carry the child's curiosity 
 too far, when I take notice of the table d'Hote. 
 I must only hope gradually to grow out of it. 
 A multitude of small dishes furnish the table; 
 soups and desert are indispensable as also nap- 
 kins and silver ; wine instead of our malt beve- 
 rage, and coffee on the removal of the cloth. 
 
 As the weather was very cold, I endeavoured 
 to warm myself by the unseen heat of a cheer- 
 less stove. The members of the family were 
 engaged at cards. Nor can I omit their parting 
 salutation, when, with an affectionate bon soir, 
 
 they all mutually kissed on either cheek. 
 
 This tenderness among the immediate relatives 
 of the family, was to me a favourable presage of 
 French sociability. I soon retired to my apart- 
 ment, where all had the same appearance of 
 faded lustre. However, I slept soundly ; occa- 
 sionally dreaming of the new figures which flit- 
 ted across my imagination, just as they had a 
 short time ago presented themselves to my senses. 
 This letter may, perhaps, produce a similar effect 
 on you ; but I hope, at some future period, to 
 find subjects better worth your attention, from 
 the correspondence of 
 
 Yours, &c.
 
 ROUEN. 7 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 Rouen. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 HAVING taken my seat in the Diligence, 
 for Rouen, I had once more occasion to re- 
 member Madame ; when, instead of something 
 more light and fashionable than our English 
 stage, I mounted a crazy and bespattered old 
 vehicle ; drawn by five untrimmed little horses, 
 tackled to with ropes, and mounted by postil- 
 lions, in jack-boots ; large enough for half 
 a dozen legs together. Yet, our little horses 
 were like their masters, possessing much vivacity, 
 and galloping along, with this moving mountain 
 behind them, as often as the driver cracked his 
 whip, and echoed vite, vlte ! 
 
 The appearance of the country accords with 
 what may be expected from the manners of the 
 people. It is not divided as in England, by 
 large hedge rows, but stretches out in great 
 plains as far as the horizon. On either side of 
 the road, fruit-trees are planted, which refresh 
 the thirsty traveller in summer ; and while we 
 admire the cultivation of the soil, we look in 
 vain for the cottage of the husbandman. The 
 French, being a social people, assemble at even-
 
 8 TRAVELS THROUGH FRANCE. 
 
 ing in their villages, to dispel the cares of a busy 
 life, by that round of festive gaiety they de- 
 light in. 
 
 The numerous manufactories near Rouen in- 
 dicate our approach to a considerable town ; 
 to which we arrive about five o'clock, and pro- 
 ceed to the hotel de TEurope the landlady, all 
 politeness, in endeavouring to accommodate her 
 dinner to my taste, taking much pains to ex- 
 plain the several articles of her long bill of fare. 
 I was pleased with this trait in the French cha- 
 racter, that, instead of ridiculing our mistakes, 
 they put themselves to a great trial of patience, 
 in giving us every assistance in their language. 
 
 Rouen is a gloomy-looking old place ; how- 
 ever, the cathedral of Notre Dame is a magni- 
 ficent gothic structure, built by our William the 
 First; as also that of St. Omer, adorned with 
 painted windows, which have a beautiful effect 
 from within. 
 
 Ascending one of the towers of Notre Dame, 
 an Englishman finds the peculiar effect from 
 the smokeless chimnies of a French city. The 
 eye can reach the farthest verge of the horizon ; 
 it surveys every object through a clear medium, 
 takes in the whole town and country, and fol- 
 lows the Seine through many a winding. How- 
 ever great the advantage may be to a person
 
 ROUEN. 9 
 
 elevated above the houses, I confess, we feel 
 it no sufficient compensation at this season, 
 when within : our cheerful hearth must be num- 
 bered among the sacrifices which the traveller 
 must make to the gratification of his curiosity. 
 On the river is a bridge of boats, which rises 
 and falls with the ebb and flow of the tide. 
 
 From mount St. Catherine another agreeable 
 view may be enjoyed of the adjacent country 
 far more extensive than from the Cathedral ; for 
 in this we enjoy, in addition to what we saw be- 
 fore, the fine prospect of the cathedrals them- 
 selves, rising above the other buildings of the 
 town. At this place, the celebrated Joan d'Arc, 
 the maid of Orleans, was burnt ; her statue is 
 erected on the spot where the catastrophe took 
 place ; near it is a gothic building, in which she 
 was condemned : a small chapel, dedicated to 
 her memory, is falling into ruins. 
 
 In the town is a public library, containing 
 20,000 volumes, besides several curious manu- 
 scripts ; many of which, can only be considered 
 as monuments of that kind of idle industry, 
 which tended to beguile the slowly-moving hours 
 of the ancient monasteries. One was shewn to 
 me in particular ; it was a copy of the Psalms, 
 ornamented with paintings, and splendidly 
 bound with silver mountings; it is a singular
 
 10 TRAVELS THROUGH FRANCE. 
 
 specimen, as much of monastic patience, as of 
 skill. In the same building is a large collection 
 of paintings, in two galleries, chiefly on scrip- 
 tural subjects ; and adjoining to it is a fine gar- 
 den, laid out in the French style the walks 
 regularly shaped, and a basin of water in the 
 centre. 
 
 Anxious to employ every legitimate method 
 of acquiring the language of the country, I 
 continued at the cathedral to the end of the ser- 
 mon. The priest employed much gesture, and 
 seemed to address his audience with all the ani- 
 mation of a Frenchman, and all the warmth of 
 an extemporaneous orator. When he mention- 
 ed the name of Christ, he suddenly took off 
 the small conical hat he wore ; which act of re- 
 spect did not fail to produce a corresponding 
 impression in the minds of his hearers ; and at 
 times he extended his arms for some minutes to- 
 gether, while he poured forth a burst of im- 
 passioned devotion. The subject of the dis- 
 course was auricular confession one, amongst 
 others, well calculated to advance the cause of 
 spiritual domination. He enlisted the imagina- 
 tion in his service, and drew many a touching 
 picture of the penitent, unburdening the emo- 
 tions of his heart to the director of his con- 
 science. I thought I could discover, in the
 
 PARIS. 11 
 
 application of his texts, something of the in- 
 genuity displayed on one occasion by the cele- 
 brated Bourdaloue, who treating upon the sub- 
 ject of transubstantiation and the sacrifice of the 
 mass, selected as his text the Saviour's words, 
 " Le zele de ma maison ni'a devori? 
 
 To Paris I must now direct my attention- 
 At Rouen I found the society at the table d'hote 
 very agreeable, and should have remained lon- 
 ger, did not greater scenes invite me forward on 
 my journey. I have taken my place in the 
 velocifere ; the name would imply some very 
 light and easy mode of conveyance, but it ap- 
 pears as incapable of meriting these terms as 
 the Diligence. Adieu. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Paris. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 LITTLE worthy of notice occurred in my 
 journey to Paris. My fellow-travellers were 
 as usual lively, and capable of relieving, by 
 their conversation, the tediousness of the way. 
 Though observation \tas sharpened by my cu- 
 riosity, the flatness of the country, and its
 
 12 TRAVELS THROUGH FRANCE. 
 
 want of variety, prevented all gratification by 
 this means. One fine prospect, however, en- 
 gages attention from a hill, not far from Rouen, 
 whence, the distant mountains, clad with fir, and 
 the unobscured town below are truly picturesque. 
 The richness of the soil allows the tenants of it 
 to dispense with these improvements in husban- 
 dry which are annually exhibited in England ; 
 the plough is still on wheels, and the other im- 
 plements are perhaps on the same plan as was 
 adopted some centuries before. The nature of 
 our soil and climate awakens the energies and in- 
 vention of the agriculturist, that he may produce 
 the harvests of more favoured climes. 
 
 We arrive at Paris -, and I feel desirous, at 
 once to explore this celebrated city, that I may 
 be enabled to give you some account of it. 
 
 This city abounds with public buildings of 
 great magnificence; to some of which, allow me 
 now to conduct you, in that vehicle of imagi- 
 nation which I formerly proposed for our jour- 
 ney. Perhaps it is a more agreeable mode of 
 conveyance than that to which we are doomed 
 by the construction of the streets here, I love 
 walking ; but the pedestrian runs the risk of a 
 bespattered dress, if not of a broken bone, since 
 he neither enjoys the flagways, as in London, 
 or the cleanliness that should distinguish so great
 
 PARIS. 13 
 
 a metropolis. A muddy stream flows in the 
 centre of almost every street, and the drivers of 
 the flying cabriolets, as they dash along, oblige 
 us, in our own defence, to employ them. 
 
 The Thuilleries is the royal residence, and 
 fit for any monarch ; there is nothing very classi- 
 cal in its architecture, yet has it an imposing air 
 of regal magnificence. Adjoining it, is the cele- 
 brated Louvre, extending along the quay of the 
 same name, which gives it a very fine appear- 
 ance. It was the ex-Emperor's intention, to have 
 united the palace on the other wing to the new 
 Louvre, by a corresponding range of buildings. 
 The triumphal arch in the Place Carousei, 
 when examined, must be admired, but it is lost 
 amid the greatness of the surrounding objects ; 
 on it were placed the Venetian horses, and I have 
 met some Frenchmen, who, when we passed, look- 
 ed up, lamenting their glory gone, when these 
 the palladium of their former greatness were re- 
 moved. Within the railing which separates the 
 Palace from the Place Carousel, the National 
 Guard and Lancers, all possessing a very mar- 
 tial aspect, perform their evolutions, and a fine 
 band continually plays beneath the window of 
 the king's apartment. I was anxious to see a mo- 
 narch, whose variety of fortune has rendered him 
 conspicuous. He attends mass at twelve o'clock 
 c
 
 U TRAVELS THROUGH FRANCE. 
 
 and on the occasion of the Fete St. Louis, I 
 joined a great concourse of people, who waited 
 below to salute him, as he returned through the 
 glass gallery. Coming to the balcony, he sepa- 
 rated from his suite, and came forth to the ad- 
 miring crowd, who began to shout, vive le Roi ! 
 with the same earnestness and shew of loyalty, 
 which a short time before they evinced when 
 crying, vive VEmpereur ! The corpulency of 
 Louis XVIII rendered it inconvenient for him 
 to bow, but he held forth his arms, and showed 
 every demonstration of contentment with the 
 zeal of his faithful people. Madame la Duchesse 
 shining in diamonds on this occasion, with Mon- 
 sieur, and the Due d'Angouleme, stood on the 
 right ; the Duke and Duchess de Berri on the 
 left. The French are fond of wit ; neither the 
 dignity of others, or their own public and pri- 
 vate misfortunes, can damp the ardour of their 
 esprit. Napoleon affixed his initial, N, to al- 
 most every part of this building, and while they 
 sigh, they say, " he might well fall, since he had 
 des ris mis (des ennemls) partout."" Louis 
 XVIII, from his penchant to a daily dish of 
 oysters, is laughingly styled, (though I believe 
 by those only who would devour the good man 
 himself if they could) Louis dix-huit and des 
 huitres too.
 
 PARIS. 15 
 
 The gardens of the Thuilleries are always 
 open to the public ; they are in the French 
 style, and adorned with numerous statues, and 
 fine jets (feau. They exhibit, in general, a 
 most lively scene, especially on a fete-day, 
 when they are crowded with well-dressed folk, of 
 all descriptions. A pleasant lounge they are for 
 old age, or for the invalid, who beneath the 
 shade of those lofty elms, may enjoy a chair 
 and a newspaper for a couple of sous. So care- 
 ful are the people, that, however slight may be 
 the pailing, or attractive the flower, they never 
 sustain any injury. From the terrace of these 
 gardens, the range of buildings at either side of 
 the Place Louis-Quinze, comprising the Guarde- 
 meuble, Admiralty, Chamber of Deputies, to- 
 gether with a grand prospect of the Champs 
 elisees, terminated by a triumphal arch, presents 
 a fine coup (Pceil. 
 
 I shall conclude this letter, by giving you some 
 imperfect idea of a walk through the Champs eli- 
 sees on a fine evening ; and you may hence collect 
 the opinion of the French respecting these cele- 
 brated plains ; which they endeavour to realize ac- 
 cording to their own taste and disposition. In tak- 
 ing this evening ramble, our attention, beginning 
 to fasten on one object, is instantly drawn off' to 
 another : here the athletic games are played on 
 c 2
 
 16 TRAVELS THROUGH FRANCE. 
 
 the level plain there a group of children, dancing 
 round a little boy and girl, in turn expect to know 
 the mystical secret, and secure the kiss on either 
 cheek farther on, a Savoyard amuses the 
 crowd, by playing on six instruments at a time ; 
 the guitar, the pandean, the drum suspended 
 from behind, which he strikes with a drumstick 
 fastened to his elbow , the triangle with the 
 iron rod appended to his knee ; the cymbals 
 attached to his legs ; while his head is crowned 
 with a glittering set of Turkish bells advancing 
 further on, we passed the Salon de Mars, and as 
 we passed it, the sounds of music, and a giddy 
 whirl of festivity, marked it as the abode of world- 
 ly mirth in all directions the " merry go round " 
 wheels about, as a proper emblem of their in- 
 cessant levity. A thousand other feats attest 
 the light-heartedness, indeed, I might say, the 
 thoughtlessness of this people ; but it is time to 
 close this medley of unconnected remarks, on a 
 subject, in which I know you can receive little 
 satisfaction ; you hence, however, obtain a far- 
 ther insight into the character and customs of 
 this people : their festivals are the periods of 
 still greater buffooneries, nor is the sabbath an 
 exception. Happy our own land, in which this 
 day of holy rest is regarded, by many of its 
 inhabitants, as a spiritual delight, requiring not
 
 PARIS. 17 
 
 the grosser gratification of sense to recommend 
 it to the Christian. And though, alas ! this 
 French mode of observing it, is occasionally 
 introduced into our own country, yet, it is na- 
 tionally recognised and engrafted upon the laws 
 of our unrivalled Constitution. 
 
 I should make an excuse for employing your 
 time, and, perhaps, disappointing your expecta- 
 tions, by such lengthened accounts of puerile 
 amusements : but until I glean richer materials, 
 you cannot expect I should transmit them to 
 you. When I do, they shall be your"s, as 
 heartily as 
 
 I am, &c. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Fari*. 
 
 MY DEAR FIIIKXD, 
 
 I BEGAN my last by a promise to lead 
 you through some of the public edifices of the 
 city, but was diverted from my purpose by other 
 topics. 
 
 The Chambre des Deputes, corresponding to 
 our House of Commons, is a very elegant build- 
 ing, worthy the purpose for which it is intended :
 
 18 TRAVELS THROUGH FRANCE. 
 
 you may conclude that I occasionally attended 
 the meetings of its members. The interior, 
 unlike our Parliament House, is finely con- 
 structed : Under the Speaker's seat, stands a 
 a marble rostrum, which the orator ascends when 
 he delivers his sentiments. The other members 
 in a uniform dress, habitually express (unless 
 when some violent gust agitates the house) their 
 assent, or negative, by rising and bowing, without 
 employing any tumultuous mode of expression. 
 All looks well so far ; but all this cannot be con- 
 sidered as the true characteristic of a National 
 Assembly. Politeness, in its place, is indispen- 
 sable ; but is no equivalent for a restriction of 
 liberty. Nay, on such occasions, it is, perhaps, 
 better dispensed with, when the question is not 
 the forms of etiquette, but the rights and inte- 
 rests of man. 
 
 The Fauxbourg St. Germain, is the quarter 
 where the principal nobility reside, and possesses 
 many fine buildings; among which the Palais 
 de la legion d^konneur, is one of the most con- 
 spicuous. The private palaces, in the spirit of 
 aristocracy, are concealed by large gateways, 
 from the profane eyes of their more humble 
 neighbours. The Blbliotheque du Roi, pos- 
 sesses an amazing collection of volumes : The 
 building itself is only remarkable for its size and
 
 PARIS. 19 
 
 plainness ; in the centre of which is a statue of 
 Diana, in the attitude of running grace and 
 swiftness in her step. A pair of globes of 
 great size, resting on the ground floor, rise to 
 the second story through the ceiling ; rather 
 remarkable for their height than their utility. 
 Among the students here, were several ladies, 
 pursuing the path of literature ; a circumstance 
 which speaks highly of the respectful demeanour 
 of the gentlemen in public places^ The temples 
 of literature, at least, should be always sacred to 
 virtue ; but I acknowledge myself the advocate 
 of a more domestic cultivation of literature by 
 that sex, whose most graceful ornament, is a 
 refined and modest improvement of the proper 
 talents with which the wise Creator has endowed 
 them. The library-room is ornamented with a 
 bronze representation of Parnassus, on which 
 are seated, the most celebrated authors a model 
 of the Egyptian pyramids and a sitting figure of 
 Voltaire, in bronze. Voltaire is exalted in vari- 
 ous parts of the city, and, I fear, more eminently 
 so in the kearts and principles of the inhabitants. 
 He is held in greater estimation by his coun- 
 trymen, than the memory of Shakespeare is by 
 ours. The collection on the shelves is truly 
 interesting to a literary character ; where the 
 most eager thirst of information may be more
 
 20 TRAVELS THROUGH FRANCE. 
 
 than gratified : An humble friend to knowledge 
 like myself, must look around, however, for some 
 less laborious method of attaining it ; life is too 
 short to spend among the innumerable produc- 
 tions of centuries, and which would require cen- 
 turies to peruse. The objects of truly valuable 
 research are but few, else a longer period would 
 be allowed us for their attainment. Surely, the 
 most important to a finite being such as man, i^ 
 to know whence does he exist, and whither is he 
 going ? what should he do, and what value 
 should he affix on objects that either vanish 
 away in the wreck of time, and the revolutions 
 of empires ; or which see himself vanish before 
 them. These important objects of investigation, 
 have limited the field of my enquiries ; and 
 though this extensive repository of intellectual 
 labour, for a moment, excited my former Biblio- 
 mania, yet, that very extent of it which, at first 
 view, gave the stimulus, served, at length, to 
 moderate it, on a calm and serious reflection. 
 I need not detain you by accounts of other col- 
 lections, as those of Mazarine and St. Genevieve ; 
 but the mention of the latter, leads me on to the 
 Pantheon. 
 
 This very magnificent temple is seated on an 
 eminence ; a range of Corinthian columns forms 
 the portico, and the building is surmounted by
 
 PARIS. tl 
 
 a large dome, supported upon pillars. The inte- 
 rior is all that could be expected from such an 
 an entrance; the ceiling adorned with bass 
 relief the pavement, of marble finely arranged ; 
 and the extent of it gives the mind a sensation 
 of grandeur, though the external sides are flat 
 and unadorned. Yet, rather should we be 
 pleased with what is worthy of admiration, than 
 affect the critic by tracing out defects. 
 
 The church of Notre Dame is the most re- 
 markable for its antiquity. The painted glass 
 on its gothic windows, is very handsome, and a 
 fine view of the city may be enjoyed from its 
 towers. In the church of St. Roch, the position 
 of the crucifix is peculiar. The light from the 
 ceiling shines down upon it, and appears to ema- 
 nate from the body ; and the rugged scenery 
 around, serves to heighten the effect. I have no 
 taste for what may be termed the ruse des pretres. 
 Oh, how simple and spiritual the Christian tem- 
 ples were of old, when the apostle and evangelist 
 unfolded the nature of that true temple in which 
 God dwells bodily, even Christ Jesus ; and in 
 which God seeks, alone, the adoration of our 
 souls. Where, then, were such vanities as these ! 
 
 Allow me to prolong my letter, by inserting 
 some account of the Jardin des Plantes. This 
 I frequented whenever I had opportunity.
 
 22 TRAVELS THROUGH FRANCE. 
 
 Having walked through the garden, where the 
 l)otanist may enjoy a rich repast of all kinds of 
 herbs, plants and flowers ; and where the gar- 
 dener may take specimens of enclosures, pailings, 
 &c. on which great ingenuity has been exerted, 
 we proceed to the menagerie, in which living 
 creatures of almost all descriptions, may be seen, 
 enjoying the open air, and as near the state of 
 nature as the security of them will allow. Here 
 the elephant wields his huge proboscis ; and there 
 the bear clambers up the tree to display his 
 awkward dexterity ; rein-deer and camels graze 
 upon the sod ; but lions are confined in ample 
 cells, and such other animals as might prove 
 dangerous if indulged. Birds sport their bril- 
 liant plumage, and enjoy the fragrance around 
 them ; and in the large basins of the garden, 
 aquatic fowl possess their native liberty. 
 
 The gallery of natural history in this place, 
 is a prodigy of its kind. So fine an assemblage 
 of the works of creation in the most distant climes, 
 cannot, perhaps, be elsewhere found. Here are 
 collected, the phenomena and natural productions 
 of all the five zones together. How truly won- 
 drous are the works of that Omnipotent hand, 
 which scatters abroad such varied effects of his 
 power, and on the minutest particles of each is 
 impressed, the stamp of heavenly wisdom.
 
 PARIS. 23 
 
 The creature, from its construction, you per- 
 ceive, so admirably adapted to the climate pre- 
 pared for its reception, and all calculated to pro- 
 mote the comforts and delight of the human 
 species. In such a place as this, the mind is 
 particularly exalted by ideas which can rarely be 
 enjoyed but in such a place ; where, in a few 
 hours, the eye can embrace all that the world 
 presents to interest the traveller of foreign climes. 
 In the six chambers on the lower story are 
 seen, petrefactions, chrystals, chalks, and various 
 minerals : and in the upper apartments, animals 
 of all sizes, from the elephant and whale to the 
 minute insect, scarcely showing itself on the pin's 
 point on which it is placed. The birds, adorned 
 with their natural plumage, are perched on boughs 
 of trees ; while the rare collection of butterflies 
 exhibits a most brilliant display of colours such 
 as cannot be adequately conceived but by one 
 who has seen such a collection. Here the stran- 
 ger, as well as the natural philosopher, will find 
 an inexhaustible source of pleasure ; and he 
 re-enters the gardens there to indulge the pleas- 
 ing reflection which such a sight leaves upon the 
 mind. 
 
 Adieu, &c.
 
 24 TRAVELS THROUGH FRANCE. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Paris. 
 
 Mr DEAH FRIEND, 
 
 WHEN the desolating torrent of revolu- 
 tionary fury had at length passed by, which, in 
 its course, had overthrown the most venerable 
 monuments of this country, the ruins of them 
 were again collected by the diligence of some 
 surviving men of worth, and placed in the pre- 
 sent museum of French monuments. You may 
 well conceive how interesting is this repository 
 in which are to be seen, the tombs of so many mo- 
 narchs, and of renowned characters of such distant 
 times. Here the progress of architecture in suc- 
 cessive ages from the barbarous era of Clovis 
 and Clotaire, to the more refined period of Louis 
 the Fourteenth, may be distinctly traced. They 
 are arranged in apartments according to their 
 antiquity ; and the rude recumbent figures of 
 the early kings, are contrasted to the finished 
 monuments of Francis the First, Louis the 
 Twelfth, and Cardinal de Richelieu. Is it not 
 interesting to recollect, that, if a day can thus 
 overturn the works of ages, one individual has 
 here restored what thousands were engaged to 
 destroy ? And the exertions of M. Lenoir, has
 
 PARIS. 25 
 
 pushed back from his country, the disgrace of 
 endeavouring to reduce itself to a worse than 
 Vandal contempt of the fine arts. Adjoining 
 to this is the celebrated Paraclete, or sepulchral 
 Chapel of Abelard and Heloise. The poet and 
 the architect have endeavoured to embalm their 
 memories : but history tells a tale which differs 
 from that which this monumental pile is intended 
 to record ; and though posterity must admire 
 the beauty of the shrine, it can never regard it 
 as the hallowed memorial of departed worth. 
 Whoever would retire from the busy crowd, and 
 reflect on the serious concerns of life and immor- 
 tality, let him proceed on to the beautiful fune- 
 real garden adjacent; where, amid the cypress and 
 the willow, are seen pillars, tombs and temples. 
 As I have now entered on this sombre subject, 
 you will allow me to give you a glimpse of the 
 catacombs of Paris, so much celebrated : We 
 descended by the light of numerous torches, far 
 beneath the surface of the earth. Wandering 
 through many subterraneous passages, we at 
 length arrive at the catacombs. We now pro- 
 ceed through a passage, on either side of which, 
 a wall of human bones and skulls, regularly ar- 
 ranged, rises about six feet high. These con- 
 duct us to a column in the midst of a circular 
 area, all formed of the same ghastly materials : 
 D
 
 26 TRAVELS THROUGH FRANCE. 
 
 and on the top of this column stands a skull 
 which Lavater would have pronounced to have 
 once been the tenement of genius, or on which our 
 sublime and pensive Young would have gazed, 
 wrapped up in solemn meditation, in order that 
 he might catch the great ideas, with which itself, 
 perhaps, had once been stored. Oh, what a 
 lesson may be taught us here below, when behind 
 these deep recesses repose the mortal remains of 
 millions, against the day of judgment. But, 
 alas ! even here a daring atheism tries to affix, 
 by inscriptions upon the walls, its noxious senti- 
 ments. Let the Christian meet, without dismay, 
 his envious foe. He sees, by faith, a risen and 
 glorified Redeemer. He leans with firmness on 
 his gracious promise and humbly, yet assur- 
 edly believes that, " Where Christ is, there shall 
 he be also." I leave this place with no anxiety 
 to remain much longer, and soon regain the light 
 of heaven. 
 
 You will now permit me to lead you to the 
 celebrated asylum of sick and Superannuated 
 soldiers, the Hospital of Invalids an institution 
 worthy of the genius of Louis the Fourteenth ; 
 its gilded dome reflecting the rays of the sun, is 
 a great ornament to the city. Here a comfort- 
 able retreat is provided for the aged warrior 
 the wounded infirm veteran : some engaged in
 
 PARIS. 27 
 
 reading, others recounting their youthful adven- 
 tures, and their brilliant campaigns ; some cul- 
 tivating a little garden here a feeble invalid 
 sustaining his more feeble comrade there the 
 blind leading the blind. The interior of the 
 chapel, especially beneath the dome, is richly 
 adorned with marble and with paintings ; the 
 floor is tesselated with great elegance ; the mess- 
 rooms of the officers are adorned with the frescoe 
 paintings of Louis the Fourteenth's campaigns ; 
 and these of the soldiers, though less cleanly, 
 are likewise painted with historical subjects. In 
 a word, they are comfortably lodged; and in 
 the many sources of human recreation, they 
 seem to be happy in enjoying a kind of vegeta- 
 tive existence. Numerous are the hospitals at 
 Paris ; and, as far as I could judge, all well at- 
 tended, and on the most liberal and benevolent 
 plan. But I shall here conclude my occasional 
 remarks, and 
 
 Subscribe myself, 
 
 &c. &c.
 
 28 TRAVELS THROUGH FRANCE. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Paris. 
 
 My DEAR FIUEND, 
 
 YOU have, no doubt, expected some ac- 
 count of the Louvre long before this-; but as it 
 is not, as yet, properly arranged, since the foreign 
 powers have recovered from it, their stolen pos- 
 sessions, it was not till lately I could procure a 
 passport for admission. But, truly, it should 
 have been first described, if the order of my 
 descriptions of this place was to be regulated by 
 the magnificence of its monuments. The grand 
 gallery of the Louvre is of great length ; I be- 
 lieve 1200 feet, and has a very imposing effect 
 on the first view of it. Notwithstanding the 
 divestment it has sustained, much remains to be 
 admired in the works of Guido, Vernet, Poussin, 
 Sic. ; the roof is finely gilt, and the stairs com- 
 posed of marble, corresponds in grandeur to the 
 apartment to which it leads. The collection of 
 statues has suffered much by the absence of the 
 Italian chefd'ceuvres, which once rendered it so 
 celebrated ; still, however, several interesting 
 specimens remain ; a colossal Minerva, which 
 rested on the tomb of Adrian, and several others, 
 that would give entertainment to a far more
 
 PARIS. 29 
 
 fastidious taste than mine. It is the intention of 
 its managers to supply the vacancies of the gal- 
 lery with the paintings of Vernet and Rubens, 
 which I saw in the Luxembourg. The poem of 
 Rubens, as it is called, consists of twenty-one 
 fine paintings, which give a connected history, 
 with very poetical elucidations, of the life of 
 Mary of Medicis, wife of Henry the Fourth. 
 It begins with his representation of the fates 
 spinning her future destiny, and is finished with 
 a portrait in full length of this royal personage, 
 in the character of Bellona, surrounded with the 
 appendages of War and Victory. The allegory 
 is most ingeniously sustained throughout, both 
 in the design and the execution, so that it forms 
 a complete history of the period ; and with much 
 pleasure, and much ease, we enjoy the bright 
 effusions of a poet's genius, expressed to us in a 
 language which at once gratifies the sense and 
 the imagination. 
 
 Vernet's subjects are, chiefly, maritime views ; 
 especially of harbours. In these he introduces 
 several groups of figures, which give great cha- 
 racter to his interesting pictures. In one, so 
 great is the consternation, that you almost hear 
 the winds blow, and the billows roll, and you 
 are beginning to anticipate the approaching 
 shipwreck ; and in another we are diverted by
 
 30 TRAVELS THROUGH FRANCE. 
 
 the Venetian gondolas by the strange rencontres 
 of the sister poissardes by the wealthy merchant 
 surveying his stores and by the groups of fash- 
 ionables walking upon the beach. There is, 
 indeed, much of real life in all his performances. 
 M. David is one of the most celebrated artists 
 of the day ; there is great character in his sub- 
 jects, which are chiefly classical, but all savouring 
 of a republican spirit; The Luxembourg, where 
 these paintings were exhibited, formerly belonged 
 to the ancient family of that name, but is now 
 the House of Peers; the gardens, as well as 
 itself, are quite in the French style ; and being 
 in a retired part of the city, they afford an 
 agreable promenade. It would be quite trou- 
 blesome to enter into a detail of the numerous 
 other places of celebrity in the city : as it is the 
 seat of literature, there are suitable buildings for 
 each department of science. 
 
 Having now viewed the principal objects of 
 interest in the city, I take you with me on a 
 visit to Versailles and St. Cloud. You love to 
 breathe in, the fragrance of the country breeze. 
 The former is about three leagues distant, and a 
 palace suitable to the proudest monarch upon 
 earth : the front of the building being low, and 
 of brick, rather disappoints us at first view ; but 
 on the other side, in front of the gardens, we
 
 PARIS. 31 
 
 were amazed with the extent and magnificence 
 of the whole ; the apartments are not furnished, 
 but sumptuously ornamented with paintings, by 
 Lebrun. Mirrors reflect the gardens upon their 
 surface ; and the great saloon, upwards of two 
 hundred feet in length, again represents the 
 exploits of Louis the Fourteenth ; and alone 
 wants furniture to render it quite superb. The 
 French taste prevails in the formal arrangements 
 of the ground ; but on the whole is, perhaps, 
 more suitable to a residence in which display is 
 studied rather than convenience. 
 
 At some distance are two smaller palaces, 
 called Trianon ; where the kings were wont to 
 retire from the distressing ceremonies of a court 
 these are elegantly furnished. The gardens 
 in the smaller residence, are on the English 
 plan ; a studied, though pleasing imitation of 
 nature. Here I enjoyed a truly delightful 
 walk, amid its verdant plantations and interest- 
 ing lakes and cottages. 
 
 At Versailles are, of course, a fine library, 
 theatre, and all the appendages to a royal habi- 
 tation. St. Cloud is not so grand, but the situ- 
 ation pleases me more ; it is seated on a hill, 
 whence you have a fine view of Paris, and the 
 intermediate country. Here I wandered alone, 
 viewing, with peculiar delight, the first dawn of
 
 32 TRAVELS THROUGH FRANCE. 
 
 Spring breaking forth upon the budding trees ; 
 its approach was welcomed by the chaunting of 
 the birds, and by the fragrance of the violet ; 
 while the more genial warmth of the sun in- 
 vited me on to other scenes, and more distant 
 lands : I felt summoned to depart, and from this 
 moment looked forward to Italy. I may, per- 
 haps, again address you from this place, as J 
 prefer to remain till the season is further ad- 
 vanced. In the mean time, allow me to 
 Assure you, 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 Paris, April 17th, 1816. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 AS this is the last time you shall hear from 
 me from Paris, I shall send you a few detached 
 remarks on the people, and also on some other 
 places which I have not as yet mentioned . 
 
 Among the manufactories, that of tapestry is 
 quite novel to an Englishman ; at least it was so 
 to me. Paintings are copied in the most accu- 
 rate manner in woven worsteds ; each artist is 
 employed according to his skill, and advance-
 
 PARIS. 33 
 
 ment in the art ; some engaged in the drapery 
 others on the more delicate parts of the fea- 
 tures of a portrait ; the picture is placed behind 
 their backs. The colours and effect of the work 
 when wrought, are very elegant ; yet, as they so 
 quickly fade by exposure to the air, it seems 
 rather a misapplication of industry and talent, 
 to bestow so much on such short-lived beauties. 
 
 In the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, are 
 models of the most improved machinery. The 
 machine of Marli, which supplies St. Cloud, is 
 constructed in miniature, and innumerable others, 
 from which the mechanic may derive great satis- 
 faction. 
 
 Several of Napoleon's monuments still carry 
 down his name to after ages. A brazen column 
 stands in the Place Vendome, on the same plan 
 as that of Trajan ; a spiral wreath of bass 
 relief, representing the acts of his extraordinary 
 reign, wind up to the summit on which his statue 
 once stood ; but now, like the original, has from 
 its lofty elevation been brought low. 
 
 On the site of the Bastile, he commenced a 
 triumphal fountain, which remains unfinished. 
 The Bastile presents not even the ruins of what 
 it had been ; the very stones have been dis- 
 persed, that none should remain to record a spot 
 on which cruelty and uncontrolled tyranny
 
 34 TRAVELS THROUGH FRANCE. 
 
 so long triumphed and trampled on the rights 
 and liberties of man : and thus, while on this 
 spot the tyrant may read the awful sentence on 
 his crimes ; the usurper also, may behold a sad 
 monument of his folly. 
 
 I shall not attempt to give you any length- 
 ened delineation of the French character, it is 
 one so universally known throughout Europe. 
 An Englishman at once sees the wide difference 
 between that of his countrymen and their's. In 
 London the bustle and agitation of trade and 
 business prevail at Paris every thought is di- 
 verted from schemes of interest and deep specu- 
 lation, to scenes of festivity, and a magic round 
 of pleasure. Not confined to the usual sources 
 of entertainment which the town affords, they 
 take peculiar delight in thejtete champetre, which 
 they enjoy at Versailles, St. Cloud, &c. as often 
 as their religion or their loyalty afford the op- 
 portunity ; and at such seasons, the roads are 
 thronged with innumerable vehicles especially 
 waggons, which seem to transport the city alto- 
 gether into the country. It is impossible to 
 describe the various expedients employed te 
 catch the money, and the attention of the people 
 on such occasions. All species of buffoonery is 
 practised, and the sympathizing French seem 
 amused at all. They carry their love of plea-
 
 PARIS. 35 
 
 sure beyond all bounds ; and in seeking to live 
 in its constant enjoyment, seem to forget the 
 true end of living. It appears with them to be 
 as a drapery thrown over their want of inde- 
 pendence ; and poverty, which, in other places, 
 sheds a cloud upon the brow, seems here to 
 produce, if a light purse, a heart equally dis- 
 burdened of care. 
 
 The French merchants, I found, always to 
 demand a higher price for their goods, than they 
 afterwards take ; the subsequent abatement, 
 however, does not argue so much a want of 
 honesty, as the prevalence of an improper cus- 
 tom ; and I partly believe it is sometimes 
 adopted to give the polite president at the 
 counter, an opportunity of saying many inte- 
 resting nothings, which the occasion allows them 
 to introduce. At such times, if you are about 
 to give at once what they demand, perhaps they 
 will correct your mistake, by a Monsieur il ""ne 
 faut pas payer en Anglols. 
 
 Happy would I feel here to stop my remarks 
 on French manners. Charity would, if possible, 
 cast its mantle upon their blemishes, and cover 
 the multitude of their sins; but then charity 
 rejoices in the truth, and must warn the unwary; 
 lest while the inexperienced traveller thinks all 
 is safety, he falls at once into sudden destruc-
 
 36 TRAVELS THROUGH FRANCE. 
 
 tion. Paris is the seat of gilded Vice she 
 spreads her wings far and wide ; but she holds 
 her court in the Palais Royal. There, divesting 
 herself of her real deformity, to carry on her 
 baneful purposes, she assumes the mask of sense- 
 alluring magnificence ! Hither her votaries 
 crowd together. They find her in the Cafe, 
 with its reflecting mirrors they sit with her in 
 the theatres ; but they seem to worship her at 
 the licensed gaming-rooms. Nor is this all : 
 She here carries on a siege against religion, and 
 tries to trample on the Cross ; not by an open 
 assault, but by a sapping an undermining in- 
 fluence. Chasing away its gravity with an un- 
 ceasing smile, and pointing against its force, the 
 shafts of ridicule. 
 
 Let the stranger remember, that here he 
 must, especially, " fight the good fight of faith." 
 And should he visit the metropolis of France, 
 he has to contend against the prevalence of cus- 
 tom the contagion of example the effects of 
 false and superficial appearances. In all of 
 which, religion is counteracted by reason unsanc- 
 tified ; its sobriety discountenanced by a plausi- 
 ble sophistry and all the sacredness of its spirit 
 set at nought by that faculty peculiar to the 
 Frenchman, which is called the gaiete de 
 cceur.
 
 PARIS. 37 
 
 I am now about to take leave of this city, and 
 shall shape my course towards Switzerland, on 
 my way to Italy. The usual hurry of depar- 
 ture, obliges me to curtail my letter, and to 
 
 Assure you, 
 
 &c. &c.
 
 38 , TRAVELS THROUGH SWITZERLAND. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 Geneva. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 BEING seated in the Diligence, I found 
 myself in company with seven persons ; two of 
 whom were ladies, for whom the best seats were, 
 of course, reserved. They beguiled the tedious- 
 ness of the way, by as familiar converse as though 
 all had been old acquaintances. The flatness of 
 the country, and the dreariness of the season, 
 affording no variety from without, my fellow- 
 travellers intent upon pursuing it, resolved to 
 open from within, the sources of their own 
 enjoyment. Now was sung a glee, in which all 
 who could contribute to its harmony, joined in 
 unison. Again would they alternate some lively 
 repartees, and substitute for the game of shuffle, 
 the reciprocal ban-mot. The band-box of the 
 ladies was converted into a card-table ; from the 
 most trivial incident they extracted attic salt, 
 and seemed only to be grave when discussing the 
 festivities of Paris. The costume of a stranger 
 served as an excuse, or rather obtained for me 
 the privilege of acting as a mere spectator. 
 
 Joigny and Auxerre are considerable towns, 
 seated on the Yonne; possessing some fine old Ca-
 
 GENEVA. 39 
 
 thedrals. From La Chaleur to Dijon the prospect 
 is varied and picturesque ; the peasantry were 
 employed in preparing the earth for the vines, 
 and in affixing to their roots, the small stakes, 
 around which they trail in the season of vegeta- 
 tion. We enter Dijon by a triumphal gate, on 
 which is a chariot of victory, in honour of the 
 reigning family. 
 
 Dijon is seated in an extensive plain, and is 
 well fortified. The tall steeples of its Cathedrals 
 present a fine appearance at a distance. The 
 town is cleanly the streets, especially the Rue 
 de Conde, very regular. Here the Dukes of 
 Burgundy formerly resided; and in their old 
 palace is a fine museum very considerable, 
 indeed, for a provincial town ; in this are still 
 preserved, some monuments of the Burgogne 
 family. 
 
 In the hospital I observed that divine service 
 is publicly performed in the great apartment in 
 which the sick in their beds, are ranged on either 
 side. Dark drawn curtains separate them from 
 the congregation, so that in expecting to benefit 
 by the prayers, they no less expect the benefit 
 which flows from the sympathy, as well as the 
 contributions of the worshippers. 
 
 Near this town is a very interesting park, in 
 which the inhabitants take their daily prome- 
 E 2
 
 40 TRAVELS THROUGH SWITZERLAND. 
 
 nade. To it I repaired to behold and welcome 
 the coming Spring. And again was I summoned 
 by its advancement, to proceed towards the Alpine 
 heights, which stretched out along the eastern 
 horizon. All was grateful and refreshing ; and 
 in playful emulation, I have admired the little 
 children, while beneath the trees they gathered 
 violets, filling their little kerchiefs with the 
 vernal treasure, and then running to the river 
 side, they sat upon its banks, to bind them up in 
 fragrant clusters. The walls of the town, also, 
 enclose some fine walks, and gardens laid out 
 with peculiar taste. Much tranquility prevails 
 here, and to me it seemed to be a place calcu- 
 lated to suit, as an abode, a person of retired 
 habits. 
 
 Resuming my seat in the Diligence, I proceed 
 through Dole and Genlis, the residence of the 
 literary lady of that name. The situation of 
 Dole is remarkably beautiful ; inhabited, I un- 
 derstand, by a highly respectable people. Leav- 
 ing this, the country seems rich and smiling ; 
 but the peasantry present a contrasted wretch- 
 edness ; without shoes or stockings a large 
 straw-hat, the chief article of dress, secures them 
 alike from the rains of winter, as well as from 
 the rays of the summer sun. At length, reach- 
 ing Poligny, we begin to engage with the diffi-
 
 GENEVA. 41 
 
 culties of Mount Jura. I had no objection to 
 travel at night over this part of the route, as 
 our delay would not have been repaid by much 
 variety in the external prospects. But from St. 
 Laurens, to which I arrived early next morn, all 
 begins to assume a more formidable aspect. 
 
 Morez is surrounded with mountains six or 
 seven hundred feet in height, almost perpendi- 
 cular ; it is seated on a rapid stream, which 
 unites with another a short space below. Pro- 
 ceeding on foot while the carriage was preparing, 
 I enjoyed, from the height of the hill over which 
 the road ran, a very sublime prospect. On the 
 one side the town, amid its stony mountains, on 
 the other, hills and vales clad with tall pine trees ; 
 the river swelling in the midst by many tributary 
 streams, which fall from the summits in fine 
 cascades. There is something exhilirating in 
 all this. One feels emancipated from the con- 
 finement of towns and houses ; the heart swells 
 with joy and gratitude and in a free and full 
 tone of humble triumph, it constrained us to pour 
 forth a tribute of thanks to the Author of sp 
 much good, the conductor of our paths, and the 
 giver of such a privilege as this, of seeing his 
 works and wonders in a foreign land. We ad- 
 vance still higher, and now a different prospect 
 presented itself ; all these mountain-beauties
 
 42 TRAVELS THROUGH SWITZERLAND. 
 
 were shrouded beneath a sheet of snow save 
 where the top of the lofty pine defied its influence, 
 and shook from its verdant summit, the over- 
 whelming whiteness. We here changed the 
 carriage for a sledge ; the snow was very deep ; 
 in some places between twenty and thirty feet 
 above the level of the road : it prevails in these 
 mountains, generally, nine months in the year. 
 Leaving this, we behold forests covering the hills, 
 as far as the eye could reach ; and at length the 
 lake of Geneva, with the distant Alps, breaks 
 in upon the view. From such a height, how 
 truly magnificent is this prospect ! The Alps, 
 lost amid the clouds thrown up in confused gran- 
 deur, are contrasted with the placid lake which 
 is blue with the shade of impending mountains. 
 
 We descend by a road which was carried 
 through the sinuosities of the hills. We leave 
 the traineau, and, proceeding through a rich 
 and cultivated plain at evening, reach the city of 
 Geneva. 
 
 Your sincere Friend.
 
 GENEVA. 43 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 Geneva. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 GEN 7 EVA lies on that part of the lake 
 where the Rhone makes its exit. The waters of 
 its river are clear as crystal, having deposited 
 in the lake, the alluvial matter which it brings 
 from the mountains. It forms a small island, 
 on which one part of the town stands ; the rest, 
 built upon a bold eminence, overhangs the lake, 
 and is well fortified in all directions. The prin- 
 cipal buildings are on the height ; the Hotel de 
 Ville, the Church of St. Peter, and the habita- 
 tions of the wealthy citizens. The hospital 
 amply provides for the humane purposes to which 
 it is devoted ; both comfort and cleanliness con- 
 spicuous throughout. To St. Peter's Church is a 
 fine architectural portico, on the model of the 
 Pantheon at Rome; but the best ornament is 
 the decorum, and, I should hope, the doctrines 
 of its congregations and ministers. Here all is 
 modest all looks like a temple for spiritual 
 worship; in which, though neatness is united 
 with classic taste, the senses are not distracted 
 by ostentatious decorations, from the great 
 business on which they should be engaged.
 
 44 TRAVELS THROUGH SWITZERLAND. 
 
 The chief places of recreation for the inhabi- 
 tants of this town, are the public walks on its 
 ramparts, which are shaded with trees, and from 
 which may be enjoyed the most bold and beau- 
 tiful prospects. From the Place Maurice, besides 
 the 'more sublime objects which the lake, and its 
 overhanging ranges of mountains present, the 
 eye is cheered by the numerous and beautiful 
 villas which are thickly strewn along the plain. 
 The Place de la Comedie seems, however, the 
 favourite of the natives. The residences of the 
 wealthy are ranged along it, and at evening it 
 is crowded with the citizens, who come to enjoy 
 the freshness and recreation of a promenade. 
 They come not to pursue pleasure in all her 
 Proteus varieties, as their giddy neighbours; 
 but they come to enjoy the beauty of these 
 prospects, which a beneficent and Almighty 
 hand has spread around them ; and while his 
 works are contemplated, they catch, as I am 
 told, from the sublimity of such a scene, at once, 
 the impressions of pious awe, and the desire of 
 native freedom. 
 
 The iron chain of despotism, rivetted by 
 Atheistical delusion, has but just been broken; 
 its memorial has not yet been quite effaced. 
 Amid a range of trees, belowt his walk, is a 
 pillar erected to the memory of Rousseau a Jean
 
 GENEVA. 45 
 
 Jacques Rousseau le peuple Genevois, 18 Decent- 
 bre, 1793. But it is a spot unanimously for- 
 saken. It associates recollections which none, 
 by viewing it, desire to revive. And this peo- 
 ple have been taught by bitter experience, that 
 the man who is a foe to Christianity, can never 
 be accounted his country's friend. 
 
 At a small distance from Geneva is Fernet, 
 the residence of Voltaire ; the country in which 
 it lies is very charming, and the prospect of the 
 mountains, as seen from his chateau, is calculated 
 to inspire the most sublime sensations. Here 
 we see the chamber of Voltaire ; but where is 
 its inhabitant ? tenanting the dust, and waiting 
 for the judgment. A tomb, surmounted by an 
 urn, was intended as the repository of that heart, 
 which once only beat in hostility to his maker : 
 but I must restrain the sentiments which insult- 
 ed majesty which, a poisoned land which, 
 the trampled cross, might arouse within me. 
 Upon the sepulchre are inscribed these words, 
 " Mes manes sont consoles puisque mon cceur 
 est au milieu de vous."" Affecting the language 
 of heathenism, he forsook the solid hopes and 
 promises of the gospel, for airy and imaginary 
 expectations. In this chamber too, are portraits 
 of his friends and admirers ; Frederick of Prus- 
 sia, and the Empress Catherine, are assigned a
 
 46 TRAVELS THROUGH SWITZERLAND. 
 
 place ; Franklin's is distinguished by a quota- 
 tion written by his own hand, " Nullo flebilior 
 quam ie Virgili" A sad disquietude pervades 
 a Christian's mind in such a place, and he leaves 
 the abode of perverted genius, attributing to 
 divine grace the possession of his own, less am- 
 bitious, yet more exalted hopes. 
 
 There are some interesting walks in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Geneva. There is one, along the 
 Rhone, to where it joins the Arve, and another 
 by the lake, among the beautiful villas on its 
 banks. The water of the river is conveyed to 
 the upper parts of the town by the force of an 
 hydraulic machine ; for this people are most in- 
 genious in their application of science to the 
 necessary or elegant conveniences of life. 
 
 The principal wealth of the people consists 
 in their very extraordinary skill in the fabrica- 
 tion of watches, musical seals, &c. A trades- 
 man, respectable elsewhere, is here doubly so ; 
 for in this little republic he is a principal sup- 
 port of its independence. Persons of both sexes 
 are engaged in these mechanical works ; the 
 more difficult parts are assigned to the men 
 the more delicate to the women. They are en- 
 gaged, some in arranging the machinery, others 
 in painting the dials, and the result of such nice 
 manufacture raises the admiration of the stran-
 
 GENEVA. 47 
 
 ger, when he hears the watch or the snuff-box, 
 with the most delicate harmony, perform all the 
 notes and cadences of some favourite air. 
 
 The inhahitants of Geneva rise early, and 
 the proper season of rest is not disturbed by the 
 attractions of the theatre, or midnight amuse- 
 ments. Their amusements consist in the -unin- 
 terrupted enjoyment of a regular and virtuous 
 life. They form societies together, and the 
 friendly intercourse between both sexes is rarely 
 interrupted by those seductive arts which pre- 
 vail in an abandoned age. Freedom is founded 
 on its proper basis submission to God, and 
 obedience to his commands ; and wherever these 
 are spontaneous, there, we find that, man rises 
 superior to the irregularities of the unregenerate 
 heart. 
 
 As Geneva lies environed by the Italians, 
 Germans, and French, a great variety of lan- 
 guages may be often heard at the same public 
 table. The airy flippancy of the French con- 
 trasts with the grave hoarseness of the German, 
 and the softness of the Italian accent with the 
 force of our northern dialect. 
 
 My letter is rather long ; but I could gladly 
 continue to speak of a people, whom I begin 
 highly to respect. You must, however, excuse
 
 48 TRAVELS THROUGH SWITZERLAND. 
 
 such a minute account ; but remember, that we 
 are in part related to them, by the ties of liberty 
 and religion. Adieu. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Chamberry. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 WHEN I concluded my last, I was about to 
 depart from Geneva ; but a friend who had in- 
 vited me to visit him at Lausanne, induced me 
 to repair thither. The country through which 
 I passed, on my way to it, is the most beautiful 
 you can imagine ; not only the lakes, and the 
 fine outlines of the mountains, enriched the 
 scene, but numerous villages and country seats 
 give additional variety to its prospects. At 
 Nyon, I entered into conversation with an elder- 
 ly man, who proved to be a true-born Swiss ; 
 his remarks respecting the French invasion, and 
 their attempts to corrupt the sacred source of 
 national virtue the gleam of happiness, which 
 kindled on his countenance, as he recorded the 
 purity and morality which characterized the 
 past, and which he now anticipated as ready to 
 adorn the future annals of his country, were all
 
 CHAMBERRY. 40 
 
 stamped with the impress of true patriotism: 
 " If happiness," he cried, " dwells on earth, it 
 is in a country such as this ; where the blessings 
 of God are gratefully acknowledged by man, 
 and where the glory of our constitution is up- 
 held by the individual purity of its inhabitants."" 
 
 The other towns along the lake are prettily or- 
 namented in the exterior, and industry seems 
 busy in each. 
 
 Lausanne is seated on an eminence, at some 
 distance from the lake ; a fine Cathedral on the 
 highest part of it, marks it out for some miles 
 eVe we arrive. The Alps assume a much bolder 
 and more grand appearance here, than at Ge- 
 neva. On the opposite side of the lake, a vast 
 opening in the mountains makes way for the 
 Rhone as it winds along ; they seem, by receding 
 from its channel, to press upon those behind ; for 
 these tower to the skies in confused magnificence. 
 The Rhone at length forces its progress, and 
 falls into the lake ; while in the distance of the 
 valley which it forms, we discern Mount St. 
 Bernard, with its snowy summit rising superior 
 to the enormous heights with which it is sur- 
 rounded. 
 
 Lausanne was the residence of Gibbon the 
 historian. I visited his abode, and truly it sur- 
 prized me, that in such a place, where creation
 
 50 TRAVELS THROUGH SWITZERLAND. 
 
 so loudly spoke the majesty of God where a 
 bounteous hand so profusely poured out its 
 blessings where his own intelligence was a fur- 
 ther proof of the Divine power that here the 
 Revelation should be dishonoured ; and while the 
 abominations of the heathen, and the impositions 
 of the Mahomedan are spoken of with respect, 
 the mercies of God, in Christ Jesus, are studi- 
 ously set at nought, by a wanton ingenuity. 
 Let youth, especially, beware of writers such as 
 this. They may be led on by the love of learn- 
 ing, only to fall into the syren snares of infide- 
 lity. They may begin by admiring the style, 
 and end by embracing the sentiment ; plausibi- 
 lity will pass for proof, and sophistry be substi- 
 tuted for the deductions of reason : truth, though 
 unadorned, is eternal falsehood, though robed 
 in her finest drapery, shall crumble into dust. 
 
 As we returned towards Geneva, we found 
 that the Savoyards had crossed the lake in boats, 
 to attend the fairs in the towns through which 
 we passed. We stopped to see the residences of 
 Joseph Bonaparte, and of Madame De Stael. 
 The former is said to have enjoyed more happi- 
 ness here than in the palace of Madrid ; the 
 latter well known lady was then in Florence, 
 and possesses a fine chateau at Copet. One 
 would almost say, that the emanations of this
 
 CHAMBERRY. 51 
 
 beauteous lake were impregnated with somewhat 
 of an an ti Christian influence ; so many who 
 have inhaled its air, have imbibed the poison. 
 
 Immediately on my return to Geneva, I took 
 my departure for Italy ; and by reason of the 
 snow which obstructed the passage by Mount 
 Simplon, I altered my course, and intend to 
 cross Mount Cenis. Leaving the very limited 
 territory of Geneva, we enter into that of Savoy. 
 
 The Vetturino travels slowly ; this enabled us 
 to see the country, and to acquire the language. 
 The expence is moderate, and you are spared 
 the inconvenience of pecuniary arrangements at 
 the numerous inns along the road. 
 
 We proceed through a fine vine-clad country 
 through very simple villages, and an apparently 
 kind people. One instance especially of their hos- 
 pitable character, I experienced at Mionas : The 
 carriage towards evening, was slowly ascending a 
 hill a respectable fellow-traveller called at the 
 cottage of an elderly widow, who, with her chil- 
 dren, dwelt in this sequestered retreat. They re- 
 cognized each other as friends, and she invited all 
 our party in, refreshed us with her choicest fare, 
 and though evidently poor, refused every offer 
 of pecuniary recompence ; a rare feature in the 
 character of those with whom hitherto I have 
 sojourned.
 
 52 TRAVELS THROUGH SWITZERLAND. 
 
 At Aix are very salubrious warm baths ; in 
 great esteem among the ancients, as the re- 
 mains of their structures sufficiently attest. 
 Many parts of this town have a volcanic appear- 
 ance ; and beneath the house and garden of M. 
 Perriet, a physician, are the ruins of several 
 buildings, which seem to have been destroyed 
 when eruptions took place. M. P. showed me 
 several fine antiques, which he rescued from the 
 rubbish; and frequently proposed to Govern- 
 ment to undertake the expence of searching for 
 other vestiges of ancient times. The country 
 around, is a fine field for the botanist and natu- 
 ral philosopher. Another gentleman in this 
 place, M. Perret, is about to publish a botani- 
 cal classification of the indigenous plants of 
 Piedemont and Savoy ; of which I saw in his 
 possession, a very large number. Hence we pass 
 through a country of vines, where they trail 
 them up on bowers and arched walks ; well cal- 
 culated at once to gratify the gleaner's palate, 
 and to afford a shade from the oppressive heat of 
 the ripening sun. We soon reach Chamberry, 
 where I am disposed to rest ; and shall conclude 
 at present, with the 
 
 Best wishes, &c.
 
 SUZA. 53 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 Suza, on the borders of Italy. 
 
 Mv DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 CHAMBERRY is an uninteresting place, 
 and appears to great disadvantage, in comparison 
 to those towns I have lately visited. After a 
 fruitless walk to see if it contained any object 
 worthy of notice, 1 fell into conversation with a 
 French officer, who served under Napoleon in 
 his Russian campaign. This gentleman con- 
 firmed the account which Lebaume has given of 
 its extraordinary and disastrous termination. 
 Leaving Chamberry, we commence our route 
 through the mountains ; and again I am inte- 
 rested by every circumstance, however trivial, 
 which can vary the monotony of slow travelling, 
 amid wild and misshapen hills. Keeping along 
 the banks of the Isere, we reach Mount Melian, 
 the aspect of which is highly romantic ; and the 
 peasantry apparently a happy and contented 
 race. Nor can I forget the whimsical appearance 
 of the peasant boys of this place, hidden beneath 
 their broad-leaved hats, with the hair collected, 
 like the formality of years, into a lengthened 
 queue. La Chambre is a solitary inn, situated in 
 an amphitheatre of mountains, productive of 
 F 3
 
 54 TRAVELS THROUGH SWITZERLAND. 
 
 walnuts which also grow in great abundance 
 along our route. Here did I rise betimes to hear 
 the nightingales; and at break of day did I 
 enjoy a most full concert of these melodious 
 warblers the richness of whose tones served to 
 raise up my heart to a very soothing train of 
 thought ; whilst at such an hour, and in such a 
 place, I meditated on the love and majesty of 
 the great Author of the wonders with which I 
 was surrounded. 
 
 The road we now pass, was constructed by 
 the order of the Ex-Emperor ; and its every 
 part displays both enterprise and genius. It 
 either passes at a. distance from the side of the 
 hills, where the falling of rocks might be fatal to 
 the traveller, or else hangs upon the edge of the 
 precipice ; yet is rendered perfectly safe by the 
 walls and posts along its side. The mountaineers 
 are a simple and industrious race ; snatching 
 from the hands of a seemingly adverse Nature, 
 the scanty gifts on which they subsist. Every 
 spot capable of cultivation is adequately prized ; 
 and even on the utmost heights of their native 
 mountains, you can see the green patches occu- 
 pied by their cattle, and the sheds which are 
 provided for their shelter. These poor people 
 are afflicted with a large swelling protuberance 
 beneath the throat ; which, though to our eyes
 
 SUZA. 55 
 
 presenting an unpleasing appearance, yet by 
 them is considered, (I am informed) as a mark of 
 providential favour. Indeed, most kindly has 
 the Providence of God blended the wants of 
 man with his own mercies ; and where he seems 
 to afflict, in reality loves. To man it seems 
 to be intimated, that in such a place he is an 
 intruder upon the retirement of Nature. She 
 seems to look for solitude in her munition of 
 Jofty mountains : And man seems forbidden to 
 plant his foot-steps here, much less to fix in it 
 his abode. Her ordinary favours are withdrawn, 
 and what she gives are scattered with a sparing 
 hand. The waters which are drank, are said to 
 be productive of the goitre just described. The 
 food which is consumed, is hardly gathered from 
 the rocks : and even the sun dispenses his bright- 
 ness on their dials with but a transient smile.- 
 Still the hardy peasant knows not the ills with 
 which luxury writhes upon its bed of down : 
 frugality and labour are the parents of health 
 and cheerfulness ; nor does intemperance, by 
 obliterating the reason, reduce him to the level 
 of the brute. Commerce, too, steps in to re- 
 lieve the necessities of this interesting people ; 
 and in her progress to other lands, drops some 
 blessings here. Hence we can trace from the
 
 56 TRAVELS THROUGH SWITZERLAND. 
 
 palliative hand of a Being, good to all his crea- 
 tures^ an unexpected plenty amid scenes which 
 look so inhospitably rude. 
 
 From Lanslebourg we employed an additional 
 number of animals mules and oxen to ascend 
 the Mount Cenis. The road is, by no means, 
 difficult of ascent, being a succession of inclined 
 planes ; along its sides are lofty posts, on which 
 the graduations show the depth of the snow 
 which rests upon it : it is, at times, so deep as to 
 bury the unwary traveller, when surprized by 
 such dense fogs, as to prevent him tracing out 
 his way ; these inconveniencies, however, are 
 greatly diminished by the projection of this admi- 
 rable pass. Houses of refuge are numerously 
 placed along the road, in which a mountaineer 
 isipdged with stores of provision; but the crosses 
 erected on those spots where unhappy sufferers 
 have been buried, prove the danger which some- 
 times baffles all precaution. 
 
 On the pinnacle of this dreary mountain is 
 situated, a large hospice, in which about fifty of 
 the clergy reside, who have retired from the 
 haunts of men, to enjoy the pure satisfaction of 
 affording relief to such travellers as stand in need 
 of their philantropic humanity. I am told that 
 they traverse the snows with their faithful dogs,
 
 SUZA. 51 
 
 that experience has made known to them the 
 places of greatest danger, and by certain marks 
 can ascertain the spots where it is probable a 
 human being may have been overwhelmed by 
 the snow. With long poles they sound the 
 place, and having ascertained the truth of their 
 conjecture, the dogs are set to remove the heaps 
 of snow to penetrate into its cold womb, and 
 drag out the almost smothered traveller. He is 
 borne to their hospice the vital spark is re- 
 kindled ; and even when restored to himself, he 
 is not suffered to retire till every apprehension 
 of danger is removed ; they receive no recom- 
 pence but his prayers and his gratitude. As I 
 passed I gave them mine ; but would not allow 
 them to misplace their liberality, as I was not 
 obliged to claim its exercise. 
 
 The height being attained, our mules and 
 oxen are dismissed ; and here the cold was 
 intense. But the descent was particularly reviv- 
 ing ; a grateful transition is felt at once from the 
 severity of winter to the genial warmth of spring. 
 We left the fogs to rest upon their native hills ; 
 and gradually advancing into a milder atmos- 
 phere, and a more verdant climate, we find our- 
 selves, on entering the small town Suza, upoa 
 the very threshold of the far-famed Italy. My
 
 58 TRAVELS THROUGH SWITZERLAND. 
 
 next shall give you whatever views I receive of 
 this land of genius and antiquity. At present 
 I must conclude with repeated assurances of the 
 unalterable 
 
 Affection of 
 
 &c. &c.
 
 MILAN. 59 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 Milan. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 SEVERAL circumstances reminded me 
 that I was now treading on classic ground. At 
 Suza is the vestage of an arch of triumph, erected 
 by the original inhabitants, in honour of Augus- 
 tus ; which as it was the first ancient monument 
 of this kind I had seen, excited greatly my at- 
 tention. On the almost effaced inscription, we 
 can trace the name of him for whom it was 
 erected. After our repast, (in which I was 
 joined by some members of a Scotch family, 
 whose carriage accompanied ours in our passage 
 over the mountains ;) we were pleasingly sur- 
 prised by the entrance of a party of itinerant 
 musicians, who, with consummate skill, perform- 
 ed the most engaging airs. 
 
 Having left this place, we begin to perceive 
 some of the unhappy effects of the perversion of 
 Christianity which prevails in this country. At 
 Ruchanzi, on a lofty eminence, is a place oif 
 worship ; the ascent is made with great difficulty, 
 and along it are erected small stations, in which 
 pictures are exposed to the veneration of the
 
 60 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 worshippers. So rigid are the penitentiary ex- 
 ercises, that, in the severe season (as I am in- 
 formed) some have fallen victims to such unrea- 
 sonable imposition. Nor could we fail to notice, 
 in such a lovely country as we were now tra- 
 versing, the wretchedness of the human habita- 
 tions, which seem so strangely at variance with 
 the natural beauties profusely thrown around. 
 Soon do we enter upon a fine road, shaded by 
 lofty elms ; and having passed by Vayes, where 
 are some pillars strewn upon the earth and 
 Rivoli, where, on an eminence, stands a royal 
 palace, we enter the king of Sardinia's capital 
 the city of Turin. 
 
 Turin is a most regular, and apparently mag- 
 nificent metropolis. We enter at once into lofty 
 buildings ; no suburban huts deforming the 
 grandeur intended to arrest our notice. The 
 Strada del Po, adorned with porticos on either 
 side, and in which are the royal palaces, give 
 on a superficial view, a favourable opinion of 
 the wealth of the inhabitants : but as far as I 
 can learn, all this ostentation is rather the effect 
 of vanity than of opulence ; and behind these 
 splendid facades, are the refuges of want and 
 misery. The retailers of the commonest neces- 
 saries of life, sitting beneath these fine arcades, 
 endeavour to earn the daily pittance with which
 
 MILAN. 61 
 
 they support their families, who are lodged in 
 the back settlements of these showy palaces. 
 
 The present monarch is esteemed a weak and 
 superstitious prince. He seems to think that 
 the unceasing exercise of ritual observance, will 
 atone to his Maker for a disregard of the impor- 
 tant duties connected with the station in which 
 Providence has placed him ; and that the main- 
 tenance of a numerous and indolent race of 
 priests, is more meritorious than a paternal at- 
 tention to the comforts of these poor subjects, 
 who seem languishing through some fatal neglect. 
 I had an opportunity of witnessing some truly 
 affecting instances of poverty ; and earnestly 
 hoped that the period should soon arrive, when 
 the adoption of a Christian principle more pure, 
 may diffuse its blessing from the monarch to the 
 meanest of his subjects. The royal palace is of 
 great extent, but the interior, though adorned 
 with a profusion of gilding, has that tawdry 
 appearance, which, without the reality, pretends 
 to the semblance of substantial grandeur. 
 
 There is some attention paid to the fine arts in 
 this city ; the works in ivory particularly, are car- 
 ried to great perfection. There is a fine museum 
 of natural history ; some of the antiques carried 
 oft' by the French, have been lately restored ; and 
 numerous specimens of domestic utensils, made 
 G
 
 62 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 use of by the Romans, give a clear insight into 
 this part of ancient economy. 
 
 On a very lofty eminence, at a small distance 
 from this city, is the mausoleum of the Sardinian 
 kings. The church is built of marble, and its 
 lofty dome is .conspicuous for many a league. 
 Ascending by the pathway, the botanist has a 
 good field for research ; and on arriving at the 
 Superga itself, we stop to take in, the extensive 
 view of the Alpine heights, which we had so 
 lately left of this city of palaces, lying in the 
 plain below and of the river Po, winding along 
 through distant lands. The interior of this 
 church is very costly; and very sumptuous is 
 the sepulchral vault of the kings. In its centre, 
 the remains of the last monarch repose, until 
 those of his successor are brought to occupy that 
 post of honour which is then resigned. It is a 
 tomb of Parian marble, on which the royal arms 
 and appropriate emblems are placed ; but the 
 introduction of ceremonial precedence, is surely 
 out of character in a place where all are equal. 
 There is something of ostentatious pomp intro- 
 duced into this repository of the dead, which 
 conveys no very suitable impressions ; and the 
 simple view of some village burying-ground, has 
 more deeply impressed my mind with sacred 
 truth, and serious thoughts, than I felt on enter-
 
 MILAN. 63 
 
 ing among those gorgeous tombs of departed 
 kings. 
 
 The road to Milan passes through a country 
 so flat, that it has been inundated for the purpose 
 of growing rice, which is here cultivated in the 
 same manner as is practised in the East. The 
 continual croaking of toads is the only sound 
 which accosts the ear, and not quite so produc- 
 tive of pleasing sentiments as my favourite war- 
 blers amid the Alps. The costume of the pea- 
 santry, especially the coiffure, is very pretty ; 
 a handkerchief is gracefully thrown upon the 
 head, which is supported on the large silver pins 
 with which they fasten up the hair. We amuse 
 ourselves at Verceil, in surveying the interior 
 decorations of the churches, and some curiosities 
 which the people have collected into a small 
 museum. As we approach Milan, the richer 
 and beauty of the country command our admi- 
 ration ; and the lofty spires of the marble Cathe- 
 dral rising above the inferior buildings, announce 
 the magnificence of the city into which we now 
 enter. 
 
 Your's, Sec.
 
 64 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 Milan. 
 
 Mr DEAII FRIEND, 
 
 THE first object to which I must lead your 
 attention, is, the magnificent Gothic Cathedral, 
 situated in the centre of the city. It is nearly 
 as extensive as St. PauPs, and built entirely of 
 white marble ; ornamented on the exterior with 
 upwards of a thonsand statues, and each part of 
 the structure from the pointed minaret, to the 
 stately dome finished with the most minute and 
 elaborate elegance. The front is quite new, 
 and presents rather an incongruous association 
 of the Grecian and Gothic orders of architecture; 
 but the adoption of an elegant model can never 
 disfigure the invention of a less enlightened age. 
 Previous to the elevation of Napoleon to the 
 Italian crown, a suitable fa9ade was wanting to 
 complete this stately pile, which was then begin- 
 ning to suffer from the moulding touch of time. 
 The enterprising king felt ambitious to adorn 
 his capital, perhaps to give lustre to his name, 
 and at once invading the rights of the clergy, 
 he sold the lands belonging to the Cathedral ; 
 the annual revenue of which had been effecting 
 a gradual advancement of the work, but one too
 
 MILAN. 65 
 
 slow for so impetuous a mind as his; having 
 thus obtained a sufficient sum, he appropriated 
 the whole to the completion of the costly struc- 
 ture. The clergy, indeed, possess one amongst 
 the finest places for public worship ; but they 
 daily experience how much their interest has 
 been sacrificed to ostentation. The interior is 
 vast and solemn the painted windows cast 
 around an awe-inspiring variety of shades, which 
 spread along the aisles the lofty pillars and the 
 arched ceilings. We can admire these results of 
 human ingenuity; but while the exclamation 
 "What great buildings are here!"" is passing 
 from our lips, the voice of truth is predicting its 
 downfall ; and while we try to associate religious 
 impressions with this outward magnificence, that 
 same voice is heard to proclaim " That the 
 Most High God dwelleth not in the temples 
 made with hands.'" 
 
 The Christian while at evening he treads the 
 marble pavement, and hears the thrilling me- 
 lody, as it echoes to the dome, is invited to 
 heavenly meditation ; but he retires with a 
 sorrowing heart, when he finds that the one 
 atonement of the Lord Jesus is here superced- 
 ed by the reiterated, the unbloody, and conse- 
 quently worthless, sacrifice of the mass. When 
 he finds the service of the Latreia bestowed upon 
 c 3
 
 66 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 the creature, and hence becoming Idol-Latri. 
 Sees, too, a series of outward rites, altogether 
 supplanting the spiritual worship which God 
 demands. Could Paul and Peter now stand 
 forth to utter the sentiments they have written 
 in the Sacred Volume, their message would be 
 scorned, or this baseless superstition would crum- 
 ble into dust. 
 
 The inhabitants affix an extraordinary value 
 to one statue here, that of St. Bartholomew 
 representing him as flayed alive, and in the act 
 of holding his own skin. It is executed, indeed, 
 with the skill of an artist, but much more so 
 with Ithe accuracy of an anatomist. The very 
 idea begets an involuntary shudder. Nor should 
 recollections be thus revived, which, while they 
 mark the cruelty of Paganism, prove also the 
 degeneracy of the Christian who is determined 
 never to forget or to forgive. 
 
 Descending with torches, we proceeded to visit 
 the sepulchral vault of St. Carlo Boromeo. The 
 remains of this benevolent individual repose in a 
 crystal coffin, in a small repository, richly adorned 
 with silver work in bass relief; within the tomb are 
 royal offerings from several European monarch?. 
 Being uncased to our view, it was saluted with 
 profound veneration by the priests who attended 
 to do the honours, and receive the gratuity.
 
 MILAN. 67 
 
 They announce, that the abstinence of the French 
 from the spoliation of so valuable a shrine, was the 
 result of supernatural interposition, effected by 
 the saint himself. I respect the memory of a 
 man, who, during his life time, devoted himself 
 to the calls of humanity, at a period when thou- 
 sands, ready to be swept away by a frightful 
 pestilence, cried aloud for its exercise. Butif such 
 impious adoration as this, was either the motive 
 of his conduct, the object of his ambition, or the 
 subject of his public ministry, I am warranted to 
 apply to it the Saviour's words, " Verily I say 
 unto you, he has his reward." 
 
 Near the Domo, or Cathedral, is the Viceroy's 
 palace ; the interior of which displays peculiar 
 taste. The walls hung with rich coloured silks 
 the ceilings painted by superior artists, and 
 the floors inlaid with various species of wood. 
 It is evidently adapted for use ; and though 
 suiting the dignity of its inhabitant, there is 
 nothing of the empty pageantry and tinsel orna- 
 ments, so lately seen in that of Turin. 
 
 The college of Brera is the museum, as well as 
 the academy of the fine arts. Its collection of paint- 
 ings is deposited in superb apartments, arranged 
 in the order of their respective dates : but the 
 Mosaic works, which to me, at least, were new, 
 surprized me with the consummate skill of the
 
 68 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 execution ; all the varieties of colour, of light, 
 and of shade, are produced from the arrangement 
 of small particles, either of marble or vitreous 
 composition. By this means, paintings are copied 
 with indescribable accuracy ; and in addition to 
 the peculiar value arising from so elaborate a 
 \vork, their colours will stand the test of time, 
 and will preserve the character, as well as sur- 
 vive the duration of their originals. The small 
 pieces which compose the work, are placed toge- 
 ther in the tenaceous substance prepared for 
 them attention being only paid to the proper 
 colours ; and when the work is completed, the 
 whole is smoothed, in the same manner as blocks 
 of marble. When I visited this place, the work- 
 men were engaged in copying the Last Supper 
 of Leonardo da Vinci, as large as the original. 
 It was nearly finished, and seemed to have 
 quite the effect of the original. The Virtuoso 
 may here select some choice works of this de- 
 scription, which are exposed for sale ; some of 
 which, representing the busts of sacred person- 
 ages, almost rival the colouring and beauty of 
 the celebrated chef d'oeuvre?, from which they 
 are copied. There are also landscapes, and fine 
 specimens of other subjects. Mosaic is analagous 
 to tapestry ; both are the effects of labour, and 
 must never aspire beyond the office of handmaids
 
 MILAN. 69 
 
 and auxiliaries to the fine arts. In this institu- 
 tion are departments for other branches of sci- 
 ence ; also, a valuable observatory, and botanical 
 garden. 
 
 But I must now bid you adieu ; perhaps I 
 have prolonged my subject too much. You 
 must make all allowances for the usual surprize 
 arising from novel impressions. 
 
 Your faithful, 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 Milan. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 THE most celebrated library here, is the 
 Ambrosian, in which are contained, a vast num- 
 ber of rare and valuable manuscripts. These 
 were originally in the possession of an order of 
 Monks, who employed several of the ancient 
 parchments, for the purpose of transcribing their 
 legendary tales. The present librarian, Angelus 
 Maius, appears to be a learned man, and an 
 admirer of the Grecian and Roman authors. 
 By very patient exertions, he has traced some 
 valuable vestiges of them, hidden beneath the 
 old characters of the monastic records : several
 
 70 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 fragments of Cicero have thus been brought to 
 light, as well as a most early copy of the Epistles 
 of St. Paul. I shall bring you some specimens 
 of these curiosities. Petrarch, before the intro- 
 duction of printing, copied, in his own hand- 
 writing, the entire works of Virgil, which are 
 here shown to the curious. Inside the cover of 
 this book, he has carelessly written some of his 
 numerous verses to his favourite Laura. Among 
 the ancient parchments is a small picture, repre- 
 senting Homer's description of the burning of 
 Scamander ; and in a large volume are collected,, 
 the recreative sketches occasionally taken by 
 Leonardo da Vinci, as often as fancy, or an idle 
 moment, induced him to unbend from his more 
 laborious undertakings. His celebrated painting 
 of the Last Supper, nearly defaced by the effects 
 of time, is in fresco, on the walls of the church 
 of St. Laurenzio : standing in front of which 
 church, are sixteen Grecian columns, the portico 
 of an ancient temple dedicated to Hercules. 
 
 Great luxury is displayed in the houses of the 
 nobility of this city, and its teeming population 
 in their evening promenade on the Corso, present 
 the appearance of considerable wealth. The 
 Corso is a public drive round the city ; shaded 
 on either side by very fine chesnuts, which are 
 in full blossom at this season. The gentry, in
 
 MILAN. 71 
 
 their carriages, move along in slow procession, 
 occasionally saluting each other as they pass ; 
 while the walks on either side, are crowded by 
 well-dressed pedestrians. The continual recur- 
 rence of the same routine, appears monotonous 
 and insipid ; but it suits the disposition of the 
 Italian nobility, and they seem contented I envy 
 not their pastime. In their return homeward, 
 they are wont to stop at some of the numerous 
 coffee-houses in the way ; and, perhaps, con- 
 clude the evening at the Opera of La Scala.- 
 I hear that Luxury and Dissipation revel behind 
 the silken curtains of its private boxes that 
 gaming often hurries its votaries to the very 
 verge of desperation and that Vice refined, like 
 the once compliant serpent, insinuates its poison 
 into the bosom of youth, with all the hypocricies 
 of intrigue. 
 
 When Napoleon was crowned king of Italy, 
 he used every expedient to awaken the martial 
 ardour of this effeminate people ; and in provid- 
 ing them with appropriate amusements on this 
 occasion, he led back their thoughts to the days 
 of their Roman progenitors, by exhibiting the 
 martial games in which they were wont to engage. 
 For this purpose was prepared a spacious arena, 
 in which chariot-races, as of old, were exhibited ; 
 and bsing afterwards filled with water," the spec-
 
 72 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 tators witnessed the ancient Naumachiae. From 
 the fine building which he caused here to be 
 erected, he could on the one side enjoy the 
 games, and on the other view the soldiers per- 
 form their military evolutions in the foro Bona- 
 parte. Napoleon also possessed a very agreeable 
 villa near the city, which is laid out in the Eng- 
 lish style, with peculiar taste. 
 
 We visited a place in the environs, called Si- 
 monetta, celebrated only for the peculiar echo 
 which a sound makes upon its walls ; the 
 reverberation is repeated about forty times and 
 the gradual vibrations of the shot of a pistol, 
 from its thundering report to its terminating 
 whisper, produce a surprising effect upon the 
 ear. A very fine collection of ancient and modern 
 medals is contained in the mint. Not only the 
 the antiquarian would derive satisfaction in 
 examining them, but even the historian might 
 glean some materials for his work, in tracing out 
 events as they are recorded here in brazen cha- 
 racters. 
 
 Having thus taken a view of Milan, permit 
 me to carry you on a visit to the Lago di Como, 
 about twenty miles from the town. On arriving, 
 I proceeded in a boat to visit the several beau- 
 ties of the lake ; nor can I express my feelings 
 of admiration with the rich landscapes which, as
 
 MILAN. 73 
 
 I sailed along, at every moment presented them- 
 selves to view. Whatever the most rich and 
 verdant hills diversified with all possible vari- 
 eties of light and shade adorned with palaces, 
 villages, or romantic cottages, can add to a rural 
 scene, is here collected ; verdure drops along 
 their sides, from the verge of heaven to the 
 smooth lake, which both limits and reflects every 
 beauty in its waves. The wealthy enjoy their 
 spacious mansions on its banks ; and the cottager 
 greets his delightful home, as he sees it " embo- 
 somed high in tufted trees." The yellow orangery 
 vies with the purple vineyard ; nor can the 
 " Sabean odours from Araby the bless'd," glad- 
 den old ocean with so sweet a smile, as would the 
 aromatic perfume, which these hanging gardens 
 leave upon the smooth surface of this interesting 
 lake. 
 
 A place called the Pliniana, next engages my 
 attention ; so called from the minute description 
 which Pliny has given of it in one of his epistles: 
 he there endeavours to explain the causes of the 
 intermission, or occasional cessation of the foun- 
 tain, whose waters issue from the rocks. With- 
 out a due consideration of the phenomenon, 
 which requires time to examine, and can, perhaps, 
 admit of no further explanation than conjecture, 
 I proceeded to admire such fine prospects as in 
 H
 
 74 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 all directions present themselves to view. Here 
 a cascade falls from the height, and passes 
 beneath a house, both built as a bridge upon it, 
 and seated on the water's edge. There the 
 intermitting fountain issues from the rock ; 
 running at first smooth and untroubled but in 
 its progress to the lake, gushes down in a preci- 
 pitous career. Some ruins a copy of Pliny's 
 letter on the walls and the inscribed narrative 
 of his visit there, attach a peculiar interest to the 
 scene. The Princess of Wales possesses a fine 
 palace on the Como ; comprising all that could 
 exhibit the beauties of creation in their most 
 pleasing forms ; she has left it, however, for other 
 and more distant climes. 
 
 I have engaged your attention too far per- 
 haps, and can only allege as my excuse what I 
 sincerely feel, that the pleasures I have enjoyed 
 alone, I desire, in some measure, to communi- 
 cate to others. The character of sublimity being 
 impressed on the scenery of Geneva, is rivalled 
 by that of beauty, which smiles upon these 
 banks. But I am constrained to depart. 
 
 Adieu, &c.
 
 BOLOGNA. 75 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 Bologna. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 THE friendship I experienced, an$ the 
 interest I felt at Milan, rather made me regret 
 my departure from it ; but I come only to pass. 
 My course is shaped towards Bologna and Flo- 
 rence. Lodi first receives us, where the arms of 
 Napoleon for a moment, triumphed. The coun- 
 try seems rich in pasturage, and much of the 
 cheese called Parmesan, really comes from this 
 place. In the rainy weather, the peasantry 
 wear a sort of cloak, made of long bulrushes ; 
 which though a security from the inclemency of 
 the weather, strikes us as giving him the appear- 
 ance of being thatched. Placentia is the capital 
 belonging to the ex-Empress Maria Louisa ; she 
 arrived in it on the same day as we. The city 
 was illuminated on the occasion, and the Duchess 
 at evening went in procession through the town, 
 affording a lesson for ambition to muse upon ; 
 and realizing to our view, the sad features of 
 splendid misery. Her dignity degraded by an 
 alliance she disdained ; or her wodded heart for 
 ever bleeding, while she thinks upon her hope, 
 less separation from the man she loves. 
 H 2
 
 TC TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 The country through which we pass, on 
 leaving this place, is most rich and luxuriant.- 
 The full-grown elms, like the arrangement of 
 a military phalanx, and just as the Mantuan* 
 poet would have had them, are disposed in even 
 rows, and at equal distances, all through the 
 level plains, far as the eye can reach. Be- 
 neath their shade, the Indian corn pushes forth 
 its gigantic blade and ripens, uninjured by the 
 summer sun its truly golden ear. Around their 
 stems the vine uplifts itself mounts to the top- 
 most boughs moves on the horizontal branch, 
 to knit itself among the outstretched tendrils of 
 its neighbour-vines. So that all at length con,, 
 joined, the pendant foliage, and the clustering 
 grape, bend in festoons ; graceful and so exten- 
 sive, that the eye looking through the distance, 
 gradually loses itself in the closing vista. Oh, 
 how wonderful and varied are the works of God ! 
 
 In the villages through which we pass on our 
 way to Parma, are several Gothic monuments ; 
 the unwieldy productions of a barbarous age. 
 Parma is a fine and extensive city. Corregio, 
 the celebrated painter, has left in this place, 
 some of his very finest works; the effect pro- 
 duced upon the mind in the contemplation of 
 them, is that of sublimity so much of life and 
 
 * See Georgics.
 
 BOLOGNA. 77 
 
 of intelligence are thrown on every piece. Reg- 
 gio is a large city ; the streets where we passed, 
 were covered with awnings, on account of a fair 
 which takes place about this season. Consider- 
 able preparations had been made, as the fair 
 continues for almost a month, and the people of 
 Italy, and of surrounding countries, usually 
 attend. Modena is the residence of a duke of 
 that title. It seems a very beautiful town ; 
 and the hospital and work-house prove it to be 
 well regulated. The palace has just suffered by 
 fire, and that very considerably ; several fine 
 paintings, however, still adorn its walls. Among 
 others too numerous to mention, I particularly 
 noticed one by Corregio, in which the infant 
 Saviour reposes on the lap of the Virgin ; several 
 figures are around, each in an enquiring attitude : 
 and the only light which brightens their features, 
 and throws on them such an air of peculiar 
 dignity, is that which seems to emanate from the 
 irradiated countenance of the Lord himself. 
 Guido and Caracci, have here exhibited their 
 skill; but this delightful subject of Corregio, 
 filled my entire mind. In the library are some 
 ancient manuscripts, and one of the finst printed 
 editions of the Septuagint version of the Old 
 Testament. 
 
 Bologna, the largest city in this part of the 
 H 3
 
 78 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 country, belongs to the Papal dominions. On 
 either side of the streets are convenient arcades 
 for the foot passengers ; and though rather 
 antique, it seems a place of considerable bustle 
 and importance. I shall not attempt to give you 
 an account of all its curiosities ; that would 
 exceed the limits which prudence assigns me- 
 accept, however, a few particulars: Bologna 
 has been long celebrated for the superiority and 
 excellence of its painters ; several palaces con- 
 tain very fine collections, The Palazzo Ma- 
 rischalchi contains, in numerous chambers, spe- 
 cimens of the first masters : but though each 
 receives a transient, yet admiring look, I must 
 specially call your attention to another perfor- 
 mance of this celebrated Correge. It is a repre- 
 sentation of the Saviour in a sitting posture ; 
 the world is beneath his feet and while he is 
 now seated for the judgment, his arms are 
 extended to embrace in mercy, the returning 
 penitent ; Corregio especially, throws into such 
 performances, a glow of the most sacred charac- 
 ter. It would seem as if wrapt in contemplating 
 our divine Master with an eye of faith, he was 
 enabled to transcribe the heavenly impressions, 
 which love had traced upon his soul. My con- 
 ductor exhibited this painting to the greatest 
 advantage. When the room was shaded by the
 
 BOLOGNA. 79 
 
 closing of the shutters, the countenance appeared 
 deepening in intellectual expression, but as 
 light is gradually thrown upon it, a spectator is 
 overpowered with the majesty, and sweetness, 
 and inviting smile which beam across the fea- 
 tures, and seem to speak joy and benignity to 
 the heart. 
 
 While engaged in admiring this consum- 
 mate specimen of skill, my mind was led to trace 
 the introduction of pictures into the temples of 
 Roman worship, to an indulgence of such emo- 
 tions as these. It seems, to fallen reason un- 
 taught by revelation, a plausible device, by 
 means of such auxiliaries, to kindle the feelings 
 which should belong to the original. Corrupt 
 nature, too, is prone to fall into a worship that 
 addresses itself to sense, (since that original is 
 Spirit and man flesh) as a substitute for God's 
 demand of a worship, that consists in Spirit and 
 in truth. When, therefore, what is plausible 
 and natural in the abstract, can be here so abun^ 
 dantly supplied, this land of genius has become a 
 land of idolatrous superstition ; and its people, 
 while they gaze with admiration on the painted 
 canvass, become satisfied, that that which so 
 much pleases them, must be also acceptable unto 
 God. An appendage such as this, to their wor- 
 ship of the Most High, is like the ivy which
 
 80 TRAV r ELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 gracefully hangs upon a venerable ruin; for 
 while it serves to adorn, it insensibly steals the 
 remaining strength by which the building is sus- 
 tained. 
 
 I was spectator at a great procession here in 
 honour of the Virgin, in which they carried a 
 picture, said to have been the property and per- 
 formance of St. Luke; the houses were gaily 
 hung with red silk, and a crowd of well-dressed 
 people accompanied the portrait through the 
 arched walk that leads to her chapel. 
 
 The Specola, or school of science, appears a 
 fine institution, as all its several departments are 
 supplied with the very best apparatus ; also 
 attached to it, is a museum of natural history, 
 and monuments of celebrated persons ; among 
 others that of Cassini, the astronomer and pro- 
 fessor of this place. I am preparing to cross the 
 Appenines, and shall now conclude with the 
 sincere wishes of 
 
 Your's, &c.
 
 FLORENCE. 81 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 Florence. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 THE road to Florence affords the traveller 
 a succession of pleasing ideas, by its rich and 
 picturesque scenery. The mountains are not 
 considerable, but presenting a pleasant aspect. 
 Volcanic symptoms are apparent in many places, 
 especially at Pietra Amara, near which eruptions 
 sometimes take place. The dark fig-tree is 
 contrasted with the pale olive ; the vales are 
 rich for pasturage, and the numerous villages 
 with their tall spires the healthy peasantry with 
 the fresh flowers in their bonnets, mark our 
 progress through the interesting country of 
 Tuseany. At length, Florence amid her nume- 
 rous villas, soon receives us through a fine 
 triumphal arch, erected in honour of Leopold ; 
 and it was with no small interest I entered a city 
 remarkable for having been the fostering parent 
 of modern literature. Poverty, however, pre- 
 vails in some part of our route ; and our carriage 
 was frequently assailed with the cries of per 
 Tamor di Dlo e di San Mlchele date qualche 
 cosa, Sfc. 
 
 Florence having been the seat of much popu-
 
 82 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 lar and aristocratical contention, still wears the 
 features of its ancient character ; not in the actual 
 disposition of its inhabitants, but in the strength 
 and solidity of its ancient palaces. They are 
 built as well for security as for grandeur ; and 
 the rugged arrangement of the materials has 
 introduced a new order into architecture, called 
 the Tuscan, from originating here. These vene- 
 rable monuments recal to our minds the memory 
 of Cosmo, and Lorenzo the Magnificent ; names 
 which must be estimated by all who can appre- 
 ciate the great object they had in view, namely, 
 thatofunveilingthefinearts from the dark curtain 
 which a barbarous age had thrown upon them, 
 and causing the light of the intellectual world to 
 emerge from the gloom, by which it was so long 
 obscured. Upon the banks of the Arno the great 
 design was" cherished, and carried into effect : 
 and while the precious commodities of distant 
 countries were the ostensible objects which these 
 merchant-sovereigns had in view, they were not 
 insensible to so happy an occasion of importing 
 in their galeons, the precious relics of ancient 
 literature. By such successful exertions, Italian 
 genius was brought into action ; and the Arno 
 flows in many a liquid number, carrying the 
 names of Medici as the nursing- fathers of learn- 
 ing up to the present day. 
 
 The gallery of Florence is part of the effects
 
 FLORENCE. 83 
 
 of their sublime exertions it is a repository 
 of all that genius can produce in the interesting 
 field of the fine arts. This extensive building 
 lies near the river, and is comprised in three 
 sides of an oblong square. Having ascended to 
 the apartments, we were first introduced to a 
 small chamber, in which the principal personage* 
 of the Medicean family are represented in various 
 attitudes, by the combined genius and veneration 
 of those whom once they patronized. They are 
 placed here as if to welcome the admirers of such 
 productions, to the survey of this grand collection. 
 The long train of Roman emperors next attracts 
 our attention. These bu*ts were made either dur- 
 ing the lifetime, or immediately after it, of their 
 respective originals. Various are the reflections 
 which such a view creates ; reviving the early 
 impressions which the history of their crimes, or 
 of their virtues, had imprinted upon the mind. 
 The ambition of Caesar the gentleness of Anto- 
 nine the majestic air of Nerva, and the sensu- 
 ality of Vitellius, are distinctly marked in their 
 respective countenances : the busts of Nero were, 
 probably, made during his own lifetime ; for the 
 blamelessness of his youth is as strongly charac- 
 terized, as is the subsequent expression which 
 the awful change of his temper and disposition 
 spread upon his features. Here, too, is the 
 entire pantheon of heathen mythology. The
 
 84 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 grace of Apollo is contrasted with the awkward 
 archness of the Satyr, and the solemn gravity of 
 Jupiter, sets off the playful attitude of Cupid, 
 as he defies the threatened vengeance of superior 
 powers. 
 
 The next apartment to which I was led, 
 was the hall of Niobe ; where the several 
 members of the family are represented in the 
 agonies of the punishment they sustain from the 
 increased wrath of the offspring of Latona. 
 Here, also, great taste reigns in the design : the 
 supplicating posture of some the graceful timi- 
 dity of others the attitude of prayer, of suffer- 
 ing, or of death, are all finely conceived. 
 
 A statue of Mercury also, by John of Bologna, 
 deserves notice ; his small wings are expanded, 
 and every nerve is stretched for flight nay, he 
 seems already in the air ! lightness is the cha- 
 racter of a swift messenger, and this bronze 
 statue is lightness itself. It had formerly been 
 the ornament of a fountain, from which the 
 gushing waters, as they played around his foot, 
 seemed to raise aloft the winged ambassador. 
 
 You are next introduced to the celebrated 
 painters of modern times, who have sent por- 
 traits of themselves, being their own execution, 
 to form this interesting assemblage. That of 
 our Sir Joshua, has suffered by the effect of time 
 upon the colours, as is the case in others of his
 
 FLORENCE. 85 
 
 performance. Finally, we pass on to the reposi- 
 tory of chef d'oeuvres, which gives peculiar cele- 
 brity to the collection. The statue of Venus, 
 known by the name, Venus de Medici, first arrests 
 attention. The eulogium of so many nations, 
 and the late contest between its present possessors 
 and the French spoliasts about it, much awakened 
 my curiosity. It is surprising to behold such an 
 expression of life given to the inanimate marble. 
 So much delicacy displayed where the display 
 of delicacy is so difficult and so essential so 
 much symmetry, where the least disproportion 
 would have disentitled it to that character of 
 beauty which antiquity has drawn of its original. 
 The eye can pass along the outline of this figure, 
 and can trace the conception of Beauty personi- 
 fied, as it struck the wonderful artist who embo- 
 died his idea of it in the perfect workmanship 
 wrought out of such rude materials. 
 
 On another occasion I hope to survey some of 
 the remaining objects which here invite our atten- 
 tion. Happy would I feel were you present, both 
 to enjoy the sight of so many fine specimens, as 
 also to form a correct estimate of the elegance of 
 some, which I cannot adequately convey by any 
 description I could give. For the present I must 
 
 Conclude with, &c.
 
 86 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 Florence. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIE.VD, 
 
 THE other works which adorn the Tri- 
 bune, (as the chamber where the Venus stands is 
 called,) are no less worthy of notice, although 
 somewhat inferior in execution and design. 
 Here is a Spartan slave, employed in sharpening 
 some implement of servitude. There the combat 
 of the wrestlers forms a fine group of figures ; 
 one of which is represented as shuddering be- 
 neath the threatened blow of his incumbent 
 adversary. Further on a fawn, with his cym- 
 bals, seems eager to attract our notice, by the 
 frantic mirth with which he dances at their 
 sound. Cupid, being a favourite idol of anti- 
 quity, is variously represented ; in one place as 
 reclining on his outstretched wing in another 
 as attending on the fabled Psyche. Thus, the 
 marble is made to breathe, to bend, to smile, or 
 seemingly to expire. Justice, however, demands 
 for the display of talent spread upon the canvass, 
 an equal admiration. 
 
 Corregio, to whom I formerly introduced you, 
 is here, to charm us by that natural and fasci- 
 nating style so peculiarly his own. These
 
 FLORENCE. 87 
 
 features are softness itself, which present to our 
 view the countenance of the Virgin, as she is 
 engaged in an act of adoration ; and in his 
 pourtraying the innocent playfulness of children, 
 your heart would be filled with all the tender- 
 ness which a parent feels, while beholding on the 
 features of his little flock, the bright expression 
 of a guileless joy. Raphael is also here to con- 
 strain our admiration. An author, ** if not the 
 first, in the very first line ;" one who can also 
 touch the heart, and elevate the soul. St. John 
 the Evangelist, in a youthful character, is repre- 
 sented as under the immediate impression of a 
 divine influence; a divine influence is not an 
 object of sense, but is purely spiritual ; yet, as 
 far as it throws upon the features a sublime 
 reflection of heaven, so far has Raphael succeed- 
 ed in delineating it here. Another of his favou- 
 rite designs is the Virgin, the infant, and John 
 the Baptist. The humble reverence expressed 
 m the countenance of John, seems already to 
 proclaim that testimony respecting the Messiah 
 u his shoe's latchet I am not worthy to stoop 
 down and unloose."" While the encouraging 
 look of the Redeemer to his forerunner, an- 
 nounces him at once to be " the greatest of 
 prophets." 
 
 In this gallery the comic scenes of vulgar 
 i 2
 
 88 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 life, which distinguished the Flemish masters, 
 are finely contrasted by the sublime and clas- 
 sical productions of the Italian school : but 
 we must not pass on without pausing, particu- 
 larly to admire the beauty and sweetness exhi- 
 bited in the works of Carlo, who so justly is 
 denominated Carlo Dolce. Here you are led 
 into a Cy therean landscape ; a group of Cupids 
 emulate each other in playful dexterity. One is 
 drawing his arrow from the quiver ; another is 
 taking aim at a heart suspended from a rose- 
 tree ; a third, while sharpening his little dart, 
 seems determined to succeed ; a fourth, who 
 failed, runs for comfort to the fabled Queen of 
 love, who presides as arbitress in the contest ; 
 the nicest delicacy is expressed in the design, 
 and the hand of superior skill has put it into 
 execution. The other performances of which 
 this magnificent collection may justly boast; 
 would deserve your attention; but I shall at 
 present be satisfied in having described a few- 
 fearing lest these orbs (as I may call them) of 
 the first magnitude, might eclipse the lustre of 
 inferior stars : this gallery must again and again 
 be seen, rightly to appreciate its wonderful con^ 
 tents. I now leave it for other objects of curio- 
 sity. 
 
 The churches of Italy are generally orna-
 
 FLORENCE. 89 
 
 merited with the richest specimens of art, which 
 the admirers of an ostentatious worship can se- 
 lect. Not so magnificent as that of Milan, but 
 equally extensive, is the Cathedral of Florence ; 
 the exterior of it is incrusted with marble, which 
 gives it so heavy an appearance, that some have 
 called it, a marble mountain. The small Bap- 
 tistry, (as the building which stands in front of 
 the Cathedral is called,) is particularly deserv- 
 ing of close examination ; the shape of it is 
 octagonal the gates are of bronze, on which 
 sacred subjects, in basso 'relievo, are exquisite- 
 ly designed. So much admired have these gates 
 been, that the celebrated Michael Angelo, when 
 he saw them, said, with a boldness of expres- 
 sion peculiar to his genius, that, " these must 
 have been the gates of Paradise." The interior 
 of this little chapel is consistent with its out- 
 ward beauty ; a mosaic roof, supported on 
 sixteen columns, rests upon a groundwork, com- 
 posed of coloured marbles all arranged with 
 the most studied elegance. The altar, and ap- 
 pendages of Italian worship, as in other places, 
 so are here also, most costly ; being usually in- 
 tended to attract the reverence of the people. 
 
 The old church of Santa Croce is interesting, 
 as being the place where the remains of some 
 celebrated characters of this country are depo-
 
 90 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 sited. The tomb of Michael Angelo is adorn- 
 ed with weeping figures of painting, statuary, 
 and architecture, in which he so eminently ex- 
 celled ; the work is a tribute of respect from his 
 own pupils, as well as a specimen of their suc- 
 cess in the imitation of their master. Alfieri is 
 lamented by the tragic Muse ; and on the tomb 
 of the historian Machiavelli are these simple 
 words, Tanto Homini nullum par eloglum. 
 Galileo, and several other once-distinguished 
 characters, are here mingling their remains with 
 the parent dust. In this chapel are several 
 paintings by Perrugino and Cimabue ; these 
 authors flourished when the art was in its in- 
 fancy, long before the energies of its subsequent 
 maturity had burst forth. 
 
 Other churches, here, as repositories of fine 
 specimens of art, (were it not for that proximity to 
 those of much higher pretension, by which their 
 lustre is eclipsed,) would merit a distinct and 
 detailed account ; but the chapel of Lorenzo, re- 
 markable, not for its dimensions, but for the ex- 
 traordinary richness of its interior, must not be 
 overlooked; it was commenced by the ostentatious 
 spirit of Leo X. who commenced whatever might 
 shed the air of royal dignity upon the Medicean 
 family, and succeeding Pontiffs of the same race, 
 influenced too by the same ambition, employed the
 
 FLORENCE. fil 
 
 riches of the Popedom to second this extravagant 
 design : the walls are of a species of workmanship 
 called pietra dura ; which differs from the mo- 
 saic in the size and quality of the materials; 
 the pietra dura being composed of larger pieces, 
 and of the precious stones themselves, of which 
 mosaic is but the imitation. All the varieties of 
 Etrurian jasper, lapis Lazuli, and Sicilian spars ; 
 oriental marbles too, of different hues, are em- 
 ployed in exhibiting the armorial bearings of 
 the family of Medici, as well as those of the 
 other cities which were subject to their sway. 
 The marble cushion, at the niche of Lorenzo, 
 is said to be studded with diamonds Vain pomp 
 and glory of the world ! This very family i* 
 now extinct ; not one remains to perpetuate its 
 name, or to complete this edifice reared by 
 pride, carried on by ambitious extravagance; 
 but left unfinished. The emblem of earthly 
 happiness ; left for time to feed upon, and final- 
 ly left, like its great projectors, to moulder in 
 the dust. 
 
 Adieu.
 
 92 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 Florence. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 THOSE edifices which, at Florence, par- 
 ticularly attract the notice of a foreigner, are, 
 the ancient palaces of the nobility ; I before ob- 
 served the nature of their construction, and the 
 origin of the Tuscan order of architecture in 
 which these palaces are built. The old resi- 
 dence of the family of Medici is particularly 
 ponderous, and presents a gloomy exterior ; 
 much, however, is found to awaken our inte- 
 rest ; not in its monuments of art, which are but 
 thinly scattered through the building ; but in 
 the circumstance of its having been the seat of 
 a family, whose history has been conspicuous 
 in the world, for so many ages. In the large 
 square which is in front, is a bronze fountain ; 
 Neptune is represented in his chariot, surround- 
 ed by Tritons ; near this, in a place called the 
 Loggia, are several other ornamental statues. 
 
 The present residence of the grand Duke is 
 the celebrated palace Pitti. The great ancestor 
 of .that family was alone the rival of the Medici, 
 in their wealth, their power, and the desire of 
 introducing the fine arts once more into his
 
 FLORENCE. 93 
 
 country. His ambition, the prominent feature 
 of his character, is exhibited in the strength 
 and grandeur of the edifice which is still iden- 
 tified with his name ; it is situated on an emi- 
 nence, which commands the town ; it is a resi- 
 dence suited to sovereignty, but one that seems 
 to have exceeded the income of its founder, as 
 it still remains incomplete : the successful efforts 
 of his rivals, secured at length, the possession 
 of it to the family of Medici. In its present 
 state it is decorated with surpassing magnifi- 
 cence ; consummate taste is united with conve- 
 nience. Its gallery of paintings is alone eclipsed 
 by the excellence of those we have elsewhere 
 noticed. Indeed, my friend, an Englishman, 
 unaccustomed to behold such collections as these, 
 is almost bewildered before he is led to the end 
 of them. He begins, perhaps, to admire a 
 landscape, which recals to his mind some hap- 
 py recollection of native scenery ; he is then led 
 off to survey the portrait of an author, with 
 whose writings being once delighted, he now 
 feels peculiar interest in tracing, as it were, the 
 countenance of a friend, and that too of one 
 who almost seems to speak to you ; a group of 
 figures next introduces him into the society of 
 saints, or of men renowned for heroic deeds; 
 and again, he follows some interesting allegory,
 
 94 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 through its ingenious design and its moral re- 
 sult. When we desire to stay at one, we are 
 hurried off to another, and the chain of thought 
 is often interrupted, when the mind just begins 
 to receive the impression that the subject is 
 meant to convey. 
 
 Such are the observations which I am obliged 
 to make in visiting, not only this collection in 
 the palace Pitti, but those also of Corsini and 
 Gherini ; each of which is well worthy the at- 
 teption of all, who have both taste and leisure to 
 admire the superior productions of this delight- 
 ful art. Some there are, however, from which 
 you would not be drawn, contented with a cur- 
 sory regard ; the genius of Carlo Dolce arrests 
 your notice wherever it is displayed, and his 
 works are peculiarly calculated to awaken the 
 finer feelings of our nature ; his personification 
 of Poetry is remarkable in producing such ef- 
 fects : she is crowned with laurel, and the ex- 
 pression of her features unites at once the beau- 
 tiful and the sublime. The conception seems 
 to have emanated from a mind impregnated with 
 the genius of Milton and the Mantuan muse ; 
 the vigour of the one is so sweetly blended by the 
 softness of the other, in this interesting per- 
 formance of Carlo Dolce. 
 
 In the palace of the Riccardi family, the pro-
 
 FLORENCE. 95 
 
 gress of human life, from its earliest infancy, to 
 the different stages of manhood and old age, is 
 allegorized by the bold hand of Giordano ; the 
 ancient mythology supplies the introductory 
 scene here you see the Fates, preparing to 
 spin the thread of life, and near them is already 
 kindled the vital fire of Prometheus ; the infant 
 now is seen and we contemplate with delight 
 the apparent innocence and unclouded gaiety of 
 his dawning years appropriate emblems of the 
 advancing age are exhibited with the taste of 
 a poetic imagination. Two roads now present 
 themselves ; the one is the path of true happi- 
 ness, where Religion, with her handmaids, stands 
 inviting him, by the sincere and affectionate call 
 of Christian love, to pursue a way, which though 
 rarely trodden, and occasionally strewn with 
 thorns, ultimately leads to the mansions of eter- 
 nal joy on the other side of the hesitating 
 stripling, a brilliant countenance presents itself, 
 beaming with delight a fair form, crowned 
 with a chaplet of roses intermixed with vine- 
 leaves, boldly seizes on the youth, and points out 
 the fascinating entrance of the path she invites 
 him to pursue ; that smile allures the gay pros- 
 pect overpowers the judgment is enchained 
 by the present gratification ; and while he dis- 
 dains, as too harsh, the undisguised truth in
 
 96 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 which Virtue and Religion stand, he turns away, 
 to hurry downward to the paths of pleasure, of 
 ruin, and of death. It is Vice he follows, who 
 has presented herself in the garb of enjoyment. 
 The author next gives an insight of the hideous 
 form which stands behind the mask ; and the 
 successive scenes are a melancholy exhibition of 
 the fatal effects of this dreadful choice. Here 
 the ingenious allegory terminates ; but, I con- 
 fess, that I desired, with our interesting author, 
 to have followed the hapless youth till Expe- 
 rience and Repentance, having taken him by the 
 hand, had led him, though a prodigal, to those 
 parental arms, which are ever open to embrace 
 the penitent ; and could a human artist give 
 but one glimpse of heaven, how gratefully 
 would we contemplate its blessed inhabitants, 
 rejoicing over the returning sinner, as he lay at 
 the Redeemer's cross. 
 
 Florence is provided with delightful gardens 
 and public walks, to which the citizens resort 
 on their festivals and holidays. The promenade 
 of the Cashines, which extends along the banks 
 of the Arno, is now the most frequented ; the 
 carriages of the nobility, as at the Corso of 
 Milan, move along in regular succession, re- 
 volving round those of the Grand Duke, who 
 is often present on such occasions, driving up
 
 FLORENCE. 9t 
 
 and down with majestic slowness. The pedes- 
 trians crowd along the agreeable pathways, 
 which lead through the groves of pine, on the 
 cool sides of the river ; occasionally partaking of 
 the refreshments, which are provided in great 
 quantities on the way, or enjoying the delight- 
 ful sensations which the distant lanscapes must 
 create. The people, even of the lowest ranks, 
 are well-dressed for the promenade ; they col- 
 lect in groups, well pleased with themselves and 
 all around ; and, in sympathising in the general 
 happiness, one is constrained to ask, Where, 
 amid such scenes as these, can discontent find a 
 place ? Fragrant flowers are presented us from 
 the baskets of the children, who have collected 
 them in a country which derives its name from 
 their beauty and profusion. 
 
 The garden of Boboli, adjoining the Palazzo 
 Pitti, is another delightful place ; arranged with 
 the most sedulous hand of art, yet in its sloping 
 position and luxuriant soil, doubly indebted to 
 Nature. But, without an accompanying friend, 
 what are all these charms ! half the pleasure of 
 such scenery is lost when none is present with 
 whom to communicate the feelings they inspire. 
 
 The society here is refined, and some I have 
 met, whom I estimate as my acquaintance ; yet, 
 as time is requisite to cement the bond of friend-
 
 fi8 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 ship, I have found none to admit within the 
 precincts of that heart, which is reserved for 
 those to whom, as to yourself, I can, with af- 
 fection and sincerity, 
 
 Subscribe myself, 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 Florence. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEKD, 
 
 THE period of my stay, and the oppor- 
 tunities of becoming acquainted with the inha- 
 bitants of this city were so limited, that I shall 
 only undertake to present you with that sketch 
 of their character or manners, which a cursory 
 observation enables me to take. So far, all Avore 
 the most favourable aspect ; a stranger, it is true, 
 wherever he goes, meets with that face of things 
 which is the least displeasing at the first view, 
 and unless he can enter upon the darker side, 
 which, if it exist, is cautiously concealed from 
 his notice, he can only give the limited result of 
 his own personal remarks. 
 
 As the Florentines still possess that talent 
 with which Nature so richly endowed their an- 
 cestors, so, a corresponding object must exist, on
 
 FLORENCE. 99 
 
 which to send forth the energies of genius. 
 They are now precluded from its more manly 
 exercise in the great cause of liberty or religion; 
 in the one, by the hand of arbitrary power ; in 
 the other, by the influence of an overwhelming 
 superstition. Hence, the cultivation of the fine 
 arts becomes a vent to the effervescence of intel- 
 lect; it can offer no offence to the authorities 
 that be, yet is accessary to the popular reception 
 of their ostentatious worship. It flatters their 
 vanity as a nation, and by reason of its sedentary 
 character, suits that indolence which, besides 
 what is natural to man, is engendered by the 
 enervating influence of the climate. 
 
 Here, then, the whole vigour of a polished 
 and enlightened mind is poured forth. We 
 have seen a few specimens of what the pencil, or 
 the chissel can effect, when directed by the hand 
 of Genius. Poetry and music, too, are almost 
 natural ; the numbers of the one, and the melody 
 of the other, flowing through this land of song, 
 with unstudied volubility. The Improvisator}, 
 or extemporaneous bards, aided by the soft, yet 
 sonorous dialect of the country, spontaneously 
 adapt the harmony of metre with the brilliancy 
 of conception ; while the music of this land, 
 (even where self-taught itinerants unite in con- 
 cert) fills the soul with the most exalted send- 
 x 2
 
 100 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 ments, and touches every chord of the feeling 
 heart. 
 
 In the mutual intercourse of the higher 
 orders, the charms of conversation seem the 
 chief object they have in view ; neither luxuries 
 or refreshment are introduced on these occasions. 
 And instead of the unmeaning morning visit, 
 or the voluptuous evening feast, the civil respect 
 of the one, and the recreative enjoyment of the 
 other, are both blended in the conversazione of 
 Florence ; where " the feast of reason, and the 
 flow of soul," are said to be tasted with a peculiar 
 relish. 
 
 Such customs would not be palatable, per- 
 haps, in the hungry climates of the North ; and 
 I am bound to add, that the occasional intro- 
 duction of English usages in this respect, is not 
 unwelcome to the natives of this place. It is a 
 fact well known, that when the Ambassador of 
 England has entertained the nobility of Florence 
 upon the eve of a fasting-day, with one accord 
 they anticipate the announcement of the supper 
 hasten to the rooms, where all its honours are 
 displayed, and eVe the fatal twelve has struck, 
 many a tower of ice is stormed, and many a 
 height of Carmel has been levelled to its base. 
 
 O 
 
 The ceremonial coercion gives voluptuousness a 
 sharper zest ; and while the laws of temperance,
 
 FLORENCE. 101 
 
 which are the laws of God, may, with impunity, 
 be infringed, before the dreaded midnight has 
 arrived ; the last toll of twelve would number 
 the transgressor among the candidates for pe- 
 nance, if the mandates of the church were dis- 
 obeyed. 
 
 Florence possesses a valuable museum of 
 Natural History. The learned, or the inquisi- 
 tive, find ample satisfaction here, in examining 
 objects similar to those which we have elsewhere 
 seen ; but, to me, the most interesting depart- 
 ment, on account of its novelty, is the collection 
 of anatomical figures in wax. What has been 
 said of the genius and industry of this people in 
 other branches of art, may enable you to form 
 an idea of the extraordinary perfection to which 
 they have arrived in this species of workmanship. 
 The knowledge of anatomy may here be studied 
 without the painful medium of dissection, or 
 these sensations of disgust which accompany the 
 examination of an actual subject. 
 
 An author, possessing a gloomy turn of mind, 
 but one who excelled in this kind of composition, 
 has left behind him in the museum, a represen- 
 tation of the plague, in its desolating progress 
 over the human frame from its first attack upon 
 the cheek of health, to its final stage of putre- 
 faction. Here a corpse has sunk in its black 
 K 3
 
 102 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 embrace and there the reptile triumphs with 
 undisturbed audacity, amid the ruins of morta- 
 lity. What a view must the reality present, 
 when the features of its representation are so 
 disgusting ! The Scriptures of truth proclaim 
 the plague to be one of the three peculiar instru- 
 ments of an avenging God, when iniquity calls 
 aloud for its retribution ; and that then he sends 
 upon the land this awful denunciation of his 
 abhorrence against a nation's crimes. These 
 works of Zumbo, if they shock the sight, must 
 humble the soul, in gratitude to that gracious 
 God, who has averted from our native shores, 
 the actual experience of such a scene as this. 
 
 It would be superfluous to lead you through 
 the various schools and colleges of the city; 
 where youthful genius is instructed in their 
 favourite arts where the successful works of 
 the copyist are taught to rival their originals 
 and where marbles of various colours, in pietra 
 dura, are inlaid with the finest patterns of 
 flowers and festoons. Rather would I lead you 
 to the private residences in the environs ; many 
 of which are well worthy of notice; for the 
 same elegance prevails in them, as we have 
 so often admired in the public edifices of this in- 
 teresting place ; and especially would I invite you 
 hither, as a drive in such a country, where all is
 
 FLORENCE. 103 
 
 smiling in an atmosphere so serene, has a natu- 
 ral tendency to refresh and exhilarate the mind. 
 I failed not to visit the Poggio Tmperiale, where 
 Lorenzo de Medici so often held sweet counsel 
 with his associates in literature, concerning the 
 advancement of these very talents, of which we 
 here discover such remarkable effects. The 
 country, too, from the height on which it stands, 
 presents a lovely prospect of innumerable villas, 
 scattered through the plain to the utmost ve~ge 
 of the distant hills. On viewing this assemblage 
 of villas in the plain below, a descriptive sketch, 
 in the language of Ariosto,was put into my hands. 
 Permit me to recal to your mind, these harmoni- 
 ous sounds in which once you discovered so many 
 charms, as well as through a medium more inte- 
 resting than my own language could employ, to 
 convey some idea of the gratifying scene : 
 
 Se dentro a un mur sotto un medesimo nome, 
 Fusser raccolti i tuoi palazzi sparsi, 
 Non te sarian da paregtar due Rome. 
 
 As I am preparing to depart for Home, I am 
 induced to conclude. The prospect of visiting 
 which city, alone prevents the regret I should 
 otherwise feel in leaving Florence. Were our 
 judgments uninfluenced by the comparative esti- 
 mate of these two places, we should acknowledge
 
 104. TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 that the city of Florence abundantly fills the 
 most enlarged expectations of a refined curiosity. 
 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 Rome. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 THE road from Florence to Rome, pos- 
 sesses several objects of interest ; but the recol- 
 lection of what we have so lately been witnessing, 
 tind the anticipation of what we are going to 
 behold, prevented us from bestowing upon them 
 any more consideration than a transient regard. 
 
 On leaving the fertile plains of Tuscany, we 
 enter the Campagnia di Roma, where misery 
 darkens every countenance, and where the law- 
 less banditti seem, with impunity, to brave 
 the authorities of the land. The constant de- 
 predations of these lawless bands on the property 
 of travellers, obliged us to employ an escort of 
 armed guards, to attend us through such parts 
 of the journey, as were more particularly exposed. 
 
 At Lake Thrasymene, we view the spot where 
 the Roman laurel for a moment seemed to 
 wither. At Vene is a small ancient Temple of 
 Clitumnus, seated on a little river of the same
 
 ROME. 105 
 
 name, which is so far interesting, as having once 
 been visited, and its source described by the- 
 younger Pliny. Though this temple is very 
 small, it presents a neat front, ornamented with 
 bass relief. 
 
 The towns along the road are, for the most 
 part, situated on the rising grounds ; they 
 are ornamented with numerous steeples which, 
 where interspersed with some degree of cul- 
 tivated scenery, form, by their picturesque 
 appearance, a pleasing relief to the general 
 dreariness of the way. The bold scenery, too, 
 of wood arid mountain, particularly at Mount 
 Sommita, among the Appenines, is highly roman- 
 tic ; and as the road passes over it, our slow 
 advance enabled us to admire it the more. At 
 length we come in sight of the Candida Soracte, 
 of which Horace speaks, and having crossed the 
 Tiber, on a bridge erected by Augustus, we 
 reach the ancient seat of Roman grandeur, 
 through a handsome entrance, called the Porto 
 del Popolo. 
 
 A stranger feels emotions of a very peculiar 
 character, on his arrival in this- city, the fame 
 whereof has been so long and so widely spread. 
 Forgetting, for a moment, what she is, he is 
 wrapped up in contemplating her as she was. 
 The impressions wrought by his early studies in,
 
 106 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 Roman literature are revived. Memory recals 
 the momentous incidents of her past history ; 
 incidents/which have stamped the character of 
 the periods in which they occurred. Imagina- 
 tion, too, with a vividness which nothing but 
 actual observation could create, traces, amid the 
 vestiges of her former greatness, the street^ 
 which were trodden by her people the tenements 
 which lodged her poets, and the walls which 
 re-echoed the thunders of her eloquence. But 
 soon the mind awakens from its dream, to disco- 
 ver, in the wreck of her magnificence, the vanity 
 of earth, and the vengeance of Heaven. It sees 
 them in the ruined temples of her mythological 
 worship in the prostrate Senate-house, from 
 which her laws once issued forth to bind the 
 most distant nations in the mouldering palaces, 
 in which ambition trampled on the liberty of 
 Rome and in the colossal remnant of her thea- 
 tres, constructed to divert the public mind from 
 brooding o'er its loss. 
 
 I shall not yet conduct you to behold the 
 existing monuments of Papal ostentation, which 
 almost rival the magnificence of Pagan Rome ; 
 but shall anticipate your wish of hearing some 
 account of the relics of more ancient times : And 
 yet, what a change is wrought ! not merely in 
 the perishable works of man ; but Ruin seems in
 
 ROME. 107 
 
 this place, to be even seated upon the very face 
 of Nature. Her seven hills are almost levelled, 
 and apparently brought low : so much have the 
 vallies, which lay between, been filled with the 
 ruins of her fall. Enough, however, remains to 
 engage the mind, and I shall first lead you to the 
 celebrated Pantheon of Agrippa. 
 
 Thisis one of the most perfect monuments which 
 the ravages of time, or Vandalism, have left be- 
 hind them. The consummate proportion of its 
 portico, remains a lasting memorial of ancient 
 taste : it was formerly ascended by a flight of six- 
 teen steps, which are now hidden beneath the earth 
 filled up by the rubbish of surrounding deso- 
 lation ; so that we enter at once from the level 
 street. Great as has been the change which 
 time has wrought upon its aspect and its name, 
 you would scarcely suppose, on visiting the 
 interior, that a change had taken place in the 
 worship to which it was originally devoted. 
 The temple, once dedicated to all the gods, is 
 now the shrine set apart in honour of all the 
 saints. Happy had it been if the preaching of 
 the Cross, by the apostle Paul, in this very city 
 that doctrine which was foolishness to the 
 Gentiles had entirely superseded the idolatry of 
 Rome; it would not then have sought an alii- 
 ance with its impieties ; but have proved, in its
 
 108 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 influence upon the heart, to be the power of God 
 unto salvation. The genius of Canova, a living 
 artist, has been employed in furnishing this 
 beautiful structure with the busts and statues of 
 individuals who have shone in the annals of the 
 country; and Michael Angelo, whose life was 
 almost spent in the construction of the great 
 Basilica, or Temple of St. Peter, was wont to 
 sit contemplating this monument of ancient skill, 
 that he might mould his own genius from such 
 a pattern, and adorn his Cathedral from a model 
 so complete. We may conceive the enthusiasm 
 of the man, when, being wrapped in admiring 
 extacy, he exclaims, " I shall lift it in the air." 
 And a Pantheon, in all the exactitude of its 
 dimensions and design, stands at this moment as 
 the Dome of St. Peter's. 
 
 We are next attracted to the ancient Capitol 
 of Rome, where the genius of Michael Angelo 
 awaits also to receive us. It is rescued from 
 oblivion by the works he has constructed on its 
 height ; a lofty flight of steps brings us to the 
 platform, which is adorned with several fine 
 relics of antiquity. An equestrian statue in 
 brass, of Marcus Aurelius, stands in the centre; 
 and so expressive is its attitude of motion, that 
 while Angelo was lost in a revery of admiration, 
 he was heard with impatient reiteration to ex-
 
 ROME. 109 
 
 claim, " Camina, Camina move on, move on !" 
 The buildings which he has here erected, are 
 devoted to the fine arts, and to the memorials of 
 Roman greatness in other times. Amid nume- 
 rous specimens of the former, we stop to notice 
 the dying gladiator an admirable remnant of 
 ancient workmanship. He is represented as 
 having received a mortal wound; the sinking 
 frame is propped by the enfeebled elbow the 
 ferocious countenance is half unmanned ; and 
 death, accompanied with some characters of 
 remorse, is already spread upon its features. 
 In other exhibitions of this wonderful art, the 
 marble is made to seem capable of life and 
 breath, in this it appears liable to the throes of 
 mortality. The entire assemblage of Roman 
 emperors (but happily divested of their power to 
 do evil) may be seen in these chambers to unite 
 in harmless proximity. And on the opposite 
 wing of the building, the complete history of 
 Rome is represented in frescoe upon the walls, 
 from the fabled wolf which nurtured the founder 
 of her greatness, on to the lofty summits of 
 Cassarean power. Here all is Roman ; and 
 Michael Angelo seems ambitious to convince us 
 that the Capitol still retains a charm to attract 
 an admiring world, with a force not less con- 
 straining than that which once occasioned the 
 
 L
 
 110 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 nations of the earth to lie prostrate at its base. 
 The Tarpeian Rock is pointed out ; but it has 
 ceased to awaken the apprehensions it once 
 created being almost filled with the rubbish of 
 the ancient buildings on the height. 
 
 Immediately behind the Capitol is the Forum 
 Romanum ; a few pillars mark out the spots 
 where one temple in honour of Jupiter, and 
 another in honour of Concord, were situated. 
 In this very Forum Cicero once summoned 
 Cataline and Verres to cease from abusing the 
 clemency of Rome ; but at this moment are 
 oxen grazing upon its soil, luxuriant with a 
 vegetative rankness, which arises from the very 
 desolation which supplies its growth. Hence 
 has it changed both its character and its name. 
 The Forum Romanum is now denominated the 
 Campo Vaccino. Scarcely have the triumphal 
 arches of Severus and of Constantine escaped 
 the general doom : already were they half way 
 sunk beneath the level of the earth, when Napo- 
 leon, excavating to their base, opened to our 
 view the whole of these interesting monuments 
 secured them by a wall ; yet so, that we de- 
 scend to examine them in detail. Farther on 
 are temples in honour of Antoninus Pius of 
 Romulus and of Peace : and beyond these is 
 that stupendous monument of ancient grandeur,
 
 ROME. Ill 
 
 the Colysseum ; at a short distance from which, 
 on the Palatine hill, are the ruins of the palace 
 of Caesar. 
 
 Here, my friend, you must pause ; too many 
 objects crowd upon our notice, which demand, 
 at another time, a more minute examination. 
 Suffer me, therefore, now to call upon your 
 memory to retrace the history of olden times 
 and upon your imagination to picture the trans- 
 actions of its ancient population. Here thronged 
 the people in all the bustle of every-day avoca- 
 tion. There the procession moved along or 
 the multitude attend their Supreme Pontiff, 
 (their Pontifex Maximus) in the celebration of 
 their ritual devotions ; beneath these arches th 
 conquering hero comes in triumph or yon 
 theatre encompasses within its wide embrace, 
 the mighty population of Rome. But ere you 
 can proceed another step, you awaken and find 
 it but a dream vanishing away into an airy 
 nothing ; and with the humbling sentiments 
 which must spring from the awful reality of its 
 present state, you are constrained, at every step, 
 to tread upon the pride of man, and trample 
 ambition, with all its honours, in the dust. I 
 need not suggest or anticipate your reflections ; 
 but shall now conclude, knowing, that amid 
 *cenes like this, you will contrast the unaided 
 L 2
 
 112 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 efforts of man to trace out happiness by himself, 
 with the results of a simple dependance upon 
 the gospel of Christ ; and while the Divine 
 goodness which unveils these blessings to our 
 view, is calculated to awaken our gratitude, we 
 may learn to form a correct estimate of the works 
 which vanish like the baseless fabric of a vision, 
 and may long, through the merits of the Re- 
 deemer, to secure the possession of that building 
 which is eternal in the heavens. 
 
 Your's, &c. 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 Rome. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 THE Colysseum was designed to accom- 
 modate within its capacious circle, the mass of 
 the Roman population ; and that gigantic mind 
 with which it originated, has comprised in its 
 structure, alt the orders of architecture then 
 received. The Doric, which is massive and 
 unadorned, stands upon the ground, supporting 
 the chaste and elegant Ionic ; and the Ionic 
 order, in the second tier, becomes a medium of 
 connexion between the simple Doric and the
 
 ROME. 113 
 
 Ught and flowery Corinthian. So easy is this 
 transition, that this enormous pile, even in its 
 decay, retains a look of gracefulness. In every 
 range is a circular arcade, which passed through 
 the whole extent of the building ; and beneath 
 these the Roman people were wont to enjoy a 
 recreative interval between the games : the 
 whole arena in the centre was exposed to the 
 open air at top ; the spectators sat around it, on 
 seats which reached, in successive gradations 
 from the line which bounded the arena, up to 
 the very summit of the building itself. 
 
 Summon before the eye of your imagination, 
 this assembled multitude; see the intensity of 
 their interest in the combat of the gladiators, 
 which holds them in breathless suspense. And 
 again, conceive them as they hailed the victor 
 with thunders of applause. There you can see 
 the seat of eminence which the emperor appro- 
 priated to his own use ; but now while we try to 
 reach it, the footstep is impeded by the forbid- 
 ding aspect of Ruin sitting upon these walls so 
 crowded once, and the tottering summit of this 
 still amazing edifice, admonishes us to withdraw. 
 All is now silent all is solitary ; and amid 
 these once resounding walls, the only noise you 
 hear, is, the crumbling touch of time, or the 
 solemn echo of our footsteps. 
 L 3
 
 114 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 Hither the architect repairs to catch the nicer 
 characters of proportion; and the romantic ap- 
 pearance of these mouldering, yet magnificent 
 walls, which the verdant shrubs so luxuriantly 
 and so gracefully adorn, engages the attendance of 
 the painter ; while the visions of its past celebrity 
 may furnish the fancy of the poet, or the memory 
 of the historian, with the impressions which are 
 suitable to their respective taste. Here, too, the 
 Christian comes, welcoming that solemn stillness 
 which is the parent of meditation. Here the 
 very silence seems to speak ; it almost tells you 
 that " God is in this place,' 1 holding forth a 
 monument of his wrath against the nation which 
 cemented such a pile with the blood of then- 
 captive slaves, and then could only find delight 
 in it when they heard the groans of the dying 
 against a nation who made this very spot to reek 
 with the martyr's blood ; and drowned, by the 
 shout of a barbarous exultation, the departing 
 sigh of the persecuted saint. Behold here the 
 goodness and the severity of God ! 
 
 Other monuments of antiquity are strewn in 
 different parts of this city, which on another 
 occasion may claim our notice ; at present let us 
 turn towards the celebrated Vatican, and Church 
 of St. Peter, of which fame has so often brought 
 to your ears, an almost incredible report : We
 
 ROME. 115 
 
 cross the Tiber on the Fonte St. Angelo, orna- 
 mented by Bernini, with several figures, each 
 holding one of the instruments of cruelty by 
 which the Saviour suffered. Near this bridge 
 is the mausoleum of Adrian converted into the 
 Fort St. Angelo, to which the Popes can fly in 
 the hour of danger, as it communicates with the 
 Vatican by a covered way. Expectation is not 
 fully satisfied with tha first view of St. Peter's. 
 The dome seems descending as you draw near, 
 and the wretched houses closing up the approach, 
 diminish the effect which the first sight of such 
 a structure should produce. But the mind 
 soon looses itself in surveying so august an 
 edifice, the work of so many ages, andsuch con- 
 summate art. From the extremities of its fa- 
 cade, two vast semi-circular colonnades, each 
 comprising four ranges of pillars, surmounted by 
 some hundreds of statues, extend themselves like 
 two gigantic arms, eager, with monopolizing 
 grasp, to take in a subjugated world. The portico 
 is adorned at one end by a fine equestrian statue 
 of Charlemagne, and at the other by that of 
 Constantine, in the moment of his conversion; the 
 labarum is suspended in the air, and he is just 
 exclaiming, " thou hast conquered." Five bronze 
 doors, engraven with subjects from sacred histo- 
 ry, admit the worshippers to as many aisles, each
 
 116 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 seven hundred feet in length ; and now we 
 enter. 
 
 Here you may perceive the confluence of 
 that wealth which the tributary world has for 
 centuries paid to the insatiable despotism of 
 Komi 1 . Here you may behold the utmost stretch 
 of human skill pushed almost beyond its limits 
 by the prospects held forth of unlimited indul- 
 gence. And here you may discover in this 
 consummate work of papal ostentation, the ge- 
 nius of a religion, which, by dazzling the sense, 
 overpowers the reason, and by throwing round 
 the works of man, something of that wonder 
 which belongs to the works of Nature, to carry 
 on the great design of sitting in his temple, to 
 be \vorshipped as a God. 
 
 If Statuary has been at any time taught to 
 breathe if Painting has ever introduced us to 
 the scenes of distant ages if its exquisite imita- 
 tion in Mosaic, has at length bid defiance to the 
 influence of decay ; whatever these, with all their 
 sister arts, can do to surprize the mind, and give 
 magnificence to this world's most costly shrine, 
 has been fully realized, in all the details of this 
 imposing edifice. Beneath the dome stands the 
 great canopy, or baldric, supported on brazen 
 pillars; and a circular balustrade, on which nume- 
 rous lamps continually burn, encloses the altar.
 
 ROME. 117 
 
 and St. Paul are deposited. The craftiness of men 
 in advancing a system which tends to their own 
 aggrandizement, made me incredulous, I con- 
 fess, to the reality of the fact. Had the devil 
 prevailed in his contest with * Michael the Arch- 
 angel, he would have built such a shrine as this, 
 and bestowed upon it, " all the glory of the 
 earth," in honor of the body of Moses. The 
 devout men who carried Stephen to his burial, 
 left the martyr's bones to repose in peace ; nor 
 would either Paul or Peter have sanctioned a 
 superstitious veneration for bodies mouldering 
 in the dust, which they rejected, when life spread 
 its animation upon them and when the Spirit 
 of God, as upon the waters of creation, moved 
 upon all the faculties of their soul. 
 
 Yet, here was I led to contemplate what suffer- 
 ings they endured in the cause of truth with 
 what manliness they withstood the inroads of 
 falsehood how heavenly and how pure were the 
 doctrines which they taught. And chiefly, how 
 often they spurned away from them the paltry 'ho- 
 nours of atheistical delusion. This very Peter in 
 a moment undeceives his Gentile convert, when he 
 bends before him, " Rise, I myself also am a 
 man." This very Paul, with a holy vehemence, 
 breaks up the idolatrous adoration of the Lyca- 
 onians, saying, " Sirs, we are men of like passions 
 
 Vide Jude, 9.
 
 118 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 onians, saying, " Sirs, we are men of like passions 
 with you."" We preach not ourselves, but Christ 
 Jesus, our Lord, was the acknowledgement of 
 an apostle : and when he found his converts to 
 Christianity about to bestow on men the honors 
 due to God, he asks, with sublime indignation 
 at such impious reverence Who, then, is Paul, 
 or who is Apollos ? 
 
 The tendency of every doctrine peculiar to 
 the Church of Rome, is the exaltation of the 
 priesthood. When worship ceases to be the 
 peculiar of the deity, it may descend by an easy 
 transition from the angel to the apostle from 
 the apostle to the saint from the saint to his 
 image, to his relic, and to his shrine : and if 
 matter be adored, why may not the men from 
 whom its honours flow, lay claimto the preroga- 
 tives of God, and pretend to be as infallible 
 in their decisions, as supreme in their autho- 
 rity. But I must turn back from my digression. 
 
 Observing a crowd of people justling each 
 other with the most eager emulation, I approach 
 to see the object of such intense interest, and 
 behold they kiss the foot of an idol ! The 
 very statue which the heathens adored as Jupiter 
 tonans, is now worshipped as the representative 
 of the Roman Peter ; the thunder-bolt of the 
 one is exchanged for the keys of the other. He
 
 ROME. 119 
 
 is exhibited as sitting ; the bronze peculiarly 
 black the countenance awfully severe; and 
 the projecting foot half worn by the reiterated 
 greetings of its votaries. Here the clown im- 
 presses upon it a liquid salutation ; and next the 
 beau, politely wiping it with his handkerchief, 
 invites the ladies to take precedence, and then 
 gently touches it himself. 
 
 The subjugation of Rome to the yoke of 
 ecclesiastical domination, is not merely effected 
 by the thunders of the Vatican ; but its bondage 
 even wears the character of freedom, by the 
 recurrent varieties of a theatrical religion. The 
 proverbial indolence of the Italians is gratefully 
 stimulated by the gentle movements of a proces- 
 sion ; and the procession is graced by the purple 
 of the prelates, the scarlet of the Cardinals, 
 and the equivocal majesty of the Pope. A 
 festival is, therefore, quite a gala-day. On sucji 
 occasions the aisles of St. Peter's are strewn with 
 bay-leaves the walls hung with scarlet lining 
 an innumerable concourse of people attend the 
 whole college of Cardinals and priests move to 
 sweetest notes of music, pass in procession round 
 the colonnade, and thence proceed to the altar. 
 The Pope is carried on a palanquin, richly 
 trimmed with silken drapery, and waving at 
 the top with ostrich plumes. Wherever he
 
 120 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 wave, kneel before him ; the inferior clergy 
 follow in the train, with lighted torches in the 
 face of day ; and the Pope being borne to the 
 great altar, upon the shoulders of his slaves, 
 gives a hasty benediction, marks the air with a 
 cross, and thence retires to the door where his 
 carriage is in attendance to receive him. Much 
 confusion prevails at such a finale of the scene : 
 Cardinals and friars seek their respective abodes; 
 the one his palace the other his convent, 
 carefully extinguishing his candle, consigning 
 it to the pocket of his cloak, to reserve it for 
 some future occasion which may demand again 
 his service and his light. 
 
 The antiquarian who is versed in the manners 
 and customs of Pagan Rome, can easily detect 
 the traces of her former superstition imprinted 
 on her modern rites. The ancients, amid all 
 their darkness, were " feeling after, if haply they 
 might find" the ways of God ; but awfully aggra- 
 vated is the guilt when an age, on which the 
 luminary of heaven, (the revelation of God,) has 
 beamed, should affect a worship which his Word 
 disclaims ; and try to eclipse the solar light 
 with the glimmering candle of human invention. 
 Farewell. 
 
 I am, &c.
 
 ROME. 1?1 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 Rome. 
 
 DEAR FRIEND, 
 I HAVE not spoken much of Raphael; 
 but then T had not seen his compositions at 
 Rome. Here he has exhibited a richness of 
 genius peculiar to himself ; and the Vatican, 
 which adjoins St. Peter's Cathedral, is the field 
 en which his talents have been chiefly engaged. 
 In a gallery, called the Loggia, leading to 
 the apartments of this palace, he has given the 
 fullest scope to his lively imagination, in a com- 
 position by which that gallery is adorned, deno- 
 minated the Arabesks of Raphael. These 
 arabesks, if not the invention of Raphael, pos- 
 sess the merit of originality, by the improvements 
 which he has made upon the ancient workman- 
 ship. They may be regarded as the exuberant 
 overflowings of a fertile genius ; like those fairy 
 dreams, which cause innumerable objects to flit 
 across imagination, without any reference to each 
 other, or any consistency with the orderly course 
 of nature. The artist, it appears, in his moments 
 of recreation, here brought his pencil, and as 
 fancy guided it, he here deposited her wild, 
 though interesting, vagaries. But their exposure 
 H
 
 122 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 to the open air, has robbed them of much of 
 that colouring with which once they were in- 
 vested. 
 
 Advancing through this gallery, the Loggia, 
 to the Chambers of the Vatican, we behold in, 
 frescoe, the works which have raised a monu- 
 ment to his fame ; and his accurate imitation of 
 nature in the delineation of various passions 
 upon the human countenance, seems to be his 
 grand claim for the tribute of our praise. In 
 one chamber are represented several remarkable 
 events in the history of Constantine ; the mira- 
 culous vision of the Cross his combat with 
 Mexentius the presentation to the Pope of the 
 emblematic world and his receiving the com- 
 munion from the hands of St. Sylvester. Ra- 
 phael, in the several groups connected with these 
 subjects, has taken occasion to introduce the 
 renowned characters of the day in which he 
 lived. I shall not dwell upon all the contents of 
 these interesting apartments, through the fear of 
 burdening you with that prolixity which could 
 only be removed by your personal observation. 
 But you will indulge me in drawing your atten- 
 tion to such as engaged my own in an especial 
 manner. 
 
 The first I would advert to, is the imprison- 
 ment of St. Peter, and his subsequent miraculous
 
 ROME. 123 
 
 liberation. The apostle is seen through the 
 grated window of his dungeon ; the presence of 
 the angel diffuses around a ray of splendour, 
 which chases off the gloom, and beams the joy 
 of heaven upon the astonished prisoner. The 
 moon without, casts its pale lustre upon the face 
 of Nature, and the torches of the quaternions, 
 spread a lurid glare upon their stern features. 
 The distribution of so many and such various 
 lights in the same piece, is itself replete with 
 ingenuity independently of the other circum- 
 stances by which it is distinguished. 
 
 The next you are to notice, is the school of 
 Athens, where its poets, orators, and philosophers 
 are presented to our view, not as in the Stoa or 
 Po2cile, but sequestered in some happy region 
 far from the tumult of the world in which they 
 can indulge the unalloyed enjoyment of intellec- 
 tual converse. Here, too, our author has invested 
 his cotemporary friends and patrons, with the 
 learned Stole. In the foreground stands Per- 
 nassus, on which Apollo sits, surrounded by the 
 Muses. 
 
 The Jast chamber contains another perfor- 
 mance of Raphael, in which he has put forth the 
 utmost efforts of his imaginative genius. It is 
 the bursting forth of fire in the vicinity of the 
 Vatican. The descriptive powers of Virgil in 
 M 2
 
 124 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 his narrative of the fate of Troy, are not more 
 natural, than the scenes which are here called up 
 to view. The fire breaks out at midnight, and 
 at a moment so unprepared, the alarmed in- 
 habitants seem overwhelmed with dismay in 
 the foreground a mother, with her two naked 
 little ones, is seen escaping the flames, while the 
 melancholy expression of her looks seems to 
 intimate that some precious pledge is wanting. 
 At one of the houses to which the fire fast 
 approaches, a parent is employing every nerve 
 to stretch up to the infant, which the mother 
 gently hands to him, regardless of her own 
 safety ; and beside him who stretches upward 
 for the child, another man hangs full length 
 downward, clinging with his hands to the top of 
 the lofty parapet, over which he has this moment 
 effected his escape. The artist has admirably 
 represented, in these two figures, the precise 
 muscular extension in their two opposite posi- 
 tions. Far behind the Pope appears upon the 
 walls with ingenious flattery the painter makes 
 the flames and fire to subside : the fervency of 
 his supplication for deliverance from the cala- 
 mity, is associated with the confiding homage of 
 the kneeling multitude. One mother sits, and 
 presses to her bosom, the rescued child ; so 
 absorbed in contemplating the gift 3 as to forget,
 
 ROME. 125 
 
 for a moment, the hand which gave. Pardon 
 so lengthened an account of these works of 
 Raphael ; but so near to actual life are you 
 brought, by his subjects and execution, that it 
 has led me into details more minute than I feel 
 authorized to indulge. 
 
 The paintings which have been restored by 
 the English, after the surrender of Paris, are 
 not as yet arranged in their respective places ; 
 they are now lying on the ground. But the 
 fame of "his transfiguration" induced me to 
 examine it apart from the others, although to 
 less advantage than were it hung in its proper 
 light; you would be disposed, on seeing it, to 
 say, that it was designed by genius, and directed 
 by the hand of religion. The bodies are irra- 
 diated as with the brightness of glory, and seem 
 liberated from every tie of earth. The three 
 disciples, overwhelmed with the effulgence, are 
 shading their eyes from its splendour, with out- 
 spread hands; while the contrasted scene of 
 human misery, exhibited on the lower part of 
 the mount, in the case of the demoniac, leaves 
 on the mind, that humbling sense of human 
 infirmity, which iii this instance, as well as ia 
 every other, is the best plea to the compassion of 
 Him who is alone mighty to save. 
 
 I shall not detain you further; but must 
 M 3
 
 126 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 claim your indulgence for my diffuse descriptions 
 of performances, which require to be seen to be 
 adequately admired. However, if I cannot con- 
 vey to you the pleasure I have received, I have 
 said enough to induce you to sympathize with 
 Your Faithful, 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 Rome. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 IT pleases me much to take a solitary 
 ramble through this city, and to trace out the 
 vestiges of its yet interesting ruins. The Tem- 
 ple of Janus preserves its quadruple front ; and 
 the Cloaca Maxima, which so admirably contri- 
 buted to the health and cleanliness of the ancient 
 city, may still be seen. Though the yellow 
 Tiber often rises above its banks, inundating the 
 lower parts of the town, it has not yet borne away 
 the interesting relic of the Temple of Vesta. 
 This b'ttle building is a beautiful specimen of 
 ancient architecture; built on the spot where the 
 cradle of Romulus, and the destinies of the 
 future empire, were exposed to the violence of 
 the stream.
 
 ROME. 127 
 
 On the Palatine mount an enormous mass of 
 ruin was once the magnificent residence of the 
 Caesars. As I felt desirous of surveying a seat 
 where meditation is furnished with rich mate- 
 rials, I ascended some broken steps, and on 
 raising my eyes, saw a large serpent rolling 
 towards its hiding place ; it was basking in the 
 sun, amid the green brambles which overspread 
 the ruins. The labourer has reared his humble 
 habitation with the fragments which he finds so 
 thickly strewn around : and amid these chambers 
 of ancient royalty, the outlawed assassin often 
 lurks by night. This, then, was the mansion of 
 him who burned his metropolis to gain space 
 enough for his habitation : ; ' How art thou 
 fallen, Lucifer ! How art thou cut down, thou 
 that didst weaken the nations ! For thou hast 
 said in thy heart I will exalt my throne above 
 the stars of God." 
 
 The Via Appia is still adorned with the tombs 
 of the ancients : it was their custom to remove 
 the remains of the dead to the suburbs of the 
 city. Some of these vast monuments were, in 
 feudal times, converted into places of defence ; 
 of which, that raised by the wealthy Crassus, in 
 honour of Caecilia Metella, still exists as a re- 
 markable specimen. In passing along this high- 
 way, the mind is very forcibly called back to
 
 123 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 these times, when all was once life and activity, 
 called back too by that very silence and deser- 
 tion which reign around. 
 
 The great hyppodrame of Caracalla, where 
 emulation, and the love of fame, once set all in 
 vivid motion, is now covered with weeds and 
 briers. Yet, even still it exhibits the leading 
 features of its original design. The seats are 
 here, which once were crowded with the admirers 
 of the chariot-race the stage where the "arbiter 
 ludorunY" sat presiding the very path-way 
 which has oft resounded with the burning wheel 
 and the hoof of the panting steed ; and a little 
 beyond is seen the double temple by which the 
 conqueror must pass instructing him that first 
 he must enter the vestibule of Virtue, before he 
 can arrive at the shrine of honour. 
 
 Descending hence a gentle declivity, where 
 again and again we stop to look upon many an 
 interesting relic, we at length reach the cele- 
 brated temple of the Nymph Kgeria. Here 
 Numa Pompilius was wont to drink of that 
 stream of wisdom by which he taught his un- 
 formed people the blessings of peace. It is, 
 indeed, a spot well suited to meditation ; the 
 pendent shrubs form a graceful festoon across 
 its front, and although the taste of a succeeding 
 age raised the columns, of which we still see the
 
 ROME. 129 
 
 remains, yet, the unadorned grotto was more 
 agreeable to the taste of Juvenal, and perhaps 
 of its royal visitor, when its limpid stream was 
 freely left to flow, than when it was impeded in 
 its course by the marble basin wherein it was 
 afterwards forced to play. The valley in which 
 it is situated, is delightfully romantic, or the 
 impression left on my mind induced me to think 
 so. And although I passed the temple which 
 marks the place where Hannibal retreated from 
 Rome, I cannot allow the thoughts of war, or 
 military glory, to interrupt the serene retrospect 
 of these distant scenes, when this great city, 
 then in its infancy, was nurtured by the paternal 
 tenderness of Numa, or the wise counsels of 
 Egeria. 
 
 On returning to the city, I observe that the 
 huts of the peasants, on the road side, are 
 adorned with the fragments of ancient palaces 
 and temples, which he meets beneath the earth 
 in his daily cultivation of the soil. 
 
 In passing (on our return to the city) the 
 very ancient church of St. Sebastian, my notice 
 was directed to a spot where scenes of a far dif- 
 ferent interest took place. Here (as I was told) 
 in the more desolating ages of heathen persecu- 
 tion against the religion of Jesus, the flame of 
 vital Christianity, as practised in the three first
 
 130 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 centuries, was secretly kept alive. The con- 
 stancy of the primitive Christians to that faith 
 which was once, and only once, delivered to the 
 saints, stemmed that torrent of hostility which 
 would have quenched it in the martyr's blood : 
 these subterraneous vaults were then the temples 
 of their worship ; temples more adorned by the 
 charities of the gospel more blessed by the 
 promised presence of their Lord, than the pom- 
 pous structures of more prosperous times- 
 there did the saints of old assemble themselves 
 together, to hold communion with their God, 
 and with one another to offer none other sacri- 
 fice than that of praise and thanksgiving to 
 unite in singing, with melody in their hearts, to 
 the Lord ; and as the Sacred Volume lay upon 
 the table where they broke the bread, and drank 
 of .the fruit of the vine in commemoration of a 
 Saviour's dying love, they read or heard from 
 its inspired page, the words of eternal life. 
 
 The admirer of the fine arts would not be 
 satisfied to leave this city, without again retrac- 
 ing his footsteps to the Vatican, for the purpose 
 of inspecting some of the galleries in which the 
 more valuable collections are deposited. The 
 reigning Pope, Pius VII. has added to its inte- 
 rest and its value, by the new gallery Chiara- 
 monte, called after his original name ; but the
 
 ROME. 131 
 
 mind is likely to be altogether engrossed with 
 the combination of wonderful monuments con- 
 tained in the gallery Clementine. Here, amid 
 innumerable combinations of genius and of skill, 
 the eye singles out at once the Apollo of Belve- 
 dere ; a work which conveys to the mind all that 
 statuary is enabled to effect. He is represented 
 as standing in an erect and imposing attitude ; 
 a sublime displeasure marks a countenance the 
 most dignified, and the whole form is so disen- 
 cumbered, that it resembles less a material being 
 than some sublimer personage of ethcrial mould : 
 it is designed, however, as a copy of the human 
 frame in its most symmetrical perfection. 
 
 In surveying this representation of man^s cor- 
 poreal frame, my mind was summoned to praise 
 the creative power of the Almighty who so won- 
 derfully combines, in all its faculties and its 
 members, the most essential usefulness with the 
 most beautiful proportions : I speak in the ab- 
 stract ; for although sin has disfigured our lower 
 world, and has not spared its constituted lords, 
 yet even still the traces of primeval glory may 
 be distinctly seen. You see it in the adaptation 
 of every member to its use, and in the nice pro- 
 portion of the parts to one another, as well as 
 to the whole you see it in the graceful inflec- 
 tions of the flowing line along the outward
 
 132 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 frame you see it in the construction of the 
 organs ; and above all you see it in the faculties 
 of the mind, beaming as they do in such works 
 of art as this the emanation of taste uniting 
 with sense of beauty, to embody itself in the 
 conception of the Belvedere Apollo. 
 
 Our interest is next awakened by the group 
 consisting of Laocoon and his sons, in the ago- 
 nizing embrace of the two serpents. The coun- 
 tenance of the father is convulsed with agony, 
 and every nerve is writhing with torture, as 
 closer and closer still, they coil around. He sees 
 them clinging to his boys, and tries to grasp 
 their bristling heads ; but the doom of one dear 
 object is already fixed, and with a look of horror, 
 he anticipates the frightful end which just awaits 
 the other. Feeling carries oft' the mind while it 
 contemplates the supplicating aspect of the 
 child, and the impotent anxiety of the parent. 
 I cannot convey to you a just idea of this affect- 
 ing exhibition; you must refer to your favourite 
 Virgil, both for its model and its description. 
 
 Other highly interesting works complete this 
 fine collection ; I shall select but a few as repre- 
 sentations of the whole : 
 
 Canova, who still lives, is perhaps the most 
 successful artist of modern times ; a Perseus, 
 holding the head of Medusa, proves him to hare
 
 ROME. 133 
 
 wrought with a Grecian chissel, and his resi- 
 dence in England suggested to him the idea of 
 " the boxers, 11 which are here represented with a 
 fidelity honourable to him as an artist dis- 
 graceful to us as a nation. Successive galleries 
 display their treasures, till the mind becomes 
 fatigued with admiration. The most extensive 
 is that of Belvedere ; so denominated from the 
 delightful view which its windows command : 
 Here are collected antiques ; both the monu- 
 ments of heathen superstition, as well as those 
 which have a reference to the earlier ages of 
 Christianity ; here are Etrurian vases, and va- 
 rious implements of domestic economy made 
 use of by the ancients. The smaller apartment 
 at the end of this suite, contains modern orna- 
 mental works, in jasper and precious stones ; 
 among which, are two candelabra, on the an- 
 cient model, of blue porcelain and gold, which 
 the ex-Emperor Napoleon presented to the 
 Pope. 
 
 It is time to take leave of this microcosm of 
 curiosities ; and in the hope that you may not 
 ix?pent having accompanied me through some of 
 its objects, I shall conclude, 
 
 Yours, &c.
 
 134 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 Rome. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 THE ostentatious character of the religion 
 of Rome ; the facilities afforded by the genius 
 of its inhabitants, and the productions of its 
 soil ; the influx of foreign wealth, by the pro- 
 mise of indulgence held out to the visitors of 
 its stately shrines ; the desire of emulating its 
 ancient magnificence, and the extravagant pride 
 of pontifical supremacy, have all contributed to 
 enrich this city with superb cathedrals and 
 princely palaces. Although the super-eminent 
 grandeur of St. Peter's and the Vatican may 
 render the taste fastidious as to the rest, yet, 
 were these to be seen in any other part of Eu- 
 rope, they would excite the attention of all who 
 derive pleasure from examining the production* 
 of art. 
 
 We may easily account for so much splendour 
 in the temples of a religion, which demands the 
 aid of all that is calculated to affect the senses 
 of its votaries ; but we must look to other causes 
 for the origin of palaces, so enormous in their 
 extent, and so costly in their decorations. 
 
 The pontiff, who to his spiritual, unites the
 
 ROME. 135 
 
 power and riches of temporal authority, is often, 
 from the lowest station in society, elevated to the 
 Popedom, through all the stages of ecclesiasti- 
 cal dignity : the celibacy to which he is doomed 
 enables him to select, among his poorer rela- 
 tives, the favourite, who, as the appendage of 
 royalty, is invested with the wealth, perhaps the 
 title of a Prince ; palaces are soon erected with 
 this ephemeral opulence ; the advanced years of 
 the pontiff soon, however, stop the source from 
 which these sudden honours flow ; and the con- 
 sequence is this, that the city abounds with 
 magnificent edifices, which their possessors have 
 either been obliged to abandon, or, in some 
 cases, to partake with the exhibitor of their 
 galleries, the gratuity which is bestowed by the 
 strangers who inspect their contents. 
 
 I shall now endeavour to conduct you to visit 
 some of the other churches and palaces to which 
 I have alluded. Santa Maria Maggiore stands 
 on the ancient Esquilinian hill ; presenting two 
 very fine facades ; one of which, is adorned with 
 a portico of eight marble columns, each of one 
 piece, and the interior of the church is divided 
 into five aisles. This, and the Cathedral of St. 
 John Lateran, are equally rich in their exterior 
 and internal decorations. In the former are the 
 splendid repositories of the remains of Sixtus 
 N 2
 
 136 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 VIII. and of the family of Borgese ; in front 
 of Santa Maria Maggiore stands the statue of 
 a female figure, on a fine Corinthian column, 
 intended to represent the Virgin-patroness of 
 the church ; an Egyptian obelisk stands before 
 the other front of the building ; not so valua- 
 ble (though very fine) as that which adorns the 
 front of St. Peter's, on which the hieroglyphics 
 are peculiarly distinct. 
 
 The other churches of Rome are not to be 
 compared to these in magnificence or size; several, 
 however, are possessed of objects equally deserv- 
 ing your regard, A colossal statue of Moses, by 
 Michael Angelo, said to be one of his first per- 
 formances, is seen in St. Pietro in Vinculis : 
 he is represented as seated; holding the two 
 tables of the law ; a venerable majesty pervades 
 his countenance an unbending fidelity marks 
 its every feature ; he seems -ready, in obedience 
 to the supreme command, to pronounce upon 
 the transgressor the awful curse, yet seems, with 
 more grateful compliance, to point to an obe- 
 dient people the rich inheritance of the pro- 
 mised land. 
 
 Santa Maria degli Angeli is a superb temple, 
 and contains the original paintings, of which 
 the copies, in Mosaic, adorn the Vatican : but, 
 although the number end costliness of these
 
 ROME. 157 
 
 structures are entitled to a more minute detail, 
 I must cease to overpower you with an account 
 of places, whose only defect consists in an al- 
 most fatiguing magnificence. 
 
 The same observation might apply to the se- 
 veral palaces which I was led to visit ; you will 
 bear with me, however, while I call your atten- 
 tion to a few, among the many objects which 
 more particularly attracted my notice. Guido, 
 so justly admired as a painter, has but seldom, 
 if at all, been introduced to your notice : it is 
 much to be lamented, that some of the compo- 
 sitions of this distinguished artist should prove 
 an abuse of the splendid talents with which he 
 was endowed, in the selection of subjects, re- 
 volting to every delicate chord of a well-toned 
 heart; justice, however, leads me to say, that 
 such instances are rare, and that the finest taste 
 is exhibited in almost all his productions. In the 
 Pallavicini palace, we must particularly notice 
 his representation of " Phoebus ushering in the 
 day." Seated in a chariot, which moves upon the 
 orient clouds ; the light of his presence gilds 
 the surrounding objects, and diffuses a smile of 
 joy upon the countenances of the attendant 
 Hours ; these blooming sisters, united hand in 
 hand, glide on in graceful majesty, beaming 
 with the shining characters of youth, health, 
 N 3
 
 138 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 and beauty : others, almost enveloped in the 
 gloom behind, advance in order towards the 
 realm of light ; while Aurora goes before, strew- 
 ing flowers upon the earth, and the breath of 
 morn already ruffles the flowing drapery of the 
 Hours which come on. The chaste and poeti- 
 cal character of this subject, is only to be ri- 
 valled by the consummate skill displayed in it* 
 execution ; it arrests attention the more forcibly, 
 as the ideas it conveys are so natural and so de- 
 lightful. 
 
 Guido again invites us : A mother is seated 
 amid her five lovely children ; one is cherished 
 in her bosom, and tries to win her notice by 
 holding to her view a full-blown flower ; ano- 
 ther bends to intercept its progress, that he may 
 catch the fragrant sweets ; a third, having struck 
 the cymbal, wonders at the sound himself had 
 made ; while his brother smiles to see his ruddy 
 cheek reflected from its surface ; and the fifth 
 casts a longing, wistful eye, upon the temptipg 
 cherry, held above its lips; thus has our in- 
 genious author pictured to our view the five 
 senses. 
 
 The crucifixion of Christ is the most solemn 
 subject for the contemplation of a Christian ; 
 Guido has too faithfully pourtrayed the agonized 
 feelings of the Divine original ; the pain of death
 
 ROME. 139 
 
 is awfully contrasted with the meek expression 
 of his resignation. It surely cannot be, that 
 the pencil of this author was guided by any 
 feeling than that which emanated from a sym- 
 pathizing heart ; it cannot be, that his success 
 is to be attributed to the dreadful cause which 
 was assigned by my conductor ; it cannot be, 
 that the hand of Guido coolly plunged a dagger 
 in the heart of one, who bound himself to a crosa 
 as a model for the crucifixion ; and that then 
 he caught from the dying man these expressions 
 of convulsive agony so greatly realized in his 
 performance. No, it cannot be ; bad as nature 
 is, its current could not run so cold in the heart 
 of one, who could feel as Guido elsewhere shews 
 he felt. It may be, that some admirer, by the 
 ill-judged invention, complimented his genius at 
 the expence of his reputation. 
 
 But I must cease; even what might please 
 would cloy, when too much indulged ; and shall 
 conclude as ever, 
 
 &c.
 
 140 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 LETTER XXVII. 
 
 Rome. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEXD, 
 
 YOU might with justice regard me as in- 
 sensible to the charms of poetry, and as wanting 
 in respect towards the great masters of ancient 
 song, did I leave this place without visiting 
 those scenes, which both awakened and re- 
 echoed the classic lyre. The lyric strains of 
 Horace have resounded from the groves of 
 Tivoli, and swelled along the borders of A1- 
 bunea; you will, not with reluctance, bear me 
 company to the very scenes which the eye of 
 this enraptured poet has so oft admired. 
 
 Tivoli lies about sixteen miles from Rome. 
 A young gentleman, a native of Scotland, pos- 
 sessing ample stores of classical attainment and 
 natural love of poetry, proposed that we should 
 visit it together ; his conversation beguiled the 
 uninteresting journey through the Campagnia 
 di Roma, which is a neglected desert. We 
 pass the Solfatara, whose yellow waters are im- 
 pregnated with brimstone, and also the Lago di 
 Tartaro, which deposits upon its banks a cal- 
 careous substance with the ebbing of the waves. 
 The sepulchre of the Plautian family next ap-
 
 ROME. 141 
 
 pears in view, and soon we arrive at the ancient 
 Villa of Adrian. This emperor of the Roman 
 world, after much of his life had been spent 
 campaigning in distant lands, here fixed his 
 abode ; whatever he had admired of genius or 
 of architecture in the countries through which he 
 passed, were caused, as it were, to be transported 
 by the most exact and successful imitation : the 
 Grecian Circus the Athenian Hippodrame 
 the Philosophic Stoa were here concentrated : 
 all once was life and regal grandeur ; but we 
 may now wander amid the remains of arched 
 libraries, the temples of the seven Sages, of 
 Apollo and the Muses, and nought but ghastly 
 Ruin sits as sovereign here ! Some polished frag- 
 ments still mark out the mansion of Adrian : 
 the apartments allotted for the imperial guards 
 may still be traced ; but the wild-brier revels 
 with luxuriance, where the march of triumph 
 moved 1 along, and where the language of au- 
 thority was only heard. Enough remains, it is 
 true, to give imagination an ample scope 
 enough, to give reflection its most serious hue ; 
 we wander through a wilderness where once a 
 garden smiled, and through the abodes of death 
 and devastation, where all was once so busy in 
 the pursuit of literature, or the enjoyment of 
 recreative mirth ; it is the hand of an All-wise
 
 H2 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 Providence which dispenses or withdraws our 
 every blessing ! The history of this sovereign, 
 with reference to the progress of Christianity, 
 when recalled to memory, in connexion with 
 such a scene, almost forces the mind to believe 
 that, the Most High God has indented upon 
 these ruins the visible memorials of a retributive 
 Justice. 
 
 In visiting Tivoli, I only wanted the pleasure 
 of your society to complete my satisfaction ; for 
 then would I be spared attempting to describe 
 what surpasses the powers of description. The 
 town is seated upon the classic Anio ; the Anio 
 gently glides along until it gains the precipice, 
 thence does it thunder to the abyss below ; soon 
 it is lost to view, as it sinks into the subter- 
 raneous cavern of Albunea ; but re-appears once 
 more amid the groves of olive, and once more 
 gently rolls along the plains. 
 
 Remember that the Genius of ancient poe- 
 try contemplated once those very scenes, wan- 
 dered amid these groves, sat admiring that 
 waterfall, as it dashed through the grotto of 
 Neptune, and watched the mists and showers 
 around his throne, rising to intercept the sun- 
 beam and to crown him with the splendour of 
 its refracted rays. Could I open to your view 
 the successive beauties which this scene unfolds,
 
 ROME. 143 
 
 I should likewise point out to you the partly- 
 ruined temple of the Sybil standing upon the 
 height of the precipice ; I should lead you to 
 the palace of Mecaenas, and the remains of the 
 interesting Tiburnum; you should take into your 
 view the ruins, where the residence of Varo 
 stood, and the walls of that retreat which re- 
 ceived Catullus in its bosom : your ear should 
 hearken to the solemn melody of the waters, 
 which makes solitude more lonely, and scarcely 
 startles silence ; and your mind should recall 
 the impressions, associated with these scenes, 
 which the studies of our youthful days have 
 nearly realized. 
 
 A venerable old man, fully capable of assist- 
 ing our enquiries, conducted us in our visit to 
 the Cascadelles ; having made himself an adept 
 in all that could gratify the taste or curiosity of 
 a stranger, we derived from his guidance the 
 greatest satisfaction : he passed no scene no 
 point of view, unheeded by ; he could quote 
 every line of ancient and modern poetry which 
 referred to, or were associated with them ; and 
 thus were we privileged to visit a spot which, 
 whether we contemplate the beauties of Nature, 
 or meditate upon these powers of mind which 
 were equally the work of God, combines many
 
 144 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 a present charm with many a pleasing recollec- 
 tion. 
 
 We return to Rome ; and before my depar- 
 ture from it, I would conclude with a few de- 
 sultory remarks. Some other public buildings of 
 this city, besides those which have been men- 
 tioned, have the appearance of grandeur ; but 
 the indolence of the people connected with them, 
 is but too plainly seen in the want of cleanli- 
 ness which prevails throughout. A Corso leads 
 through the centre of Rome, whither (as in 
 other Italian cities) the nobility repair at evening. 
 Many of the piazze, or public squares, are 
 adorned with ancient columns or superb foun- 
 tains ; the pillars of Trajan and Antoninus are 
 still preserved, and some of the fountains are 
 highly ornamental : the design of one is to ex- 
 hibit its water issuing as from the rock smitten 
 by the rod of Moses, and another exhibits Nep- 
 tune in his chariot surrounded by his Tritons, 
 as if upon his native element. 
 
 The religious festivals at Rome are exhibited U> 
 the people with an imposing eclat ; on some occa- 
 sions the ceremony is performed in the open air; a 
 temporary altar is erected in the Piazza Colonna; 
 the houses in the streets through which the 
 procession moves, are decorated with scarlet 
 lining ; a band of music goes before the Pope,
 
 ROME. 145 
 
 and the orders of his clergy occupy their proper 
 place ; the Pope attains the altar the people 
 with uncovered heails kneel before him. Happy 
 if to God alone, the Lord of that beauteous 
 firmament spread above their heads happy if 
 to him alone, the Redeemer and Sanctifier of 
 his people, they bent the prostrate knee happy 
 if from hearts renewed, an exclusive homage 
 were given to that God ! but here at once you 
 see the praise of men p eferred to the praise of 
 God : the eye "of clerical ambition looks up to 
 the superior with wishful expectation ; the com- 
 plimentary salutation of the inferior is more like 
 to the act of adoration than a tribute of respect ; 
 the knee of the Priest is bent before the Prelate, 
 the Prelate bends before his Patron Cardinal, 
 and the Cardinal prostrates himself before the 
 Pope, impressing upon his shoe a pious kiss; 
 all this seems to emanate from the worship of 
 saints and angels ; for if once the honours of 
 divinity are given to the creature, man will soon 
 learn to exalt himself above all that is called 
 God. 
 
 The monuments of lloman ingenuity, as 
 specimens of the fine arts, deserve the notice of 
 the traveller ; but when the native of Britain 
 culls to mind the land where he has breathed 
 the air of civil and religious freedom, he can 
 o
 
 146 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 leave these monuments without regret, which 
 are as much the effects of a luxurious slavery as 
 of taste and genius. Hence I proceed to Naples, 
 where I hope again to address you. In the 
 mean time be assured of the' affection of 
 
 Your's, &c. 
 
 LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 Naples. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 THE ancient Appian way received us 
 amid its ruinous tombs and aqueducts, as we 
 directed our attention towards the Neapolitan 
 territories. These aqueducts are of prodigious 
 extent ; but while they evince the riches and 
 industry of the people by whom they were con- 
 structed, they also prove their ignorance of these 
 useful inventions, by which water might have 
 been brought to the capital, in a far less cum- 
 brous and expensive way. 
 
 At Albano remains the old Mausoleum in 
 which the Horatii and Curiatii were interred ; 
 its situation in the centre of the road was, per- 
 haps, intended to excite heroic images in the 
 mind of a patriotic people. 
 
 The Modicum Hospitium of Aricia merits the
 
 NAPLES. H7 
 
 appellation as much as in the days of Horace ; 
 and like him, the traveller may refresh himself 
 at the fountain which has played since the time 
 when he passed by. At the Veletri one of the 
 princes of Naples arrived as we did, who in- 
 censed the host by the trifling remuneration he 
 received for his attention. 
 
 The Pontine marshes are not so formidable as 
 I was led to expect. The banditti, it is true, 
 occasionally infest the high-way ; but the tra- 
 veller finds no difficulty in procuring an escort, 
 which is quite necessary ; and one is agreeably 
 surprised, in such a place, to find the road 
 richly shaded on each side by a fine range of 
 trees. The cattle which graze upon the sedgy 
 produce of this morass, are altogether wild ; 
 and even the inhabitants appear almost in a 
 state of natural incultivation. 
 
 At Terracino are the ruins of the palace of 
 Theodoric, who once bore the sway over this part 
 of Italy. Fundi is a miserable place on the con- 
 fines of the Papal and Neapolitan territories. 
 At Itri is the tomb of Cicero ; and here the 
 country assumes a richer aspect, by reason of 
 the vineyards and olive groves which are spread 
 around. The peasantry too, especially the fe- 
 males, are dressed with peculiar taste. Gaieta, 
 on the sea-shore, was the first place which re- 
 o 2
 
 US TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 ceived ./Eneas after he had finished his many 
 adventures by sea and land ; and, as we advance 
 toward Naples, the country is more beautiful and 
 fertile. Crossing the Garigliano on a bridge of 
 boats we arrive at Capua, whose former luxury, 
 by enervating Hannibal, saved Home ; but at 
 present not even the fragments of comfort are 
 to be found. At length we meet so many light 
 vehicles, called Caratelle, and the people so nu- 
 merous, that we soon find ourselves amid the 
 streets and crowded populace of Naples. 
 
 Naples, on her magnificent bay, presides over 
 as interesting objects of natural curiosity as can 
 well be collected within the compass of one 
 horizon. It is sheltered from the violence of 
 the ocean by the islands which stretch across 
 the entrance of the bay ; and as one side presents 
 Vesuvius threatening continually, by its volcanic 
 eruptions, the inhabitants at its base, the other 
 is softened by the contrasted beauties of the 
 shore, called Mergelina, and the interesting 
 heights of Pausilyppo. 
 
 I shall not now confine you, in such a climate 
 as this, to the walls of an oppressive city, but 
 shall invite your attention to some of the very 
 interesting objects which the environs of Naples 
 present. The ancient cities of Pompeii and Her- 
 culaneum deserve our earliest regard ; having
 
 NAPLES. H9 
 
 been destroyed by the lava which rolled from 
 the crater of Vesuvius, we consequently take 
 the road, which lies in the direction of that 
 mountain. Pompeii is about sixteen or eighteen 
 miles from Naples; but the expedition of the 
 caratellas, drawn by Calabrian ponies, renders 
 that distance an inconsiderable journey. Along 
 the base of Vesuvius we behold in all directions 
 the traces of its desolating eruptions, in the ruin 
 of habitations, and in the black and sterile lava 
 with which the country is overspread. At 
 length we reach Pompeii ; what an awful pic- 
 ture of destruction is here presented to our 
 view ! An entire city buried in one shower of 
 cinders in a moment overwhelmed by a flood 
 of burning lava ! So suddenly too, that it sur- 
 prised at midnight the sleeping inhabitants. 
 
 At the entrance of that portion which has 
 been excavated by the avarice or curiosity of 
 after times, a piazza of small pillars marks out 
 the dwellings of the Military ; farther on are 
 seen its amphitheatres, its streets, and its tem- 
 ples ; the houses of the nobility are still adorned 
 with beautiful specimens of ancient taste ; and in 
 the shops of the artist may still be seen some of 
 the more durable implements of trade. At every 
 step we tread amid these walls, the contemplation 
 of that awful night of woe recurs, with all its 
 o 3
 
 150 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 horrors, to the mind ! nor can the utmost efforts 
 of imagination realize the awful features of such 
 a scene. Our guide points out the very spots to 
 urhioh the distracted people fled for refuge ; and 
 it is said, that when the bodies were discovered 
 they still retained the complexion and the dress 
 of the very moment when they fled ; exposed to 
 the air, the charm was dissolved, and, like the 
 fabled manes of the dead, they shrunk at once 
 from the inauspicious glare of day " ashes to 
 ashes" or, " as the baseless fabric of a vision,"" 
 these shadowy forms vanished into air. 
 
 Although the houses are small and incon- 
 venient, we find in many of them the marks of 
 peculiar elegance. The floors of such are orna- 
 mented with mosaic ; on their walls are painted 
 the subjects which gave the Pompeians of that 
 day, the most lively interest. In one is ex- 
 hibited the story of Acteon pursued by his own 
 dogs, at the instigation of the modest, yet un- 
 relenting Diana; in another, Mars, after the 
 fatigue of battle, reclines his head upon hi> 
 consort's knee, and the winged youths play with 
 his ponderous armour ; some push along the 
 helmet, others ride a-straddle on the sword, or 
 try to roll the full-orbed buckler. The other 
 ancient ornaments of this sort consist of light 
 figures of animals.
 
 NAPLES. 151 
 
 The temple of Isis is also small but finished 
 with consummate taste ; its portico is in fine pro- 
 portion ; around its court were chambers for 
 the accommodation of the priest, which unite 
 with the small recess in which he concealed him- 
 self as often as he wished to impose on the cre- 
 dulity of the people, by delivering the oracle in 
 the name of the idol. Other similar temples are 
 interspersed amid these ruins ; but the one 
 awful catastrophe awaited, at the same moment, 
 the idols, the temples, and the worshippers ! 
 
 In the house of a nobleman, we discover the 
 lectisternia on which the guests reclined when 
 indulging in the luxuries of the table ; here too 
 is a flower-stand which exhaled its perfumes, 
 and regaled them by its fragrance; in his vaults 
 are the wine-flasks, and hither, we are told, the 
 master fled at the crisis of the terrible visitation. 
 
 We pass the city-gate, in which we see the 
 groove for the portcullis, and find ourselves 
 among the tombs of the wealthy citizens, which 
 were reared by the hand of weeping friendship : 
 the inscriptions are still legible, especially on that 
 of Caius Quito ; several are constructed in a semi- 
 circular form, provided with seats for sorrow or 
 meditation. Here, indeed, a sad, yet sacred, con- 
 templation can find ample scope for indulgence. 
 The moment when all were saying " peace and
 
 152 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 safety, 11 was the melancholy moment of their 
 visitation : it came like " a thief in the night" to 
 break in upon their pleasures and pursuits ; and 
 while the world, as in the days of Noah, were heed- 
 less or ignorant of its approach, it surprised them 
 with all the horrors of a burning desolation. Oh, 
 may we, in that solemn hour which is at hand, 
 when " the elements shall melt with fervent 
 heat when the earth, and the works that are 
 therein, shall be burnt up," find a city of refuge 
 to flee to ; that city which hath foundations, 
 whose maker and builder is God ! 
 
 Your's, &c. 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 Naples. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 THE other ancient city to which I invited 
 your attention was the city of Herclaneum, a 
 city which also suffered from the eruptions of 
 Vesuvius ; it is now below the surface of the 
 earth, and we descend a flight of steps in order 
 to reach the level of its streets. The city of 
 Portici is built upon the very site beneath which 
 the city of Herculaneum is now buried ; and 
 whilst visiting its ruins and its amphitheatres
 
 NAPLES. 1.-.3 
 
 below, we hear the sound of horses and chariots 
 as they roll along the streets above. Hercula- 
 neum possesses not the same interest as Pompeii ; 
 its situation is not so romantic, and there exists 
 an apprehension of pushing the research after 
 its antiquities too far, lest the king^s palace, 
 which is built upon it, should at length be un- 
 dermined and sink into its ruins. The remains 
 of an amphitheatre are shown, and several in- 
 scriptions indicate it to have been a place of 
 considerable note ; that it was a place of lite- 
 rary importance is attested by the number of 
 manuscripts which have been rescued from its 
 ashes. The city of Portici contains an exten- 
 sive collection of ancient paintings discovered 
 here and in Pompeii. When a due allow- 
 ance has been made for the influence of time, 
 and the effects of volcanic heat upon such 
 fading and perishable materials, uiuch remains to 
 gratify the admirer of antiquity and the fine 
 arts : the designs are conformable to the pre- 
 vailing taste of the period when their respective 
 authors flourished : a satyr in the company of 
 a goat, a mask or caricature, a Sappho and 
 Phaon, seem to have been their favourite sub- 
 jects. Such is Portici ; built upon the ruins of 
 an excavated city, threatened on the one side
 
 154 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 by the fires of Vesuvius, and on the other by 
 the Mediterranean Sea. 
 
 Before I left this neighbourhood it was ex- 
 pedient to undertake the arduous task of visiting 
 the crater of the Volcano. Being provided with 
 mules, we traverse at first, a country rich in 
 ]>omegranates, vines, and olives ; but, somewhat 
 like the poetical transition from paradise to 
 earth, we are soon obliged to tread a black and 
 sterile plain ; it seems to have been deluged by 
 a flood of lava, which, issuing from the burning 
 crater, precipitately rushed along, regardless 
 of vineyards or of villages, and ceased not till 
 it was quenched by the foaming waters of the 
 ocean. Great must be the shock when in 
 thundering conflict these rival elements clashed 
 together the burning lava invading the ex- 
 haustless deep ! 
 
 Leaving our mules at the foot of the moun- 
 tain, it was with some difficulty we climbed the 
 almost perpendicular ridge, whose rough pro- 
 jections served to secure our feet and employ 
 our hands in the ascent. The desire of gratify- 
 ing my curiosity gave redoubled elasticity to 
 my limbs ; and although I stopped at intervals, 
 it was not so much the effect of fatigue, as of an 
 anxiety to admire the magnificent scene which 
 the bay exhibits from such a commanding height.
 
 NAPLES. 155 
 
 The works of men are lost amid the grandeur 
 of God's creation ! Naples and its extensive 
 range of villas, upon the water's edge, sink into 
 insignificance, while the eye passes o'er the 
 mountains, which frown so awfully with iron 
 brow ; while it expands across the out-spreading 
 ocean, takes in on the one hand the azure Ap- 
 penines gilded by the setting sun, and on the 
 other the verdant heights of Pausilyppo. 
 
 We reach the solitary hermitage which stands 
 upon the only spot defended from the desolating 
 terrorsof Vesuvius ; an over-hanging promontory 
 divides and wards away the threatening deluge ; 
 here we willingly partake a grateful refreshment 
 of oranges and wine. At length we gain the 
 summit. It is a plain of sulphur smoking from 
 the effects of a recent eruption. There are 
 several chasms in the mountain, which give vent 
 to the inward conflagrations ; but the great 
 crater is situated on the top of a hillock, formed 
 by the throes with which itself is labouring. 
 Amid a shower of cinders thrown up with the 
 smoke which issues forth in heavy volumes, I ven- 
 tured, from the windward, to the crater's brink. 
 The recollection of Herculancum and Pompeii 
 the frightful aspect of all around brought home 
 the most awful impressions, while contemplating 
 the very source whence such melancholy con-
 
 156 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 sequences flowed. Oh, if now the Mighty Be- 
 ing it obeys, but speak the word but loosed its 
 bonds, and let it forth dreadful result ! No, 
 that voice which says to the ocean, " Hitherto 
 shall thou go and no further here shall thy 
 proud waves be stayed, 11 subdues its violence, 
 and commands it into peace. The wind shifting 
 a little, a breath of sulphurious smoke warns u* 
 to withdraw ; its sullen roars grow louder 
 we descend. Our descent along the pulverized 
 lava, tenaceous enough to prevent the feet from 
 falling, yet so loose and fine as to accelerate our 
 motion, had all the rapidity of flight. What an 
 engine of destruction here uplifts itself with 
 towering majesty ! fixed in a land that teems 
 with all the bounties of creation, given by that 
 Sovereign Lord of all, who gives, that himself 
 may be glorified in his gifts ; but where his 
 blessings are abused, or his forbearance set at 
 nought, makes ready his weapons of retribution 
 when a nation's crime calls on judgment to 
 begin ! 
 
 We return to Naples by the light of the moon, 
 whose mild ray illuminated, at the same time, 
 the resounding ocean, and the menacing Vesu- 
 vius. Grateful, indeed, did I feel to that benign 
 and powerful Saviour, whose hand has thus far 
 guided me through life. I shall leave you to
 
 NAPLES. 157 
 
 sympathize in my feelings, and to supply, by the 
 vigour of your imagination, what I have de- 
 signedly left to its exercise, 
 
 And remain, 
 
 &c. Stc. 
 
 LETTER XXX. 
 
 Naples. 
 
 MY DEAR FEIEND, 
 
 HAVING tasted the charms of ancient poetry, 
 you would not excuse me were I to pass un- 
 noticed the venerable tomb where the shade of 
 Virgil is said, by his admirers, still to hover ; or 
 where at least some charm is to be found, which 
 induces the visitor of Naples to undertake its 
 pilgrimage. I leave then the unmeaning pro- 
 cession of this idle people along the crowded 
 Chiaga, to penetrate the silent mansions of the 
 mighty dead. Ascending the mountain of Pau- 
 silyppo, you would turn, again and again, to 
 admire the spacious prospects which enlarge, in 
 proportion to the heights we gain. A garden, 
 shaded by the profuse and luxuriant intermix- 
 ture of trees and flowers, is the chosen repository 
 of this celebrated tomb, which is tottering be- 
 neath the pressure of so many ages almost
 
 158 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 buried with the shrubs, which, while they add 
 to the beauty, tend to hasten its decay. A 
 situation, such as this, is associated with all 
 those feelings of interest, which the recollection 
 of our youthful studies is apt to engender. 
 Here lay the bard, who tuned his lyre amid the 
 din of arms, and calmed his monarch's bosom 
 with the melody of song who bid his country 
 turn the sword into a pruning-hook, and almost 
 caught the spirit of Isaiah when singing the ad- 
 vent of the Prince of Peace* who led his hero 
 through many a labyrinth and shed a brighter 
 lustre still, upon the annals and the dignity of 
 Rome ! 
 
 A laurel has for many ages thrown its shade 
 upon the tomb. The enthusiastic veneration of 
 our literary countrymen lias plucked its leaves 
 and cut its branches nearly to the root ; but its 
 honour shall be restored by the same Nature, 
 whose charms this poet has so sweetly sung ; 
 and the laurel shall once more bestow its vener- 
 able shade, and the unfading tribute of its ver- 
 dure upon the memory of this Prince of poets. 
 
 Descending to the church of Piedemonte, we 
 enter the celebrated grotto of Pausilyppo a 
 work worthy the Roman age. The road is cut 
 
 Vide Pollio,
 
 NAPLES. 159 
 
 through and through the mountain ; it is lighted 
 by some lamps, and by two vast apertures in the 
 roof. Naples was partly built of the materials 
 taken from its excavation ; but the original de- 
 sign of the great work, was to form an easy 
 communication between the city and that part 
 of the country situated at the farther side of 
 the mountain. 
 
 Having passed through the grotto, a rich 
 and luxuriant plain admits us. The tall. grain 
 is shaded by rows of poplar which are linked 
 by the vines, as in other parts of Italy, hanging 
 from tree to tree in rich festoons. 
 
 The lake Agnano is surrounded with hills, 
 whose verdure, is only interrupted by the sul- 
 phureous exhalations, which issue from the earth. 
 At Solfatara it continually oozes out, and when- 
 ever the vegetation tries to invade that region, 
 it is quickly repelled by the scorching heat be- 
 neath its surface. The Piscina of Lucullus 
 were probably the ruins of ancient baths ; the 
 vapour which breathes forth from its neighbour- 
 hood is so heated, as to be intolerable to the 
 human frame ; the several successive chambers 
 of the Piscina afford gradually lesser degrees of 
 heat ; and invalids resort to these baths of Na- 
 ture with the most beneficial effects. The Grotto 
 del Cane exhibits an extraordinary influence 
 p 2
 
 10 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 upon the animal frame. No visible peculiarity 
 is noticed, until a dog is for a short time held in 
 the grotto ; it first became strongly convulsed, 
 then grew faint, and lastly had all the appear- 
 ance of death ; on being taken out and laid on 
 the ground it gradually revived, till at last the 
 poor animal jumped about with every demon- 
 stration of joy, as if feeling itself delivered from 
 the deadly power of some supernatural spell. A 
 lighted torch is extinguished on being held near 
 the floor of this singular cave ; and we were in- 
 formed that it deadens the report of a pistol shot. 
 Proceeding a considerable way along this 
 road we arrive at Puteoli, now Puzzoli, the 
 neighbourhood of which affords many interesting 
 objects of antiquity ; hither the wealthier citi- 
 zens of Rome were wont to repair, when they 
 sought a shelter in the refreshing temperature 
 of the sea-breeze, and in the coolness of a country 
 scene, from the oppression of a city burning be- 
 neath the rays of the summer sun. Its beau- 
 tiful scenery exhibits at every step the most 
 agreeable landscapes. If every spot of this inte- 
 resting country was associated with the memory 
 of their departed heroes, surely a Christian's 
 mind will survey it with peculiar interest, as the 
 haven which received the Apostle of the Gentiles 
 on his way to Rome ; hither he was wafted by
 
 NAPLES. Nil 
 
 the favouring south-wind here he held, for 
 seven days, sweet communion with the saints 
 this very spot was witness to his preaching, to 
 his prayers, and to his offering up the sacrifice 
 of praise. But the very Time which has trans- 
 ferred them into an eternity of bliss, has spread 
 its devastating hand upon all the monuments of 
 human skill, which once adorned this interesting 
 place ! 
 
 The temple of Sybaris first attracts our no- 
 tice by the extent of its ruins. A faint idea of 
 its ancient honours may be still collected, on 
 visiting the eight and forty chambers which 
 surrounded its lofty shrine ; that shrine was 
 supported on as many columns, some of which 
 still show the character of their original adorn- 
 ment. Even the face of nature here has under- 
 gone a striking change : hills have arisen where 
 all had once been smooth towns, once on hills, 
 have now their foundations in the deep and 
 the peasant treads upon the seats of Roman 
 pride, or supports, with the stranger who visits 
 them, a petty traffic for the fragments of their 
 ruin. 
 
 Here is the lake Averno there is the grotto 
 of the Sybil ; passing through a narrow path- 
 way, formed by the continual step of intellectual 
 curiosity, we arrive at the temple of Apollo, 
 p 3
 
 12 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 and at length we gain the spot where ^Eneas ts 
 represented, by his poetical biographer, to have 
 drawn aside the veil which hangs across futurity. 
 Provided with flambeaus we penetrated the dark 
 chamber ; but it was on the shoulders of hardy 
 peasants who secured us from the waters through 
 which they had to wade. These subterraneous 
 apartments, the abode of darkness (only when 
 our advancing flambeaus chased it before us) 
 vividly recall the descriptive imagery of Virgil, 
 and the mythological story of the realms of 
 Pluto. An imagination like his, in visiting 
 such a place, might naturally attribute to its 
 silence and its solemnity, the influence he de- 
 scribes. At the further extremity of this recess> 
 the elaborate workmanship on the ceiling makes 
 it likely, that a cavern, formed by the hand of 
 Nature, was selected as a convenient abode of 
 superstition, and adorned with the sedulous 
 touch of art. 
 
 Beyond the lake Avernois Baise, the favourite 
 abode of Horace ; and interspersed amid hilla 
 and dales, are the vestiges of temples once fre- 
 quented by their benighted votaries. The Ely- 
 jsian plains are still delightful, as well by the 
 richness of the soU, as the beauty of the situa- 
 tion. The baths of Nero are supplied from a 
 boiling spring, in which eggs were dressed for
 
 NAPLES. 163 
 
 us by our trusty guide ; and our rural repast 
 was completed near the temple of Diana and the 
 tomb of Agrippina, with a little of the Falernian 
 wine, which is just as refreshing to the tired 
 traveller, as to the taste of Horace. The echo 
 in the temple of Mercury, carries a whisper at 
 the wall of one side, to the ear of a person at the 
 opposite, although quite unperceived by a third 
 who stands between them. The Piscina Ad- 
 mirabile, for its spaciousness, deserves the epithet, 
 and the Cente Camerelle of Nero form a pro- 
 digious pile. 
 
 Here again is the spot where the favourite 
 poets of Augustus presented to their patron the 
 fruits of a fertile imagination ; here did he sit, 
 as he was wont to say, between the tears of the 
 one and the sighs of the other ; but there (as 
 the eye is turned to the arm of the sea which 
 encroaches upon the land) we behold those huge 
 fragments which rise above its level, presenting 
 a sad picture of the folly which marked succeed- 
 ing days. These ruins in the water, stand the 
 monuments of Atheistical insanity. Here did 
 the miserable Caligula try to emulate the pomp- 
 ous imbecility of Xerxes, and subjugate the 
 waves. 
 
 A time there was when this interesting land 
 was adorned by the wealth, and panegyrized by
 
 164 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 the genius of its inhabitants ; when it lit up the 
 fancy of these poets, who, in the brilliancy of 
 description, have transmitted the very picture 
 of it to posterity ; when the riches of art seemed 
 to vie with the beauties of nature. But an 
 apostle also, on a time passed this way and with 
 an unconcern, almost prophetical of its doom, 
 passed them as the fading monuments of time, al- 
 though he landed on these shores in the height of 
 their magnificence. He saw already that vanity 
 which is stamped upon the works of man, for he 
 heard it by the lips of the Almighty pronounced 
 upon the works of nature. Fixing then his eye 
 upon prospects which cannot change with the 
 vicissitudes of time objects as glorious in their 
 kind, as they are infinite in their duration, he 
 hastened on as the ambassador of Jesus, to un- 
 furl the standard of the Cross in the metropolis 
 of the world. Indeed, my friend, the awful 
 reality of so much ruin spread around, it' 
 possible, must enhance the value of his glorious 
 message ; of which the object was to proclaim the 
 boon of an unfading eternity through a Re- 
 deemer's blood ; that we may be interested in 
 its atoning efficacy, is the sincere desire of 
 
 Your's, &c.
 
 NAPLES. 165 
 
 LETTER XXXI. 
 
 Naples. 
 
 MY DEAK FRIEND, 
 
 IN a country like this which abounds with 
 such fine specimens of ancient and modern art, 
 the national museum must be an interesting 
 object : amid a vast assemblage of all that is 
 rare in statuary we notice the Farnese Hercules, 
 which is Strength personified Flora seems to 
 breathe a freshness upon the flowers which she 
 scatters from her hand Aristides is in the very 
 act of conversing with a friend ; here is a colossal 
 head of a horse by Phidias, and three equestrian 
 statues of the family of Balbi, which were found 
 amid the ruins of Herculaneum. The collection , 
 of Etrurian Vases is very extensive, but their 
 similarity satiates an appetite rendered, perhaps, 
 too fastidious by so many varieties of invention 
 and taste. The collection, however, of the 
 manuscripts, discovered in Herculaneum, are 
 particularly worthy of examination : they ap- 
 pear at first like blocks of wood which had been 
 reduced to charcoal ; but by means of a process, 
 which required the utmost patience and pre- 
 cision, they are gradually unfolded piece by 
 piece, and cemented to the small threads of a
 
 166 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 machine which is constructed for the purpose. 
 Several must be employed in the various depart- 
 ments of the work ; some in unrolling, others 
 in affixing them in their proper order ; the more 
 skilful are occupied in decyphering what is 
 done engravers take fac-similes of the work 
 and the Learned translate, or supply the more 
 injured parts, by words, as near as possible to 
 probability, adapted to the sense. The expec- 
 tations of the friends of literature are not grati- 
 fied as yet in the discovery of the long-desired 
 works which have been lost; these MSS. are 
 for the most part in Greek ; and at the period 
 of my visit a considerable time had been spent 
 over a long treatise on ancient music. 
 
 The Chartreuse, which overlooks the city of 
 Naples, must be Visited by the sojourner here ; 
 whatever the ostentation or mendicant spirit of its 
 inmates could procure, to render it a magnificent 
 retreat for them, is to be here found. A stranger 
 is led to admire the figures of all the prophets by 
 Spagnioletto, in each of which the sublime and 
 heavenly expression is produced on the features, 
 corresponding, as far as may be, with the pecu- 
 liar character of their writings ; the expulsion 
 of Heliodorus too, from the tern pie of Jerusalem, 
 by the masterly hand of Solimenes, is a principal 
 ornament to its walls ; but its chief merit is the
 
 NAPLES. 167 
 
 bold scenery which presents itself from the 
 windows, well calculated, by the love of free- 
 dom it inspires, either to promote the self-denial, 
 or to tantalize these feelings, which, as men, 
 the monks must find within their breasts. 
 
 The royal palace of Caserta is one of the 
 most magnificent which the sovereign of Naples 
 possesses. The country leading to it, is rich in 
 all the luxuries of life ; but the observation of 
 our poet is still too plainly realized with respect 
 to its inhabitants, " that man is the only growth 
 which dwindles here;" for he seems scarcely 
 conscious of the blessings with which he is sur- 
 rounded. A fine aqueduct conducts a stream 
 of water to the palace from hill to hill, and is 
 justly regarded as superior to any similar work 
 which the ancients have left behind : three rows 
 of arches rise one above the other, the highest 
 of which consists of forty- three, and one runs 
 transversely through the entire range. The un- 
 dertaking is costly and magnificent, but the 
 end could have been attained by the modern 
 application of science, in a far more expeditious 
 way. There seems, however, that want of en- 
 terprize which must sometime deviate from the 
 beaten track ; and many a useful hint is thrown 
 away, merely because it recommends what hap- 
 pened to be unknown to our fathers who went
 
 168 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 before us. The palace is remarkable for its 
 size, and the grandeur of its construction ; but 
 at present destitute of furniture : the halls are 
 incrusted with marble; in the veins of which 
 are to be seen some figures, naturally depicted. 
 When the full enjoyment of the blessings of 
 pgace, and the firm re-establishment of the 
 sovereign on his throne, shall enable him to vi- 
 sit this magnificent abode, its spaciousness, and 
 its sequestration, will enable him to collect his 
 own resources, and to unbend from the cares 
 and anxieties of a crown. 
 
 The Neapolitan character is generally known ; 
 and my stay among the people was so limited, 
 that I am unable to give a more favourable im- 
 pression than that which, from report, you have 
 already received. A bountiful hand has lavished 
 o'er the country all that could gratify the most 
 fastidious desires ; but some baleful influence 
 has changed the blessing into a curse ; and in 
 proportion as the wants of nature are supplied, 
 the menial energies seem to be relaxed. In a 
 climate, demanding a less supply of food, and 
 a lighter degree of clothing ; where their wants 
 need not be many, and where the means of re- 
 lief are so great ; yet, notwithstanding, Virtue 
 is sacrificed to the cravings of avarice, and the 
 talent which is natural to them as a people is
 
 NAPLES. 189 
 
 fumed away in the invention of subtle devices, 
 to gratify this their predominant passion. Gam- 
 ing is prevalent amongst all classes of society ; 
 and is carried on under every shape. As litera- 
 ture seems rather to belong to a distinct profes- 
 sion, than to be regarded as the necessary orna- 
 ment of every gentleman, it is rarely met with 
 among those, -whose rank and fortune allow them 
 to dispense with it ; and some of the noblesse, 
 whose chief ambition is to appear in the prome- 
 nade after their evening siesta, were represented 
 to me, to be as uninstructed as the lackeys which 
 run before their coach. The streets are crowd- 
 ed with people to excess, and stuffed with the 
 tables and stands of those, who retail to them 
 fruits and shell-fish ; the macaroni, in all direc- 
 tions, invites the hungry ; the lemonade is con- 
 tinually pouring forth to refresh the thirsty : 
 you, therefore, see much bustle without busi- 
 ness, much poverty amid great plenty, and in 
 the land of harmony perpetual contentions. 
 The number of priests is ineffectual to restrain 
 the gross immorality of the people, and the 
 military along the roads are unable to secure the 
 traveller from the banditti which infest them. 
 But here let me draw the veil. It is not plea- 
 sant to dwell upon a subject, the details of 
 which would be too much calculated, by the 
 
 a
 
 170 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 very recital, to offend the imagination. I re- 
 turn to Rome, and hope to proceed from that 
 to Venice. 
 
 Farewell, &c. 
 
 LETTER XXXII. 
 
 Rome. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING the several at- 
 tractions which are presented by the environs 
 and the city of Naples, my parting view of it 
 was not the least agreeable sensation it gave me. 
 Returning once more to Rome, it was delight- 
 ful to remember, that every time the wheels of 
 our carriage revolved, they were gradually 
 bringing me nearer and nearer to my friends, 
 and much-loved home. If to visit Naples was 
 worth so great a risk, as that of passing through 
 a country beset with highway-men, it were 
 worth exposure to a double danger, when that 
 road presents before us the prospect of our na- 
 tive shores. 
 
 The country near the Pontine marshes, is not 
 only infested by banditti, but, at this season of 
 the year, by the noxious atmosphere called mal- 
 aria. We employed some guards to escort us
 
 ROME. HI 
 
 through the most suspected parts of the way ; and 
 one of my fellow-travellers proposed to beguile the 
 tediousness of the journey by conversation, and 
 to employ every effort to remove the drowsiness 
 which is engendered by the air, and which, if 
 once indulged, is attended with the most fatal 
 results. His pleasing remarks had the desired 
 effect ; but it would be a mark of ingratitude, 
 were I to pass unnoticed, the exhiliration which 
 was produced, by some little intruders, which 
 had been hidden in the straw of an old Church, 
 whither we had fled from the heat of the sun, 
 and the uncleanliness of the inn : lethargy va- 
 nished away, and though we endeavoured to 
 get rid of our troublesome guests, yet, for the 
 first time, they proved to us most friendly. 
 
 My stay in Rome shall be now very limited ; 
 merely to survey a few other monuments, which 
 have not been noticed, and to ascertain the just- 
 ness of a few ideas, which have strongly pre- 
 sented themselves to my mind. We entered the 
 city about two o'clock, in the month of July, 
 and the streets were entirely deserted ; all was 
 silent ; as though death had swept away its in- 
 habitants with a sudden pestilential blast. As 
 the heat decreased, and the cool breath of even- 
 ing diffused its freshness upon the city, all came 
 forth again to enjoy it.
 
 172 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 The malaria, which we so much cfreaded in 
 the Pon tine marshes, has already invaded Rome; 
 its increase is gradual ; year by year occupying 
 a still wider range, and assuming a more deadly 
 character. During its prevalence, the-Pope is 
 forced to abandon the Vatican, which stands near 
 the river, and obliged to retreat from the in- 
 vading power to his palace on mount Quirinal, 
 where a purer atmosphere is inhaled. If this 
 fatal effluvia increases, in the ratio it now does, 
 for the period of half a century, it may finally 
 render this magnificent city unfitted for the 
 habitation of our species ; and the metropolis of 
 papal power may ultimately be deserted, by 
 reason of a dispensation which evidently does 
 not originate in man. How solemn the antici- 
 pation ! if so be, this stately city on her seven 
 hills, should at length stand only as the monu- 
 ment of her own desolation. 
 
 The pyramid of Caius Cestus is a very fine 
 imitation of the Egyptian monuments. In the 
 field where the memorial of this heathen stands, 
 the remains of our heretical countrymen, who 
 die at Rome, are deposited. Denied the privi- 
 lege of a burial-place in catholic cemeteries, the 
 ashes of the protestant are suffered to mingle, 
 by a special indulgence, (under present circum- 
 stances,) with the dust of the pagan. Yet, even
 
 ROME. 17S 
 
 here, the inhospitable foot of some cold-hearted 
 bigot has prostrated the simple honours which 
 the hand of piety or affection had reared to the 
 memory of friends who died in a distant clime. 
 A tear involuntarily falls upon the scattered 
 tomb-stones, on which time had scarcely wiped 
 away the dust of its recently-carved inscription. 
 The proud temples of the city lift up their as- 
 piring heads ; nor should we envy them their os- 
 tentatious elevation ; but the ashes of a stranger 
 af a professing follower of Jesus -of a man- 
 might at least be entitled, in their inoffensive 
 and melancholy dissolution, to the benefits of 
 repose. 
 
 Unwilling, under such reflections, to return 
 immediately to the city, I passed through the 
 gate near which the pyramid stands ; it led me 
 to a small, yet interesting shrine ; erected on the 
 spot where, it is supposed that, the apostles 
 Paul and Peter, about to be separated from one 
 another, took that last affectionate leave, which 
 is expressed in the bass relief upon the front. 
 Such a spot, even if the subject be but the off- 
 spring of imagination, awakened a delightful 
 train of congenial sentiment ; it brought me 
 back to that golden age', when a pure and hea- 
 venly charity first descended amongst the children 
 of men ; when the " unity of the spirit 11 was 
 Q 3
 
 174 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 cemented by the " bond of peace ;" when Chris- 
 tian love, unfettered by the petty distinctions of 
 a party-spirit, enlarged itself to all, and en~ 
 compassed the nations of the earth in its mild 
 embrace. 
 
 Farther en, is the great Basilica, or Cathe- 
 dral of St. Paul, which is richly adorned in the 
 interior with marble columns ; but is subject 
 to the inundations of the Tiber, when it over- 
 flows its banks. It associates with it a name, 
 which must give it an interest in the Christian 
 heart: how truly grateful would we feel, in 
 viewing this interesting pile, if the same spirit 
 which influenced St. Paul, * " who was not a 
 whit behind the very chiefest apostles," was now 
 the directing motive of a people, who can erect 
 such temples to his name. Then would the 
 apostolic Scriptures be received as the rule of 
 faith ; then would the spiritual temple of Christ's 
 church be edified and adorned with every grace; 
 while it would be found resting upon the -f- one 
 foundation, than which none other can be laid ; 
 even on Christ Jesus, the rock of ago?. 
 
 Being on the eve of departing, perhaps for 
 
 the last time, from Rome, I took a parting view 
 
 of every spot which before had gratified my 
 
 curiosity, or administered to the sweets of medi- 
 
 * Vide 2 Cor. xi. 5. f Vide 1^ Cor. in. 1 1 .
 
 ROME. 175 
 
 tation, and such other places as had only received 
 a cursory examination. The baths of Titus 
 furnished Raphael with the design of these 
 graceful arabesks on which he made improve- 
 ments so extensive as to secure for him all the 
 merit of originality. Here the group of Lao- 
 coon, his sons, and the serpents stood ; and the 
 chamber, in which the emperor was used to 
 bathe, is easily discovered by its fragments, 
 which prove it to have been once both suitable 
 and splendid : it is constructed for coolness in 
 an atmosphere so heated ; and even still the air 
 refreshingly circulates through its extensive gal- 
 leries. An inscription, indented on its walls 
 by an ancient hand, gravely denounces the 
 man, who would offend against the neatness 
 and order of a place distinguished by the im- 
 perial presence ; the precautionary advertisement 
 is very pointedly expressed, and remains a 
 specimen of Roman wit. Not far from this are 
 the Sette Sale which were the reservoirs to supply 
 the baths with water. 
 
 These works, erected in the days of Titus, 
 were constructed on a plan, and with materials 
 so durable, that the barbarous invaders of 
 Rome, after employing the usual efforts of ex- 
 ternal violence to destroy them, but in vain 
 were obliged to have recourse to the awkward,
 
 176 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 though effectual expedient, of breaking through 
 the roof and filling the interior with all the 
 rubbish they could collect above. It will afford 
 an interesting subject for conjecture, to take a 
 -view of these monuments of imperial luxury, 
 which are now lying waste in silent decay, as 
 having been originally raised upon the ruins and 
 with the riches of the Jewish temple. Titus, with 
 his Roman legion, fulfilled the divine prediction 
 of Jesus, as to the fate of Jerusalem ; his were 
 the * eagles which gathered round the carcase, for 
 the life was gone when Messiah was rejected. 
 The memorial of that conquest at this moment 
 stands in Rome, and the Arch of Titus is one 
 of its most perfect relicks ; on it, in bass-relief, 
 we see the triumphal procession which took 
 place ]in consequence of this event : the High- 
 Priest and Levites are in chains the insignia of 
 Jewish worship, especially the golden candle- 
 stick with its seven branches, are borne along by 
 the imperial guards. What a glorious testi- 
 mony this of the truth of Jesus and of the 
 power of God ! Here, with naked eye, vou 
 behold the undeniable evidence of a fact ; that 
 Jerusalem was captured and its temple des- 
 troyed. Every incident of that event as re- 
 corded by Josephus, who was a Jew, serving 
 
 " Luke xvii. 37.
 
 ROME. 17T 
 
 under the Emperor at the very time, accords 
 with the representation here exhibited on the 
 arch, and with the prophecies of Christ, so fully 
 detailing them in his Word. So that Jew and 
 Gentile even in their very hostility to the Gos- 
 pel, are constrained, by the wonderous chain of 
 Providence, to bear testimony to its truth. 
 
 From that period of desolation, (of which 
 this monument is the memorial,) to the present 
 day, are the Jews a scattered people ; and while 
 they unsuspectedly bear in their hands the 
 prophetic records, which testify that Jesus was 
 the Christ, their own condition is another record 
 that the spirit of prophecy dwelt in him. Who 
 but God can control Providence, and cause 
 events to harmonize in the fulfilment of a predic- 
 tion ? A.nd who but God can unveil futurity 
 to our view ? Well may we fall at the feet of 
 Jesus, under the convictions which such circum- 
 stances as these create, and cry, as did the satisfied 
 apostle, " My Lord and my God." Here too 
 we can clearly discern the hand of a controlling 
 Providence, who can effect his own measures by 
 whatever instrument it pleases him to appoint ; 
 employing oftentimes his enemies to accomplish 
 his ends ; so that while they only consult how 
 to profane his worship, he lays on them a 
 necessity to execute his will.
 
 17* TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 I shall leave you, my friend, to pursue and 
 to improve upon these reflections ; as I am 
 preparing to return to my dear home and my 
 native land, where, if the recollection of past 
 ages is not conveyed by so many interesting 
 monuments as here, the possession of present 
 blessings and future hope, far more than out- 
 weighs their loss. 
 
 Your's, &c. 
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 
 
 Venice. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 MY delay at Rome was chiefly occasioned 
 by the necessity of waiting, to join several com- 
 panies of travellers, that we might mutually 
 protect ourselves, by so formidable an appear- 
 ance, from the banditti which infest the Cam- 
 pagnia of Rome. The immediate environs of 
 the city are for many miles in a state of absolute 
 desertion, so that no external variety presented 
 itself until we arrived at Terni. 
 
 Desirous of visiting the famous cascade, I 
 traversed a wood of olives along the foaming 
 Velino, and before the setting of the sun reached 
 what is called the Cascada di Marmore. It is
 
 VENICE. m 
 
 one of the finest objects of nature I have yet 
 seen. The Velino precipitates itself from a 
 mountain to the depth of about nine hundred 
 feet ; its fall is twice broken by projecting 
 rocks, but it collects again its force, bounds 
 with gigantic strides to its channel on the plain, 
 while the echo of its fall is reverberated by the 
 chain of surrounding hills. A misty cloud as- 
 cends from below, to the height from which it 
 falls ; and the rays of the sun, intercepted and 
 refracted by its density, enrich its summit with 
 a crown of variegated glory. The scenery 
 around corresponds with the grandeur of such 
 an object : mountains covered with a deep ver- 
 durethe rapid stream rushing through the 
 orangeries in the vale below above is seen the 
 azure beauty of an Italian sky all around is 
 silent, save the roaring of the waterfall, while 
 the absence of every human habitation marks 
 this spot as one of the most sublime retreats of 
 undisturbed Nature. 
 
 Several other scenes, in the way to Loretto, 
 across the Appennines, might justly arrest our 
 notice ; but however interesting to the tra- 
 veller, they could give little additional satisfac- 
 tion to the imagination of one, who can at all 
 times, in his own land, enjoy the richest varieties 
 of mountain, wood, and water. We reach the
 
 180 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 Casa Santa of Loretto, once the depository of 
 all that wealth which the credulous votaries of 
 papal imposition could amass ; but only now 
 adorned with whatever riches the hand of deso- 
 lation was unable to remove. The legend in- 
 forms us, with pompous gravity, that this little 
 chamber, built of unplastered brick, was once 
 the habitation of the Virgin Mary ; that, dis- 
 tinguished by the care of the angelic host, it 
 was transported near the site on which it stands; 
 that they (injudiciously no doubt) planting, it 
 on the joint-inheritance of two brothers, it be- 
 came, by reason of the wealth which poured in 
 from the devotion of its visitors, an apple of 
 discord between them ; a second interposition, 
 correcting the first mistake, fixes it on its present 
 elevation ; one which commands a noble pros- 
 pect of the adjoining country and the Adriatic 
 sea. A magnificent church is built around the 
 Santa Casa ; all that superstition could command 
 of the genius and the wealth of Italy was em- 
 ployed to adorn this miserable hut, and the sup- 
 posed habitation of the Virgin Mary, (which 
 bore no other mark that could accord with the 
 original i>ut its naked poverty,) was soon enriched 
 by the offerings of kings and emperors, and of 
 all the community of Rome. Since the return 
 of peace, its wealth, which had been stolen and
 
 VENICE. 181 
 
 the. celebrity which had been lost, begin to be 
 restored wiih the restoration of papal authority. 
 
 The town of Loretto carries on a very ex- 
 tensive traffic in beads, crucifixes, and such like 
 objects of superstition, which, when blessed by 
 the priest at the shrine of the Virgin, are sup- 
 posed to retain the most extraordinary virtues. 
 The proximity of this temple seems not however 
 to have a tendency to advance the spiritual and 
 moral improvement of the people. A fellow- 
 traveller very gravely informed me, that even 
 in Italy the immorality of the Lorettan character 
 has given rise to a proverb, " Non si chiamano 
 questo gente Lorettani ma Luterani, sono si 
 cattim? Degraded, indeed, must the Lorret- 
 tans be, when Italians can thus stigmatize them 
 with the appellation of Lutherans a name, which 
 to Italian ears, conveys every idea which de- 
 notes the most contemptuous disrespect. 
 
 Along the eastern coast of Italy there is great 
 intercourse between the people and the present 
 inhabitants of Greece. At Ancona the Gre- 
 cians and Turks walk about the streets in full 
 costume. At Sinigaglia we passed through the 
 great annual fair which lasts for some weeks, 
 and attracts the foreign merchants of many na- 
 tions ; the streets were filled with temporary 
 shops. The other towns along the coast seem 
 a
 
 182 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 rich, and the surrounding country fertile. The 
 Rubicon, like other streams of Italy, though 
 rapid and full in winter, when the rains descend 
 from the hills, was dried up when we passed, 
 and nothing very interesting occurred as an 
 inducement to delay ; so that, proceeding from 
 Bologna, through a fertile plain to Ferrara, (once 
 the seat of ducal power, but now only retaining 
 its antique palaces,) 1 hired a boat at the Ponte 
 del Po, to convey me to Venice. 
 
 The river Po passes through a flat and unin- 
 teresting country ; I therefore proceeded on by 
 night ; a very comfortable bed being provided 
 in the boat. On we rowed, the sailors harmo- 
 nizing the stillness of the night by the finest 
 notes of natural melody ; they sang in parts, 
 and as we passed the boats, which lay by till the 
 morning-light on the river's side, we heard from 
 all, the same richness of tone, and the same 
 variety of cadence. At sun-rise we entered 
 what are called the Lagune ; and a more mag- 
 nificent prospect than at that time presented 
 itself, cannot well be conceived : the dome of 
 St. Mark and the spires of this celebrated city, 
 (emerging, as it does, from the bosom of the 
 deep,) wore all glittering in the rays of the morn- 
 nin-sun. At length, having passed along seve- 
 ral small islands, on some of which are seen the
 
 VENICE. 183 
 
 works of Palladio, so famed for architecture, we 
 arrive and land at the Piazza di St. Marco, 
 amid the numerous gondolas which carry to and 
 fro their well-dressed companies. 
 
 Venice, being now but an appendage to a 
 mighty empire, has lost the splendour of its 
 former independence, and the pride of its mari- 
 time greatness. The reality of her ancient glory 
 has been sunk in the Austrian embrace ; but 
 the traces of it are marked with indelible cha- 
 racters on the proud monuments of her brighter 
 days. The city is seated on about seventy is- 
 lets intersected with canals, by which the in- 
 habitants are borne in their gondolas from place 
 to place ; there are, however, narrow foot-paths 
 through the city, and some handsome piazze. 
 
 The square in which the cathedral of St. Mark 
 stands is the most extensive, and comprises many 
 objects interesting to the traveller. The cathe- 
 dral itself claims our first regard : the eye is at- 
 tracted at once by so great a multitude of pillars, 
 and all composed of the most costly marble ; 
 the number is such that they are usually de- 
 scribed as the forest of columns, and among 
 them we find the genuine porphyry and the 
 verde antico in pillars of different dimensions. 
 Over the great entrance of the church are re- 
 placed the four celebrated Venetian horses which 
 E 2
 
 IS* TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 Napoleon had carried off to grace the chariot of 
 Victory, which stood upon the arch of triumph 
 in the Thuilleries at Paris. They are here 
 elevated once more to their original place; but 
 are encircled with an inscription, which attri- 
 butes their restoration to the arms of the victo- 
 rious Caesar. The interior of the building is 
 dark and solemn ; the floor consists of a fanciful 
 arrangement of coloured marbles, and instead of 
 being even and horizontal, is undulating, like 
 the waves of the sea. The parts of this floor 
 resting upon the wooden piles, (which were 
 necessarily laid, to ensure the foundation,) may 
 have remained upheld; while the other parts, 
 (exposed to the undermining influence of the sea) 
 may have gradually become depressed ; but the 
 Venetians assure us, that such a construction 
 was not the effect of accident, but of design, in 
 order, that every object should be associated 
 with their views and feelings as a maritime peo- 
 ple. The altar is adorned with columns of trans- 
 parent alabaster, which had been brought from 
 Constantinople ; and the great doors in bronze, 
 in which fine bass relief work in silver, had 
 been inserted, are disfigured by the hand of the 
 avaricious invaders, who, for the sake of the 
 silver, cut the workmanship away. 
 
 The Campidolio, or great tower of St. Mark,
 
 VENICE. 185 
 
 is not connected with the body of the Cathe- 
 dral, but is situated on the opposite side of the 
 square ; it is very easy of ascent, although the 
 highest, perhaps, in Italy. In addition to the 
 sensations which are felt, in viewing from so 
 great an elevation, this grand expanse of ocean 
 that extensive range of Alpine heights the 
 beautiful country lying at their base, and all 
 the monuments of Venetian grandeur spread 
 around the mind is peculiarly delighted, while 
 the eye is turned to the east, and takes in the 
 prospect of the mountains of Dalmatia, just 
 discernible in the distant horizon. Even this 
 glimpse of a Grecian province serves to awaken 
 some pleasing recollections ; and already has 
 imagination gone forth half way to explore it. 
 
 The old palace of the Doge aojoinsthe square 
 of St. Mark ; it has lost its chief ornament 
 that independence which once reigned within 
 its walls : the chambers, when I saw it, were 
 deserted ; nothing existed to remind us of what 
 Venice once had been, but the paintings whicli 
 adorn it ; by which her celebrated artists have 
 left to posterity some of the particulars of her 
 interesting history. The incidents connected 
 with the times of the Crusades are finely repre- 
 sented by Tintoretto, Titian, and Paolo Vero- 
 nese. In the library are some admirable speci- 
 B 3
 
 186 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 raens of statuary ; among which are to be see 
 some works of Phidias. The silence of deser- 
 tion was reigning through this venerable man- 
 sion ; where the counsels of an enterprising 
 people once gave laws to many a tributary state. 
 
 The remainder of the Piazza, consists of the 
 imperial residence, the richly-adorned coffee- 
 houses, and the buildings occupied by mer- 
 chants. At evening the Venetians still retain 
 something of the habits by which once they were 
 distinguished. 
 
 I shall take another opportunity of giving 
 you farther accounts of this very interesting 
 place, in the mean time receive the assurances of 
 
 Your's, &c. 
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 Milan. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 I SHALL not impose on your patience a 
 prolix description of the several costly churches 
 which adorn the city of Venice ; all rich in their 
 peculiar ornaments. In some, the interior has 
 the appearance of being hung with chintz, of a 
 shewy pattern ;" when, in reality, the walls are
 
 MILAN. 1ST 
 
 adorned with the tasteful arrangement of dif- 
 ferent-coloured marbles : the fringes by which 
 it is bordered, and the carpeting on the floor, are 
 imitated in the same valuable materials. Ano- 
 ther chnrch, is the burial place of Titian ; 
 which is only distinguished by this simple in- 
 scription, upon a single flag in the aisle : 
 
 Qui giace il gran Tiziano di Vercelli 
 Emulator di Zeuzi et degli Apelli. 
 
 The Venetians intend the simplicity of this 
 memorial as the mark of their highest eulogy ; 
 they tell you it would be needless to rear a mo- 
 nument to that name, which is fixed upon the 
 pinnacle of Fame, in the centre of the world. 
 
 Venice is enriched with many splendid collec- 
 tions of paintings. Perhaps you are sated with 
 the former descriptions of those numerous and 
 interesting exhibitions in Rome and Florence ; 
 permit me however, to introduce you to one, 
 in the palace Manfrini, which no admirer of 
 the fine arts can pass unnoticed. Thirteen cham- 
 l>ers contain specimens by all the great masters 
 of Italy. The Magdalen of Guido vies in in- 
 terest with that by the pencil of Correge ; the 
 penitence of the one, with the intellectual sensi- 
 bility characterized in the countenance of the 
 other. While we survey the Prodigal, em-
 
 188 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 braced by a forgiving parent, as represented by 
 Guercino, how does the heart melt, when we 
 personally feel, that the arms of Mercy are out- 
 stretched to embrace ourselves ! Raphael, with 
 touching faithfulness, represents the Saviour 
 taken down from the cross, by the affectionate 
 sedulousness of Joseph and Nicodemus ; and 
 Titian, among his numerous productions, con- 
 veys before our eyes the agonies of death, as 
 exhibited in union with the beauty of Cleopatra 
 and the virtue of Lucretia. The deluge is by 
 Raphael. " Truth unveiled by Time," is the 
 work of Tintoretto. -Even still, the pleasing im- 
 pressions remain, which they had left upon my 
 mind. 
 
 On the island St. George, is a church, de- 
 signed by the celebrated Palladio, and the Ri- 
 dentore, which belongs to the Carthusian monks, 
 is finished by the same architect, with a degree 
 of care which gives additional proof of the ve- 
 neration, in which he held the religious order, for 
 which it was designed. A large canal runs 
 through the city ; over which, the celebrated 
 Rial to, a bridge of a single arch, is thrown. In 
 the shops built upon it, may be seen the Vene- 
 tian chains of gold, the links of which, are so 
 attenuated as to afflict the artisans with diseases 
 in the eye. Jn this part of the city were the
 
 MILAN. 189 
 
 public offices of former days, and the ancient 
 palace of the Doge, which still remain, but 
 greatly injured by the effects of time. Indeed 
 the whole character of the city must have un- 
 dergone a material change. From its present 
 political circumstances, it can no longer display 
 the state and the opulence of an independent 
 metropolis : the nobility no longer outvie each 
 other in the beauty of their gondolas, and the 
 magnificence of their palaces ; the vivacity of 
 the people is impaired ; and even the celebra- 
 tion of the Carnival, which at Venice was so 
 distinguished, partakes not (I have been told) 
 of its ancient splendour. 
 
 Leaving this interesting city, I entered a sort 
 of packet, called the Corriere di Brenta, in the 
 evening, and sailing along the river from which 
 it takes its name, I arrived at Padoua the fol- 
 lowing day. 
 
 The traveller who on his first entrance into Italy 
 crosses the plains of Lombardy, as his wa.y to 
 Venice, must needs be surprized by the succession 
 of fine cities along his route; which exhibit the 
 riches of the countiy and the genius of the peo- 
 ple he is about to visit. He will love to prolong 
 the pleasures of a journey, where the fertility of 
 those plains which lie along the foot of the 
 Alps, and where objects, the most interesting
 
 190 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 which art can produce, are, at every step he 
 takes, pressing upon his notice, and demanding 
 his admiration. But the traveller, whose cu- 
 riosity has been more than gratified with the 
 wonders of Florence, Rome, and Naples, is 
 induced to pass on, satisfied with a transient 
 regard to objects, which, under other circum- 
 stances, would deserve a more minute exami- 
 nation. 
 
 The works of Palladio, as they cannot be 
 transferred, give a peculiar interest to Vicenza ; 
 where he employed his great talent for Archi- 
 tecture in constructing the palaces of the Vene- 
 tian nobility. His taste was Grecian yet ori- 
 ginal ; and he excelled in the beauty of his de- 
 signs and the exactness of his proportions. 
 
 Verona is a fine city ; its antiquity is attested 
 by the remains of its capacious amphitheatre ; 
 on which Ruin has ot stamped the same marks 
 of desolation, as ar' generally imprinted on si- 
 milar monuments ol ancient times. The mau- 
 sola of the two Scalagers are fantastic works after 
 the Gothic taste, as are several other buildings 
 of this city. Michael St. Michaele, an eminent 
 architect, has however left in this place some dis- 
 tinguished specimens of his ability. 
 
 The ride from Verona to Brescia is through a 
 most rich, and for the most part, romantic country.
 
 MILAN. 191 
 
 We pass the banks of the lake Guarda which is 
 encircled by the Alps is varied with the softest 
 hues ; gradually unfolding themselves from the 
 deep shade upon the waters, to the azure paleness 
 of the distant hills; and this loses itself in the 
 still more palid whiteness of the clouds, that 
 hang upon them. Here you see humble villages 
 upon its banks, boldly advancing hills, and deep 
 receding vallies ; there you discover scenes of 
 smiling verdure, or rocks jutting forth in barren 
 grandeur. The Brescian territory is highly 
 cultivated ; its fields are irrigated by canals 
 which intersect the country; and on approaching 
 the town at evening it was gratifying to see so 
 many groups of well-dressed, happy-looking pea- 
 santry returning from their work with cheerful 
 songs, and apparently joyful hearts. 
 
 As I wrote before from Milan, I shall wait 
 until my arrival again at Lausanne, (if it be the 
 will of God I reach it in safety,) in order to 
 convey to you any new impressions which I may 
 
 receive on the way. 
 
 Your^s, &c.
 
 let TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 
 Lausanne. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 The road from Milan to this city is one of the 
 most celebrated works of Napoleon. By means 
 of the passage across the Alps, by way of the 
 Simplon, his intention was to unite together his 
 trans-alpine dominions, and nothing has been 
 left untried to surpass every ancient work of 
 this description. Having left Milan near an 
 unfinished triumphal arch which was intended 
 by Napoleon as a termination to the Simplon, 
 we cross the Tesino on a floating-bridge, ad- 
 miring the fair country along its banks, as far 
 as that, where it makes its exit from the lake 
 Maggiore. 
 
 Near Arona, (which lies upon the side of that 
 beautiful lake,) is the colossal statue of St. Carlo 
 Boromeo ; raised, as it were, above the world, 
 he is in the attitude of regarding a country 
 which he once blessed by his acts of mercy and 
 munificence. Nor does the sublime scenery 
 around ill-accord with the sentiments which 
 such a recollection creates; the characters of 
 divine beneficence are strongly marked upon its 
 features, leading our hearts to Him " from whom
 
 LAUSANNE. 193 
 
 every good and perfect work proceeds." The 
 islets of the lake Maggiore are beautiful beyond 
 description. On the Isola Bella the Boromean 
 family have raised their marble palaces amid 
 cottages the most picturesque ; on which the 
 proprietor, in the spirit of Carlo, seems to have 
 diffused a smile of happiness and peace. In 
 this most beautiful retirement, there is a strik- 
 ing contrast between the richly-cultured gardens 
 of Belgirata, and the sublime anarchy of the 
 Alpine heights ; here do they first present to us 
 their menacing array. 
 
 We now cast a last look upon the richness of 
 the cultivation which slopes to the very edge of 
 the unruffled lake we bid adieu to the blooming 
 gardens with which its waters are encompassed, 
 and now we plunge amid that wilderness of 
 mountain-heights which lead us to the Simplon. 
 
 The road we pass along is worthy of peculiar 
 observation : it is one, on which the greatest 
 genius was exerted in the design, and the greatest 
 labour expended in the execution ; formed from 
 the materials of the adjacent rocks, it may be 
 regarded as a bold attempt to represent Art 
 triumphant over Nature. Italy and France are 
 to be united the interjacent mountains seem to 
 present an insuperable barrier to the design ; 
 but no difficulties can damp the ardour of the
 
 194 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 man, who is resolved to connect the iron crown of 
 Italy with the imperial diadem of France. If the 
 gushing torrent stands between, he throws across 
 it a graceful arch and passes on ; if his progress is 
 impeded by the projecting rock, he either com- 
 mands it down from its towering eminence, or 
 penetrates through its rigid side ; while from the 
 flanks of the marble mountain must the pillars be 
 extracted, beneath which the sovereign is to pass 
 in triumph. A journey along this stupendous 
 road, would convince the mind, that the existence 
 of such feelings as these, in the projection of it, 
 was more than imaginary. Where the precipice 
 might endanger the safety of the traveller, the 
 road is secured by small granite columns, about 
 three feet in height, and at small intervals from 
 one another. Where all is wildness itself, the 
 most light and elegant bridges are built across 
 the impetuous flood, that dashes over obstruct- 
 ing rocks. In this place, the edge of a mountain 
 is cut down, to form a sort of hanging-shelf on 
 which the road is made, or in that, the huge 
 mass is perforated quite through the solid rock. 
 Great was the expenditure of labour upon a 
 work so gigantic; yet many circumstances lead us 
 to conclude, that its fate is now involved in that 
 of its unfortunate projector. The separation of 
 France and Italy has superseded the necessity
 
 LAUSANNE. 195 
 
 to which it owes its origin. His Sardinian Ma- 
 jesty, on the borders of whose dominions it now 
 runs, has an interest (and one which his own 
 inactivity would promote) to neglect a pass, 
 which, if much frequented, would draw off from 
 his own capital of Turin, not only the advan- 
 tages of trade, but the lucrative intercourse of 
 strangers; who, while such a road existed, Avould 
 prefer to contemplate its combined excellencies- 
 of sublime art and sublime nature. Thus is vanity 
 stamped upon all the projects of earthly ambition, 
 however seemingly successful for a time; and 
 not only vanity, but here we see the short-sight- 
 edness of man, and the deep designs of God ; 
 the very road which led Napoleon as a conqueror 
 into Italy, gave a passage to the enemies of his 
 usurpation, back again into France. And here 
 we behold the half-finished columns for his tri- 
 umphal arch, lying buried amid the rubbish of the 
 quarries, from whence they were originally hewn; 
 in some places enormous fragments from the 
 heights have given way and nearly blocked the 
 road, which, by tampering with their basements, 
 partly tended to undermine them ; the passage 
 of the Simplon too, is, from time to time, ob- 
 structed by the lapse of the snowy avalanche. 
 
 Such are the general observations which a 
 review of the whole way brought into my mind; 
 s 2
 
 196 TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 but you will follow me step by step through the 
 details of this interesting route. Although it was 
 early in the month of August the blazing hearth 
 at Domo Dossola was not unwelcome. Pas- 
 sing the bridge of Crevola the scenery is truly 
 magnificent ; numerous cascades roll from the 
 heights, and the motion and the sound, give 
 an appearance of animation to all around ; one 
 gently steals along the sloping side of a moun- 
 tain, another bounds from one projecting rock 
 to another, while a third plunges headlong from 
 the pinnacle above, quite to the depth below. 
 The morning-sun awakens the clouds which have 
 reposed upon the mountain-tops; it attracts them, 
 towards his rays, with a waving movement along 
 the heights ; it gilds the green summits of the 
 distant hills, and enriches the cascades with 
 variegated hues. 
 
 The humble village of Dovredo is seated under 
 impending rocks, and leans upon the brink of a 
 very impetuous torrent, to which it lends its name. 
 Here the eye is refreshed on the one hand, with 
 the green vines which spread along the cottage- 
 walls, while on the other, a half-melted avalanche 
 of snow, having drifted from the ledge on which 
 it lay, hangs like a bridge upon the waters, 
 which, impatient of restraint, forced their pas- 
 sage through. At Isola we bid farewell to Italy,
 
 LAUSANNE. 197 
 
 and touching the borders of the German domi- 
 nions we proceed into the Valais. The old castle 
 of Stopholker amid such wild prospects, with its 
 small grated windows, would serve as the seat 
 of some romantic tale ; but our kind host re- 
 moved every gloomy impression by his gentle 
 manners, his friendly welcome, and his timely 
 repast of goats'-milk and eggs. The gallery of 
 Gondo, entirely perforated through the solid 
 rock, is six hundred and eighty feet in length, 
 and the sensation we naturally feel in penetra- 
 ting snch a cavern, is heightened by the peculiar 
 boldness of the mountains at its entrance, and 
 the echo of the waterfalls around. An Hospice 
 is also built upon the top of this mountain ; which 
 single habitation seems rather to add to the soli- 
 tude of such a scene ; the rhododendron, or 
 mountain-rose, which flourishes in the coldest 
 regions, overspreads the surrounding heights. 
 We at length gain the summit ; the scene changes 
 in an instant the mountains look more verdant 
 the Rhone issues from its source, and hurries its 
 rapid way towards the lake of Geneva we roll 
 rapidly down the hill and soon descend to the 
 villages of Brigg and Gleiss, rejoicing once more 
 to behold the comfortable habitations of men. 
 All here is simple nature ; on the mountain-tops, 
 % 3
 
 r98. TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 the cattle nearly upright, graze the verdant 
 patches, which industry has snatched from the 
 hand of barrenness, and they shelter in the folds 
 constructed of the timber, which is borne from 
 above by the winter-torrent. At Siene many of 
 the inhabitants are afflicted with idiotism and 
 the goitre. Sion, the capital of the Valais, is 
 strongly surrounded with the rude, though im- 
 pregnable fortresses of nature. The peasantry 
 are blooming, and the costume of the women 
 simple and picturesque. In the neighbourhood 
 of this place are various species of chrystalizations 
 to be found. Crossing the bridge St. Maurice 
 we enter the Pays de Vaud, the superior beauty 
 and cultivation of which, call to mind the similar 
 scenes of rural elegance, which so often we have 
 admired in our native-land. The situation of 
 the village of Bex is truly delightful : on the 
 one side you have a glimpse of the lake of 
 Geneva, with the numerous villages on its banks ; 
 you see Chamouni cap'd with snow, where a 
 perpetual winter reigns. We soon quit the 
 Alps, reach the lake at Villeneuve, wind round 
 its extremity amid vineyards and smiling villages, 
 stop at the very beautiful town of Vevay, and 
 were shortly welcomed at Lausanne. 
 
 Henceforth do I look forward to my native- 
 country, grateful for all the blessings of civil and
 
 LAUSANNE. 189 
 
 religious liberty with which a gracious God has 
 endowed it ! When backward I turn my eye to the 
 lands through which his Providence has brought 
 me, much do I see in nature much do I see in 
 art to win my admiration ; but it casts a cloud 
 upon the retrospect, when, amid his gifts, we see 
 the Giver disregarded, and when the very monu- 
 ments we admire, are a shroud which obscures 
 the brightness of Revelation ; when the works 
 of man are found to intercept " the praise which 
 belongeth unto God," and the Revelation of God 
 is superseded and set at nought, to give place 
 to the commands and the traditions of men. 
 
 Man, when he rejects the Bible, presents a 
 showy round of ostentatious rites ; God seeks 
 only those to worship him, " who worship him in 
 spirit and in truth." Man, a fallen sinner, if 
 only taught by his fellow-man, seeks by his own 
 device to merit his salvation ; but taught by 
 God, he looks to Jesus, as " the only name 
 under heaven, given amongst men, whereby he 
 may bo, saved. 
 
 When, like the builders of Babel, we would 
 scale the heavens by our own might, confusion is 
 the consequence. But the oraclesof God point out 
 to Christ as the precious corner-stone, and seals 
 on it the promise, " that whosoever believeth on 
 him shall never be confounded." This Baby-
 
 ZOO TRAVELS THROUGH ITALY. 
 
 Ion,* or Babel, is still upon her seven hills, 
 ruling her ten kingdoms ; she is arrayed in the 
 brilliant scarlet and the glittering gold her orna- 
 ments are from earth and her power is from be- 
 neath ; while the Church of Christ, clothed 
 with the sun, and crowned with the stars, has 
 her honours from above and treads upon every 
 sublunary good, for " the'moon is beneath her 
 feet."f 
 
 A perversion of religion throughout these 
 lands, has produced a universal disregard to its 
 precepts ; external penance is substituted for 
 internal reformation ; and a prescribed routine 
 of bodily service passes for the all-essential work 
 of spiritual regeneration. Hence religion is made 
 compatible with sin itself; and while, like the 
 statuary which adorns its cathedrals, it in some 
 measure, wears the semblance : it wants that life 
 which could give the moral movement, and bears 
 on it all the characters of spiritual death. 
 
 Let England prize her privileges ; she unrolls 
 the volume of the Book in which the dictates 
 of heaven are inscribed ; she has escaped the 
 tyranny of ecclesiastical despotism, retaining in 
 the manifold institutions of Protestantism what- 
 ever is authorized by the Word of God, or not 
 inconsistent with the spirit of its commands ; let 
 * Rev. xvii. 3, 9. | Rev. xii. 1.
 
 LAUSANNE. 201 
 
 her hold fast what a benign Providence has put 
 into her hands, and beware of being duped by 
 any system, which would tend to aggrandize itself 
 upon the ruin of our constitutional and religious 
 rights ! 
 
 FINIS.
 
 Page. 
 
 Line. 
 
 
 28, 
 
 15,Jbr Stairs, read 
 
 Stair-case. 
 
 30, 
 
 1 .3, agreable, 
 
 agreeable. 
 
 40, 
 
 13, tranquility, 
 
 tranquillity. 
 
 4G, 
 
 16, conveniences, 
 
 convenkncies. 
 
 59. 
 
 3, vestage, 
 
 vestige. 
 
 64, 
 
 17, moulding, ,. 
 
 mouldering. 
 
 t>8, 
 
 1 J, _ tenaceous, 
 
 tenacious. 
 
 75, 
 
 12, him, 
 
 them. 
 
 105, 
 
 13, Apenines, 
 
 Apennines. 
 
 123, 
 
 23, Pernassus, , 
 
 Parnassus. 
 
 128, 
 
 4, hyppodrame, 
 
 hippodrome. 
 
 ui, 
 
 9, hippodrame, 
 
 hippodrome. 
 
 145, 
 
 12, M ishful : 
 
 wistful.