SJS^gJ

"^  - - - .*-  1

na

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

[jJjUAiA- UcmAfiT J]£A^
(Pn. luA Ul£UnA^ hCcUK

KOTES FROM A .JOURNAL

ITALY AND SICILY,

DURING THE TEARS

1844, 1845, AND 1846.

BY J. G. FRANCIS, B.A.

WITH ILLUSTRATIOJSrS.

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS,
PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1847.

TO

H. R. FRANCIS, ESQ. M.A.
or
HURLEY HOUSE,
HURLEY, m THE COUNTY OF BERKS.

My DEAR Henry,
The greatest pleasure I have in publishing
my Journal is the dedicating it to you.
You should have been with me, that we might
have explored together many a classic spot and
scene of natural beauty : but, as that might not be,
accept at least these few lines, in memory of happy
days of old, when we loitered together by lake and
stream, through dingle and bushy dell ; and as a
pledge of affection and the heart's best wishes
From your loving Brother,
J. G. FRANCIS.
Clifton, March, 1847.

CONTENTS.

Turin - .... 1
Genoa - ... 6
Florence - - - - 9. 61
poggierello, near slena . - - 49
Rome - - - - - 67. 245
Naples - - 127
Ischia ..... 170. 18S
Capri ... 180
Palermo - ... 194
Catania ..... 202
Syracuse , . . . . 226
Padua - - - 272
Venice ..... 284
Milan ..... 292
Lucerne . . - 296
Notes ----- 301

LIST OF PLATES.

I. View of Etna - . ., (Frontispiece.)
II. Palace " dei Diavoli " - - To face page 52
III. Stone of Lacco - - - - 174
TV. Temple of Segesta - - 198
V. Catania - - - 214
VI. DiONYSius's Ear - - 234
vn. Tomb op Archimedes - - 2-36

JOURNAL
KEPT IN ITALY.

ROAD FROM PARIS TO TURIN.

TURIN. May 17. 1844.
Turin is a bright and cheerful city : it has been
called formal ; but no one would think it so while
gazing down a long street studded with party-
coloured shops and disclosing an Alp in the back
ground. Here are two palaces, old and new : the
former now holds out the attraction of a picture-
gallery, and contains perhaps a score of first-rate
paintings. We were best pleased with a " Saul at
Tarsus," by Ribera, though by no means the most
costly picture here.
The modern palace has a spacious front in the

JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.

piazza ; at one angle of it rises the cathedral, whose
dome is partly sacrificed to a group of inferior
buildings. We reached the grand stairhead a few
minutes before the king and queen passed out on
their way to vespers, escorted by a troop of ladies,
officers, and pages in waiting. Their majesties ap
peared to be good-natured souls, though the quick
marching step indicated pretty plainly that nobody
had dined. Following the royal cortege, we found
the interior of the cathedral brilliantly illuminated.
It has no lack of adornments, but, for the mother-
church in a capital city, I thought there seemed a
lack of room.
Next to the Alps, the noblest feature here is
" wandering Po," whose acquaintance we have made
for the first time. I shall, however, leave him to
his mazes now, and retrace our own route from
Paris hither.
Coming by Fontainebleau, Saulieu, Chalons and
the Savoy., it is a week's journey without hurrying.
The drive through Burgundy presented a succession
of budding vineyards, with here and there an old
ruined keep. In Sens we halted half an hour to
look at its ancient cathedral: here among other
rarities we were shown, as specially interesting to

TURIN. 3
English folk, a cope and chasuble worn by that
meek churchman Thomas a Becket.
Chalons S2ir Sadne is a fine town, with a fine inn.
In Lyons we saw a Trades-Union in procession,
threading a narrow street and chanting the Marseil
laise ; but the demonstration seemed to lack fervour,
and was perhaps merely an effort to disperse their
ennui. What a dingy broken-backed city is Lyons !
yet here they make the beautiful silks for our
dames' braverj^ Every thing bright or precious
comes out of some pit of misery, some mine of
darkness. A few miles on this side of the frontier we slept
at les Echelles ; once a Avretched halting-place, but
now the inn is endurable. It was pitch-dark when
we got in, but next morning our eyes opened on a
pretty panorama, the more striking from being
limited in extent. A green glen with gentle emi
nences fills the foreground ; farther back are preci
pices of the bare rock sprinkled with dark firs : the
skyline is formed by ridges of the mountain white
with snow. On one steep summit is perched the
mother convent of the Chartreuse. A fine gallery
cut through the rock leads out of the Echelles valley.
On the 1 5th we turned the last vale of the Savoy
B 2

JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.

on this route. From the bed of its torrent rose a
massive pinnacled fortress, whose name I forget:
it is the key of the whole pass, and is unassailably
strong. At present its ramparts and artiUery may
serve to overawe the saucy goats. Leaving the
hamlet of Lanz le Bourg., the sloping ascent of Mont
Cenis lay before lis : I walked up the ten miles to
its summit, and our Scotch maid, with the indepen
dence natural to her race, did the same for half way.
Every turn and wind of the road varied the pros
pect below, and I was pleased with watching the
gradual changes in the botanical aspect of the hill.
We had left violets and a clustering flora in the
valley : these soon dwindled to bluebells and cro
cuses, and nothing remained at last save a few
lichens. The temperature of this Alp was delicious
after the scorching heat of the glen. On its sum
mit we found a good plain inn, with double windows,
large wood fires, and a freezing lake in front.
The latter furnished some capital yellow trouts for
supper, and we slept soundly amid snow-hiHs and
blocks of ice.
Next morning, at break of daj^, came the descent,
not a very pleasant operation. For eight miles the
road twisted and dropped like the coils of a snake

TURIN. 5
rampant; snow-drifts choked thc ditches, a thick
mist buried us alive. One comfort is, you cannot
stop to think about it : one wheel is locked in the
" sabot," the postboy's whip plays like a cracker,
your horses mean to lunch this time in Italy. So
down you plunge, right, left, round that corner ;
"mind the granite post;" bless me ! what ajump we
got then ! here we are at the bottom ; little Nap's
road is a splendid affair after all.
Then came Susa, a pretty town of Piedmont :
and then a level drive of twenty miles to Turin.
Rocks and precipices had melted away as though
they had forraed a part of the mist, and our eyes
were regaled with a champaign country, planted
out in orchards or vineyards, and intersected by
long lines of mulberry trees. The road swept be
tween hedges of the white acacia now in bloom,
and recalled a pretty scene in Surrey on a smaller
scale. At Asti we tasted a delicious wine of the
country, and apples better than I ever ate any
where. . . . " Sunt nobis mitia poma."

B 3

JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.

GENOA. May 20.
In a few hours Ave shall leave this city after a too
brief staj'. It is provoking, but I have long wished
to see what Florence is like in the month of May,
and we have no time to lose. The road from Turin
hither introduced us to the battle-field of Marengo,
and the fortified town of Alessandria.
The plain where Dessaix's arrival made Napoleon
master of Italy is now given up to the culture of
the Mulberry, every leaf of which is precious to the
silk-factories in the neighbourhood, for silkworms
must eat as well as great people. I saw nothing
in the features of the spot which arrests attention
like the field of Waterloo.
Alessandria is entered by covered bridges, and
under the teeth of a heavy portcullis: it has in
addition all the amiable devices of flanking towers,
loopholed passages, and ramparts bristling with
cannon. A strong place, truly. It might however
be starved out ; for I saw no provision within the
citadel for growing a crop, a resource indispensable
to all besieged places.

GENOA. 7
A stage or two over Apennine slopes shaggy
with the Spanish chestnut brought us down vipon
the coast of the Mediterranean. Approaching
Genoa the heights were thronged with villas Avhere
every terrace displayed a phalanx of roses. The
site of this city is superb : Avestward, the eye foUoAvs,
for a score or two of miles, the curve of the Bay,
distant mountains dipping down upon it: eastward,
Genoa, with her bold promontory and quay, dome
and sundry towers, stands out like rock-work on
the bright Avater. Behind the town are consider
able heights, crowned by the fortress Avhich Mas
sena held so stoutly, when they ate I believe their
last horse.
We have visited the doge's palace, the Serra,
the duomo, and a beautiful church. In their pub
lic buildings black and white occur alternately in
horizontal layers : the effect of this on a tower a
hundred and fifty feet high is pitiable ; all unity, all
impression of the sublime, is done away by these
ledger lines. You are left with a feeling of won
derment at the immeasurable masses of marble,
coupled with a regret that the republic should have
had such a gigantic penchant for the pattern of a
sailor's shirt. B 4

o JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
The palace halls are enormous, whitewashed, and
empty. In the duomo stands John Baptist's
shrine, behind which no woman is ever permitted
to go : for an obvious reason, certainly ; whether a
valid one may be doubted. The church " della
Consolazione " has an absolute gallery of paintings
on plafond and wainscot : this glare looks ill in a
consecrated building.
After this it Avas a relief to stroll through the
villa of the Marchese di Negri, where a charming
view is obtained from one of the slopes. The
OAATier has assembled some rare exotics, and a pro
fusion of the usual ones. We noted the Cauot-
chouc. Pepper-tree, Coffee-bush, and Date; and,
araidst a wilderness of flowers, found the Scented
Camelia. There Avere some splendid yeUow roses,
and orange and citron trees, at once in flower and
fruit ; the Magnolia, too, is odoriferous here. The
effect under a southern sun was like that of a jar
of pot-pourri first opened.
No villa bouquet, however, will wean my fancy
from an old description in Bacon of the requisites
for an English flower-garden and shrubbery;
albeit I admit the yellow rose to be peerless.
But I hear the music of our courier's boots.

FLORENCE.

announcing that those jackals " i cavalli," in
their old rope harness, are ready for us. So, a
truce to horticultural remarks, and adieu to
Doria's city.

FLORENCE. May 24.
We arrived here yester-evening, having come
through the finest country we have yet seen.
Among many striking spots, no one who has viewed
it at morning prime Avill forget Spezia, a little
fishing-hamlet crowding round a corner of a bay of
the Mediterranean. The road dips, at first, as if it
meant to bisect the Adllage, then turns at a sharp
angle, and climbs a sandstone cliff, Avhose slope
descends on the very eaA^es of the houses. On this
spot I was first seized with a sense of Italian
scenery. We were skirting banks tufted Avith the
wild fig and olive ; here and there hung a spiky
aloe on the face of the rock, its huge cup-like
recesses filled with liquid crystal; the early dew
still lay heaA^ on the uplands, but behind these a
forest of mountain tops rose fresh and clear in the

10 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
taAvny air. I never saw such heavenly shades of
blue ; on the Apennines it varied from indigo to
lilac, glowed like a sapphire in the vault above,
and deepened to the tint of lapis lazuli in the silent
gulf below. A mile further, and the scene had
changed to expanded downs, with a wide sea-
vicAV. Somewhere hereabouts, we became aware of the
facility Avith which Italians beg under all circum
stances. I had just drawn J.'s attention to a
happy group assembled round a settle under a
spreading plane ; a girl was twirling the distaff, an
old woman arranging the repast. " 0 ! fortunati
nimium " rose to my lips. As we turned a bow-
ering hedge, they were hid for a few seconds ; but
they had caught a glimpse of the green carriage.
Emerging from our cover, I beheld, with a feeling
of real sorrow, the family coming " in formi pau
perum ; " the smiling lively girl had made herself
an object, another behind Avas dragging forward
the mother to bring her up in time. All were im
portunate, Avith vehement gestures, in demanding
" Carita, per I'amor di Dio ! " The old lady looked
absolutely wrathful at our proposing to escape.
As we drcAv near the city of the Arno, the

FLORENCE. 1 1
approaches bloomed Avith all the luxury of beauty :
every feature told that art had guided labour, and
that both had profited by a southern clime.
The forras of the Apennine noAv became softer,
hedgerows and meadows multiplied, an admirable
husbandry peeped forth, and Ave had glimpses of
things not whoUy unlike an English farm-house.
For some stages past I had occasionally noted
a splendid insect, but noAV the road was a live mu
seum : lizards coated with emerald flirted from
under banks and stones, stag-beetles strayed
across the pathway, busy sphynxes whizzed by the
carriage -blinds. All was in keeping; there were
villas glittering on eyery terrace, frescoes in every
porch, the majestic Italian pine, and the musical
Italian face. The men Avhom Ave met carried the
hoe or the pruning-hook ; the " contadine " spun at
their cottage-doors, or loitered up and down in the
large fiapping straw-hat which is so becoming to
plump features.
Entering the city by a fine leA^el road, we drove to
our hotel facing a pretty bridge ; called for a dish
of tea, unpacked a travelling-bag, fell in love with
the Arno, and dropped asleep.
Here is a bright May-day, and we must be stirring

12 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
to choose an appartamento among the Grand Duke's
lieges. The Avaters of the Arno, where not turbid,
appear to me seagreen : it is a pretty river, bor
dered on either side with glittering houses, and
spanned by three stone bridges, tAvo of which are
elegant and one picturesque. Month of July.
No city I was ever in can compete Avith this " Fio-
renza " in beauty : it has the " vultus nimium lu
bricus aspici" of Horace's njTnph. Details AA'^hich
are so fine that they almost baffle detection, charm
you in the ensemble at every step. Where are
there spires so delicate as these, or turrets and
belfries so picturesque ? In vain should I seek
to describe the effect of the chimes : it is evening
now and they are ringing for vespers on the other
side the river; those bells are close at hand, but
there is nothing harsh in their music, for the liquid
element as it glides between catches the tones on
its bosom, and modulates them to the softness of
a lady's lute. Dante had often heard this melody,
and we owe to his native recollections of it some
of the most exquisite stanzas he ever penned. The

PLOllENCE. 13
" Squilla di lontano che paja il giorno pianger che
sl muore," Avas born on the banks of Arno.
Every public building here is a gem. The Badia
steeple is polygonal; that of St. Maria Novella,
pointed quadrangular ; both are exquisite. What
a fine ochre-tinted mass is the church of Sta. Croce.
Then there is the oval duomo with its belfry of
white marble, Giotto's Avorld-renowned tower,
palaces a I'Etrusque, and the Lung' Arno prome
nade. I admire those wide shelving pavements ;
they are laid down in huge many-sided blocks like
the old Roman roads. The jewellers' bazaars give
an almost Oriental cast to the pretty Ponte Vecchio :
Gray asks, " What female heart can gold despise ?
What cat's averse to fish ?"
Both should be bewitched here, what with the arti-
zan's tray on one side, and the little hooped net
alternately lowered and drawn up again on the
other. Paris is a fine city, with much to explore, but
its environs are flat. Florence, teeming with marble
beauty, lies in the midst of an undulating garden.
Here is a sketch taken from the Cascine : —

14 JOURNAL ICEPT IN ITALY.
I.
" What is yon the stranger sees
Peeping through the silken trees.
Glittering bands of red and white.
Peaks and masses, rainbow dight ?
Stranger, 'tis a city rare,
Tuscan Florence, passing fair.
n.
" What is yon with melting hue.
Now 'tis lilac, now 'tis blue ;
Sharp the crest its outline heaves.
Just behind the cottage eaves ?
Stranger, 'tis the mountain's line,
'Tis our purple Apennine.
III.
" What is yon comes dipping, dancing.
Sparkling, flashing, sweeping, glancing.
Whispering through the osier-bush.
Eddying round the tufted rush ?
Stranger, 'tis the Tuscan's pride,
'Tis dear Arno's silver tide ! "
These " cascine," translate if you like " farm-
dairy," are the Champs Ely sees 'of the Florentines;
and the Boboli gardens are their Versailles. The
cascine has real English-looking meadows, an
enclosed parkish lawn, and a grove of luxuriant
trees, with shrubbery, and a raised causeway along
the Arno, to say nothing of that dear delight, the
open gravelled circus for carriages, Avhere the beau

FLORENCE. 1 5
monde of Florence assemble at the bidding of the
evening star, and halt their horses for a chat during
the intervals of the drive. The Boboli has arbours
and colonnades of the Ilex, grottoes, fountains, and
some groups in statuary.
The oxen in these parts are all dove-coloured,
which I am told is the case throughout Tuscany :
my informant added, that if any other colours are
imported the animals speedily lose their " fores-
tiere " tint, and acquire this ; an edifying trait,
showing the obligation of wearing a uniform Avhen
you go to court thus recognised among oxen !
We have climbed the crag to Fiesole, not to vicAv
the moon's spotty globe, but to breathe the freshest
air under the dog-star, and to look at a bit of the
old Etruscan wall. Seen from the convent's parapet
edge, Florence resembled a tray of white porcelain
and the vrindings of Arno's silver thread could be
followed nearly to Pisa. This Fiesole was the an
cient capital ; the scene which it surveyed in former
days was one widely different from the present
coup-d'oeil ; the richly cultivated plain was then a
marsh, and tho actual site of Florence a forest full
of wild boars ; the spot is still marked in a small
piazza, where a former grand duke nearly fell a

16 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
victim to one of these doughty pigs in the chase :
here the citizens now draw the finest water in the
city from the jaws of a brazen boar. The hill-road
between Florence and the crag's top enjoys a sin
gular heraldic privilege, that of making peers.
When this tidy job was in hand, money was short,
and the community of Fiesole moved sundry indi
viduals to let imprisoned angels loose, by a patent
of family honours awarded in guerdon. I believe
the old town still possesses this royal prerogative,
but I have heard of no other instance of its being
exercised. The road, as thus achieved, is a good '
one, and the title of " Fiesole barons," though
meant for a nickname, indicates a true patent, and
belongs to some now living.
What would the stately Etruscan Lucumo say
to this ? the king-descended chieftain, who deemed
it condescension, if not degradation, to intermarry
Avith the nobility of Greece and Rome ! The
Lucumones however are gone : but other folks,
" we little men," remain, and the above embodies a
hint for workhouse overseers at home. Let them
take juster vicAvs of the claims of our felloAV-
creatures who in merry England break stones for
eight hours per diem on the highway. These hired

FLORENCE. 1 7
hands are not likely to be created barons, but at
least we should not stint Avages, nor grudge kindly
treatment to God's image. Is not the " labouring
man" the truest representative of him Avho Avas
driven forth from the pure garden to eat bread in
the SAveat of his broAV ? Yes, he is ; truer and
nearer than the crowned monarch or the pensioned
legislator. Look on him where he sits amidst the
dust and heat : the hammer is in his hand and the
Avire mask on his face, and the substance of the
curse is woven in his memory Avith scenes of " Big-
Union " and " New Poor-LaAV." God grant our
hearts prove not harder than the granite Avhich his
Aveary arms have broken !
Statues and pictures are things rather to see tban
to write about. Still one likes to note first impres
sions. This fair and frail Florence teems with
objects of the " belle arti " in piazzas and galleries.
Soberly speaking, there is enough here well nigh to
bewilder a set of plain English brains.
The Grand Duke throws open the Pitti collection
as liberally as an Irishman hands you the " 'taties ; "
the Uffizj halls are seldom shut but on fast-days, — a
tender consideration in this, for Avhat makes one so
hungry as looking at pictures? The Academia,
c

18 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
too, is as free as a bazaar ; and here you may watch
the rising generation at their studies. It is a pretty
enough institution ; but I can't say I Avish to see
our English hearts set down to a board to copy
horses' heads from Venice, friezes from Rome, or
the legs of a Syracusan Venus.
A AVord or two on the great Piazza. Amm,a-
nato's " Neptune and Horses " are a finer group
than any sculpture existing in Paris. Giovanni di
Bologna's " Rape of a Sabine " is the pet of
Florence ; no doubt it has great merits, but mo
desty is not one. Michael Angela's colossal " David "
had better change his name ; svippose we say " Nadir
Shah." Benvenuto Cellini's " Perseus " is the finest
bronze I ever dreamt of. One group is here worth
Avalking all the Avay from Turin to look at, but it
is antique. Homer's report of the battle scarcely
surpasses this portraiture of " Ajax, or Menelaus
supporting Putroclus's dead Body." The corpse is
stripped, but the living warrior wears his helmet,
on which you think you see the javelins raining,
Avhile he sustains the body of Achilles's friend.
The drooping attitude of the one, the watchful
guard of the other, are marvellously rendered. It
seems to me that no chisels have ever come up to

FLORENCE. 19
the Greek in depicting tenderness. Canova is far
ther behind them in this than he is in majesty.
Michael Angelo is not always natural ; he is, how
ever, original, having little that I can see in
common with the Greek masters. In what is
gloomy and terrible I conceive he has gone beyond
them ; his chisel reminds me of the pen of Jllschy-
lus, or the brush of Salvator Rosa. Perhaps Do
natello was the best Itahan sculptor.
The Old Palace of the Uffi,zj contains separate
rooms of the different schools of painting AAdiich
have risen in Europe. Like all collections Avhich
embrace a specimen of every kind, much of this is
second-rate and wearisome. Here and there you
come upon an old faded picture ill-hung, which no
body knows any thing about, but which fixes your
attention : the catalogues give a guess at the
author. The Gallery of Busts is extensive, but
lacks a true nomenclature : those which are well
authenticated are deeply interesting, as exhibiting
the phrenological development of character: who
can doubt what Augustus was in disposition, with
that ambitious head and calm impassive cast of
features ? the contour, especially the lower part of
the face, reminded me of Napoleon.
c 2

20 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
The Hall of Niobe is a great treat. This was a
fine subject for a sculptor, embodying fervid natu
ral affections Avith something of the sublime and
mysterious. Colossal proportions always lack finish,
but sometimes this is in their favour: certainly
whenever one stops to examine details, the general
effect is lost. The mother's attitude and gesture,
as she endeavours to shelter her youngest, are noble
and touching. The figures of the unhappy off
spring, represented in flight round the hall, have
been censured as being studied and theatrical. I
should say tbey are natural enough, but undignified;
the idea suggested is that of " sauve qui peut."
The truth is, however, a first visit to the Ufizj
is made chiefly to see what the " Tribuna " contains.
This is a small octagonal room, Avith light admitted
only from above : the moment you enter you are
consciousthat some ofthe chefs-d'oeuvre ofthe world
in painting and sculpture are gathered round you.
Of the marbles, I think the '"Spy" is the most
poAverful figure : at the first look it ahvays seems
to me to be alive.
The " Dancing Fawn" has the additional merit of
presenting active raotion with exquisite balance.
The •' Wrestlers" I expected would edge along the

FLORENCE. 21
floor and roU over one. " Apollo" is a pretty, sleepy
youth ; faultless and uninteresting. The " Medicis'
Venus" occupies a pedestal in the centre of thc
apartment. The charm of this figure is her incom
parable attitude : Virgil remarks on the stately
gait,—  " et vera incessu patuit Dea;" —
Thompson, better, of his Musidora, —
" So stands the statue that enchants the world."
Modesty and dignity are combined in the general
effect: if details were examined, there would be
many faults found noAV, OAving to its numerous re
storations. The base of the pedestal bears inscribed
" KXeoijuei'jjs 6 Adi)vaioQ :''
a good travelling name, but without a shadoAV of
authority. Perhaps the pictures are yet more choice. Guer
cino's " Sibyl " has a great deal of inspiration.
Andrea del Sarto's " Madonna and Child with
tAVO Saints," oneof the most beautiful groups in the
Avorld. Daniel da Volterra's " Massacre of the Inno
cents," a fine painting ; probably Michael Angelo
helped him in the foreshortening. c 3

22 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
The " Fornarina," so called, ascribed to Raffael,
because of its exquisite finish; but more likely to
have been done by some Venetian painter, such as
Giorgione. The Titians here are well known by copies
throughout Europe : the originals ought to be
veiled, and the copies burnt.
I could not praise as they deserve the two youth
ful Madonnas Avith Christ and St. John, by Raffael,
so will not attempt it. Has he ever equalled these
productions in innocence and dignity ?
At the Pitti there are not above five hundred
paintings in all ; and most of these are of large size ;
so that your eye is not wearied by multiplicity and
dirainutive figures.
The Salvator Rosas, Claudes, and Ruysdaels are
Avonderful things. Araong the fcAv small pictures
here is the " Seggiola : " this Avas really painted on
the bottom of a cask, the only board he had at
hand. Who but Raffael Sanzio d' Urbino could
have grouped and coloured this ? But the Madon
na's cast of countenance is noAvays comparable to
that in the Tribuna.
Above six thousand copies in oils, mostly bad
ones, have already been taken from this picture •

FLORENCE. 23
the greater part for England : the trade still goes
on at the rate of a hundred a year. Very raany of
these are copied frora one another.
Tuscan inlaid Avork raay be admired here in some
large tables : the materials are costly raarbles, mala
chite, lapis-lazuli, and precious stones ; and a mimic
creation, animal, mineral, and vegetable, is rendered
Avith the fidelity of the brush and pallette. Whoever
has seen Warwick Castle will reraember a Tablet
there, the work of Italian craftsraen, Avhich may
giA'e some idea of productions of which a poet
Avould say, — '¦ Materiem superabat opus.''
Here are more halls of Sculpture. The " Venus
Anadyomene " I don't like ; though it is a relief to
see the marble original after the heavy bronze casts
in Paris. Canova's "Venus" is a wonderful per
formance for our day: it was this chef-d'oeuvre
which, when the Athenian beauty went a captive
to the Louvre, filled the vacant pedestal, and re
ceived from the Italians the name of " La Consola-
trice." Certes this all-gifted people are an instance of
the truth of Bacon's remark " that men are only
grown-up children." c 4

24 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
The " Cena " in San Salvi, by Andrea del Sarto,
disappointed rae. There is a lack of individuality
in the Apostles' heads : moreover, they are not suf
ficiently dignified. Simple men, it is true, they
Avere ; fishermen &c. : but men Avho had left all
and followed the Lord. Of course, as the artist
raust have living models, he sketched in his friends,
but he might have selected them better. Leon
ardo da Vinci knew Avhat Avas due to his stupendous
theme : he would not take one man in a thousand
Avhile delineating the TAVeh^e ; and on the Saviour's
head he exhausted all his poAvers of conception, and
left to his country the noblest outline that was ever
draAvn. Mr. Powers studio here collects a crowd of visitors.
We have seen his " Eve," and his " Greek Slave," two
original compositions. The first of these professes
to represent abstract Woman ; so says Mr. PoAver.
She must not be a muse, or a sibyl, or a martyr ;
nor a clever Avoraan, nor a dull Avoman, nor a
heroine, nor a Avasherwoman ; but an abstract
Avoraan, some six feet Avithout her shoes, the fitter
to be the mother of us all. The enthusiasm of
artists makes one smile : how, in the name of good
ness, is she to be abstract ? What one of the sex

FLORENCE. 25
Avas ever abstract ? Water that Avould not floAv,
fire that Avould not burn, were easier to discover
than such an abstraction. Schiller's definition of a
HouscAAdfe in the "Lied von der Glocke" might warn
him against attempting such a creation. Conse
quently this beautiful statue is heavy and sleepy.
The " Greek Slave " is in a different style, and Avill
be a greater favourite. The story which her pretty
but melancholy face tells is that of an Eastern
market of the Avorst kind. Mr. PoAver is an agree
able man, and Avilling to impart his ideas in speech
as well as in Carrara raarble.
The rotunda of San Lorenzo contains the raost
extraordinary AVork of art in Florence : this is a
sitting statue of a certain Duke of Urbino.' The
first glance at it made me start ; Michael Angelo
has graced the dark astute countenance Avith a
plumed helraet, frora under which the grim Duke
literally scowls upon you. I thought of the " Uomo
di Sasso" in " Don Juan," and of Alfonso's statue
in the " CastLe of Otranto," Avhose nose drops
blood. " Day " and "Night, " by the sarae chisel, are
unfinished colossal figures : rude as they are, one
forgets while gazing at them the lavished treasurer
of the Medicis in the panels all around.

26 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
The Duomo of Florence, looked at from any spot
Avithin half a raile, is heavy : but clirab one of the
hills a little farther off, and its elliptical proportions
in the cupola are found to be delicate. The con
struction of this, the first double dome ever reared
in Europe, by Arnolfo di. Lapo and Brunelleschi,
has furnished an interesting architectural memoir.
The form of an egg is said to have suggested to the
forraer its beautiful outline ; the dome is, however,
polygonal. Its cross clears 360 feet above the
paveraent of the Piazza ; this is some 90 feet under
St. Peter's. The Florence Cupola is, they say, by
some feAV " braccia " the higher of the two, but the
other is raised on prodigiously lofty piers. A few
yards from the cathedral stands its Campanile, AveU
kuoAvn as Giotto's tower, and probably unmatched in
the world, unless it be by some pile at Agra or Delhi.
That extraordinary man built it, and must, I think,
have had a pictorial vision of it for a tAvelvemonth
before. Its height is, perhaps, two thirds of that
of the Duomo, and from the square base on Avhich
it stands it rises at once into the perpendicular,
Avithout step or raound to break the simple right
angle : this gives subliraity. The breadth of either
side is about one sixth of the altitude, and the

FLORENCE. 27
exquisite finish bestowed on so stately an object
surprises every one ; though more than 500 years
old, it looks as fresh as a Sevres jar just come from
glazing. j\larbles of three different colours mingle
in its composition ; the balustrade on the top is
pierced in open roses, and the lancet-Avindows are
as light and spidery as twisted bronze-work can
make them. Sorae famous statues by Donaletto
are hereabouts : one or two seem inclined to con
fabulate, as in M. Angelo's day, Avho complained
because that of St. Mark would not speak to hira ;
but they want cleaning sadly, — at present, raarble
looks like bronze. I don't adraire the Baptistery,
because it is shaped like a teetotum : but even if it
were faultless, one would forget its architecture at
sight of the bronze gates it bears. One of these is
a special prodigy, equal to AchiUes's shield. Ghi
berti expended thirty years' labour upon it. The
Creation and the History of the Patriarchs are the
subjects, simply and grandly treated. Despite of
almost microscopic details and an " alto rilievo,"
the outlines are sharp and clear, as if of yesterday,
thanks to an Italian cliraate.
Santa Croce contains the chief monuments raised
by Florence to the memory of her illustrious raen.

28 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
Alfieri's is the best, though hardly AVorthy of Canova.
In Dr. Lamia's figure the drapery is very Avell
raanaged. Those erected to Galileo and Dante, by
Ricci, are enormous failures. Dante's case is worst
of all: it Avould seem that Florence is neither to
have the body of the " divin poeta," nor a cenotaph
worthy of his name. This church has one good
painting by CigoH. I am sorry to say the building
lacks a fa9ade, though it fronts one of the largest
piazzas in the city. Query, how many of the
Italian churches are paid for ? very few of them
appear to be finished.
The Church del Santo Spirito is chaste and simple
in its style of architecture. Filippo Lippi's pic
tures are here : this man's colouring is like a collar
of emeralds on scarlet velvet. The Christ in marble
is Michael Angelo's chef-d'oeuvre : it has all his
Avonted power, Avith an indefinable sweetness which
he has either not sought after, or else has failed of
elseAvhere. The little Church of the Carmelites has Masaccio's
frescoes in a compartment round the altar. The
best painters haA^e pondered these ; Raffael en
graved thera on his brain. All honour to the man
who depicted so simply and truly ! Thej' say the

FLORENCE. 29
spot has Avitnessed some singular scenes : it Avas
here that Buonarotti had his nose flattened for ever
by a " picturesque" blow from a companion's mallet.
John Baptist is the patron-saint of Florence.
On the day of St. Giovanni, the sovereign heard
mass and took the sacrament in the beautiful
church of Santa Maria Novella. The morning
opened with an endless procession filing through
the principal streets and squares ; this comprised
the clergy, all the monks Avithin the city parishes,
and a body of troops, horse and foot, Avith the
royal household. Pictured banners and crucifixes
occurred at every hundred yards, and bands of
choristers chanting as they Avent. I thought the
visible splendour was unnecessarily adopted to
honour a man who Avore a camel's-hair garment
and Avhose head Herod cut off in prison. If they
would bestir themselves to put down every thing
akin to the dancing daughter of Herodias, it were
a fitter tribute. Something grotesque comes out
on these occasions, as if to make pomp take physic.
Did you ever see a Avax flambeau ? they are as
plentiful here as blackberries : the sort commonly
used consists of a number of candles a yard long,
stuck side by side together, and forming a torch as

30 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
thick as a man's arm. All the wicks being lighted
at once, and the raotion of the air flaring them, the
floAv of melted wax is considerable. Now the
choristers marched betAveen a double row of these
flambeaux carried by lads dressed as under-deacons ;
a little behind thera was coraing the archbishop
with the consecrated host in a pix, and after him
the sovereign on foot, bareheaded, and holding a
taper ; all Florence looked on from tapestried bal
cony and window, and the troops were draAvn out
rank and file in the Piazza. The coup-d'oeU was
solemn and gorgeous ; nevertheless, throughout the
Avhole length of the cortege where these fiambeaux
advanced, scores of urchins, mostly half-naked,
clung by twos and threes round every bearer of a
light, and scrambled along Avith him towards the
church steps. Sorae held up tin ladles, some broken
saucers, some bits of dirty paper, others were con
tent with their oaati paws — and what do you sup
pose they were all doing intently? — clutching the
melted wax as it guttered over, and patting it up
into a cake to carry home to their mammies !
As soon as the Grand Duke had communicated,
an event notified to those outside the church by
a volley from the muskets in the Piazza, the diver-

FLORENCE. 31
sions of the day commenced for the middhng and
lower classes. The tOAvn Avas as bright as a ncAv
dollar, every householder hung out at first, second,
and third floors his gaudiest carpets, coverlids,
and " fazzoletti;" shops were shut, caf^s and stalls
open, barrels of iced lemonade and huge slices of
" cocomeri " promenaded the streets. Men, women,
and children were dressed in rainboAV patterns,
and all was good humour, which is better than
barren philosophy. The jockey races were ludi
crous, and therefore satisfactory ; nearly every
rider was spilt, and the successful charapion Avon
chiefly because the others lost. It is bvit fair to
note that they ride without saddle or stirrups.
The chariot races round the Piazza were heavy
imitations of old Roman pastime. After this, five
horses ran without riders two miles through the
heart of the city, threading the liAdng lane of
people, whipped on by pendant goads, amid a con
tinuous broadside of shouts and yells, but mad to
win. The pace was first-rate. But will any
prime minister or master of cereraonies expound
wherein this redounds to the honour or blessed
ness of the preacher in the desert ?
The Sovereign, Avith his Grand Duchess and

32 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
family, witnessed all frora a raised platform, where
all the people could look at them. The Grand
Duchess is a handsome woman; and her royal
spouse, whom you raay raeet of a summer's evening
strolling in the Cascine, is the beau-ideal of — may
I say it ? — an English gen tleman -farmer. By-the-
by, Altezza Avould think it a compliment, for
farming is his hobby. He fattens his soldiers on
rice, and his cows, I believe, on oil-cake ; and
maintains, moreover, a preserve of the only phea
sants near Florence, from which the Pope gets a
" regalo " at Christraas.
The most delightful establishment here is one
Avhere the waters from mint,- orange, elder-flowers,
&c. are prepared ; it is in the hands of the raonks
of St. Maria Novella, and no chemists in the city
can compete with them. No one should Adsit
Florence without visiting this. We saw stacks of
roses and orange-blossoms, with AA^hole regiments
of flasks, and the perfume when you enter is de
licious. These monks understand every thing;
they bake the best bread, press the purest oil, and
have cellars of unadulterated wine.
After this I think the prettiest sight are the
straw bonnets, famous all over Europe. I have

FLORENCE. 33
forgot all the London prices, but good Tuscans sell
well here; you may choose your straAV according to
your purse, from three crowns up to one hundred
and twenty. j\Iost of the finer pipes are dried in
the neighbourhood; on a sunny morning the
banks of the Arno are spread Avith them for a
mile or two.
The weather is Avarm now, and folks are getting
cautious about dogs, on the score of hydrophobia.
Italian doctors are generally over-timid, but there
are exceptions. Signor Z  , one of the leading
men in the facult}'^ here, tried the other day an
experiment Avhich would startle us in England. A
man had been bitten by a rabid dog, and the worst
syraptoras soon followed. It Avas suggested, the case
being apparently hopeless, to try the effect of
infusing a different saliva into the system. Vi-
perine venom was fixed upon, as being powerful
enough to ensure a counteracting aftection ; and
nine live vipers were procured from Prince Napo
leon Jerome Buonaparte, who keeps a menagerie of
those animals for philosophical purposes. All nine
were made to bite the unhappy sufferer. The
sequel was shocking; hydrophobic symptoms dis
appeared, but the man died of the vipers' bites.
D

34 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
Hereupon, as they succeeded in quelling the
original evil, the faculty maintain that their remedy
was good, only the dose adrainistered was too
large a one. (a)
Signor Zanetti conducted this operation : he is a
quiet, intelligent man, but, as you may beheve,
fears nothing.
The police, however, hold prevention to be better
than cure, and they adopt a sumraary process.
All dogs found unmuzzled are iraraediately
knocked on the head ; at night also a gratuitous
distribution of poisoned sausages takes place in
certain streets for the express benefit of hungry
tykes. In this way they contriA^e to get rid of a
good many. Florence, end of August.
We start for Siena to-morroAv raorning, as sundry
letters of introduction, unpresented as yet, begin
to sit heavy on ray conscience. During this last
month we have seen soraething of the Campagna
here, in the course of a visit to the three sanc
tuaries of Tuscany. In Italy whenever you can
exchange the beaten track for cross-roads and bye-
paths over the hills, you gain immensely by it.

FLORENCE. 35
both in scenery and fresh air. Looking back
upon this little jaunt, the varied landscapes into
the heart of Avhich it led us, and the agreeable
company in which it was made, I do not know
that we have enjoyed any thing so much since we
have been abroad.
A drive of fourteen miles brought us to Pelago ;
here a friend met us by appointment, having
kindly taken a hohday for that end, and in " trio"
guise, with a single servant, and a spare mule to
carry the " impedimenta," Ave proceeded on horse
back up the hUl-path to VaUombrosa.
Let me here, while that verdant scene is fresh in
my memory, pay a tribute in the person of one in
dividual to the courtesy and bonhomraie of the
Itahan character as developed in Tuscany ; Signor
V. de Tivoli, though his faraily is, I believe, Roraan
by extraction, has long been doraiciled in Florence,
and I think in his heart, he loves it as much as if
it Avere his native city : his native land it is, but
Italians see as wide a difference between Tuscany
and the Papal States, or Lombardy and Naples, as
we do between broad England and the land north
of the Tweed ; indeed they see a wider, for reasons
which must be sought in their history. Sismondi's
D 2

36 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY. '~
book, now in everybody's hands, explains all this
very well. Signor de Tivoli's kind heart and obliging
deraeanour are known to almost all Enghsh visitors :
the end for which, with a constitution naturally
delicate, he labours indefatigably is perhaps known
to few : I believe he is the chief support of several
poorer relatives.
We ascended a brae as fertile as the valley we
had left beneath us, the prospect improving in
beauty as avc raounted. Two hours ride intro
duced us to a plot of ground allowed to run wild,
but thickset with the arbutus and myrtle ; spruce-
firs growing up from the underwood : this was
Milton's Eden. At the end of the wilderness an
avenue of dark pines led to the court of the
convent ; threading it, we turned an outer corner
of masonry, and dismounted on a green meadow,
girt on two sides by pine trees, fenced Avith.a
garden enclosure on a third, and opening in front
on a noble vicAv of the Val d'Arno.
The monastery of Benedictines, with its court
and offices, occupies, perhaps, an acre and a half of
ground ; behind this rose a Avooded cliff, and a hill
behind that, and raidAvay towered a crag with the
hermitage called " Paradisino, " on its summit.

FLORENCE. 37
Shelving masses of rock peeped out at intervals
from the dark brushwood, and a torrent trickled
doAvn a small ravine.
An Englishman Avith Milton in his hand, feels
almost like a proprietor Avhile thus placed : —
 " Where delicious Paradise,

Now nearer, crowns with her inclosure green,
As with a" rural mound, the champaign head
Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides
With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild,
Access denied : and overhead up grew
Insuperable height of loftiest shade.
Cedar and pine, and fir, and branching palm,
A sylvan scene ; and as the ranks ascend,
Shade above shade, a woody theatre
Of stateliest view. Yet higher than their tops
The verdurous wall of Paradise up sprung."
The cedar and palm are wanting now, but were
likely enough there in Milton's day, as the Ap
penine woods have been fast thinning under the
axe for many years in Tuscany. Allowing for
this change, I do not know a more accurate sketch
anywhere, not even in Wordsworth. The sur
rounding " Eden" was also no doubt wilder then
than in its present aspect.
Milton was indebted to a tour in Italy for many
D 3

38 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
of his landscapes; but it is remarkable that the
tAVO poems which bear an Italian name contain
features of scenery strictly Enghsh ; I do not re
member a foreign touch in either the " Allegro,"
or the "Penseroso," while " Paradise Lost," " Co
raus," and " Lycidas," teem with illustrations
drawn from Italy. When the disguised son of
Circe answers the lady's enquiry after her
brothers, he speaks of " a green mantling vine,"
which must have been trained on trellis-work, as
the brothers were standing under it " plucking
ripe clusters." Tn the same passage occurs the
mention of oxen used in ploughing. Both of these
are familiar Itahan features, the latter occurs in
England also, but it is rare.
We found the brooks in Vallorabrosa all unstrcAvn
as yet, but there was no lack of foliage overhead,
ripening for the blast of autumn ; indeed, the main
brook was little better than a- rocky channel, AAdth
a feAV pools here and there barely sufficient to
shelter the trout. In the " Casino," set apart
for visitors, the " forestierajo " let us lack for
nothing. After dining we roamed through its
grounds, climbed the chff, and got the tiptop view
of Val d'Arno from the wall of the Paradisino. One

FLORENCE. 39
of the frati conducted the gentlemen of the party
over the convent church. A large suite of offices
is attached to it, the society being enormously
Avealthy and farming sorae of the best lands in
Tuscany, their oAvn property. I thought of the
Bolton Abbey days of old England ; and for the
tAventieth tirae, argued in my mind the question,
" Have Ave gained or lost by the Reformation ?"
This question is a very difficult one to solve: we
have certainly lost in some things, but we have
gained in others. I think as regards the poor, avc
have mainly lost ; for the Church was undoubtedly
their shelter in a sense in which it is not so now
in England. They have now the landlord or noble
to look up to ; formerly they had the abbot as
well. Great as are in some parts the charities of
the parochial clergy, these cannot counterbalance
the depressing effect arising frora diminished
means : in many places the great tithes are now in
the hands of lay-impropriators. Mr. P. Fraser
Tytler, in one of his histories, asserts that the
church lands Avere better cultivated under the old
system than they can be now — if I do not mis
quote him. This would prove a great deal; for
the fate of the poor hangs by the land.
B 4

40 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
I saw nothing within the church so admirable
as the choir, carved in black walnut, and some
" terra cotta " groups by Luca della Robbia.
The paintings, though vaunted, Avere perhaps as
well aAvay. I made a sketch of this pretty scene
while ray corapanion looked at the library, which
is said to be a fine one.
Whoever purposes a ride to Camaldoli should
dress himself or herself as they would for a day
with the Fitzwilliam hounds. Seven hours were
consumed on this cross-country road, though not
much above twenty miles. It commenced by
dykes and old watercourses, Avith an amiable
interlude of pits and stumps of trees, and ended
Avith a desperate scramble over the bat:k of a
schistous mountain. Our cattle behaved as
unruly raembers of society do in the treadmill,
they went forward because they could not help it ;
he who led the van laden with carpet-bags was
unreasonably fractious ; but for a boy's arm and
cudgel he would have charged through our ranks
and gone home half-a-dozen times.
It was a glowing sunset when Ave reached the glen
where Camaldoli lies ; the hills above Avere gor
geously tinted Avith the hues of harvest, while the

FLORENCE. 4 1
dell with its masses of Avhite masonry and dark
woods lay buried in shade. We Avere past the curfcAv
hour and had to knock up the forestierajo to
come and get us supper in the village and beds
at the Casino. This frate was a jolly fellow
and fond of the Inglesi. He not only catered for
us and presided at the meal, but on our pressing
him partook with us of the convent cheer. He
was inquisitive abottt England, and among other
questions asked Avhat Ave did for wine. I told him
that we bought of our neighbours, French, Spanish,
and Portuguese. "What did we pay?" "Oh!
a great deal too much ; from 8 pauUs to 30, a
bottle," (a pauli is about 5d. of our money.) He
held up his hands at this, and he said he would
bring us some " Vin dolce bianco," the " dolce "
implying an assurance that you shall not swallow
vinegar. It really was not so bad : something
like cider, at a paul a bottle. After this he told
us that his own income did not exceed 100 dollars
a year, out of which he found everything, including
his dress, which is a loose body-gown and hood of
white flannel. This frate, like many others, is of
good family.
Next day we scaled the cliff by a beautiful path

42 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
through a firAvood to see the " Eremo " or San
Romualdo's herraitage, connected with the convent.
This is the place where divers of the Caraaldolesi
are sent, or come A''oluntarily, "per fare penitenza."
It has been here 800 years, since the popedom of
Sylvester II. , who set Romualdo over it. The
scene is Avild and comfortless, and a very severe
rule is foUoAved by those undergoing the disciphne.
I went over some of the cells with my guide, who
was unusually voluble in his replies to questions
asked, of which I learnt the cause afterwards. The
cells are wretched ; generally bare earth under foot,
a bench for furniture, a corner for a little straw at
night, a wooden platter, and the crucifix on the
wall. A devotional book is allowed, but speech
is prohibited, save Avhen they are chanting in
church. The guide was making up for lost time in
virtue of his office. I enquired how they fared in
Avinter ; " Molto raale," was the reply : and then
he told rae that the January snoAvdrifts are tre
mendous, sometimes burying their little community
of huts for many feet above the surface of the
threshold. At these seasons the superior causes a
bell to be rung an hour before matins, and the
frati in turn relieve each other at the spade and

FLORENCE. 43
shovel to clear a path to the church. The cold also
is severe, OAAdng to the Apennine Avinds ; and if any
frate falls iU his danger and suffering are aggravated
by there being no leech at hand. It was some
comfort to know that fifteen days is generally
the extreme period of their stay aloft. There were
about a dozen actuaUy on the Eremo list. Their
church I thought beautiful; it has two Moorish-
looking towers in front, and within is simply and
reverently ordered. Here is a picture representing
the " miracolo " of the saint arresting by his prayers
the descent of a large tree, which threatens in its
fall to crush the infant building. The reigning
pope, I believe, is a Camaldolese.
VaUombrosa has the advantage of associations
and a name, but parts of the Camaldoli scenery
are finer. It seems it was originally called " Campo
Amabile," in reference, perhaps, to a pretty parkish
meadow in which the Casino stands. We left on
the third morning ; I noAV regret we did not stay
several days.
There is nothing remarkable on the road to
Laverna, unless it be the toAvn of Bibbiena, perched
on a crag in the vaUey, and famous for hogs. We
traversed a rugged hne of country, forded a pebbly

44 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
stream, and toiled across a raoor; it was noon when
Ave reached the foot of the cliff on whose summit
this eagle's nest is lodged. The sun was now
scorching up every thing round us : plants crackled,
strearas stood still, butterflies grew giddy and dropt
asleep, and the stubbles by the roadside teemed
Avith diminutive fleas ! If naturalists Avon't credit
this, I can't help it ; I appeal to my terrier, Fox,
who actually lost his pluck, and looked back ever
and anon to see if his tail was coming behind him.
The paved way winding up the cliff was a stiff
bit for horses who had come such a five hours'
stage. Ours, hoAvever, got over it gaily, being
doubtless aware of a store of fodder in the Francis
cans' stalls above. Dante caUs this mountain
" crudo sasso infra Tever 'ed Arno." He is, as
usual, very accurate. They say it is the central
" punto" of Italy, reckoning from Savoy to the
kingdom of Naples lengthwise. The platform on
the summit looks down on a glorious prospect.
There must be forty miles of Valdarno, as the crow
flies, stretched out in a green map beloAv, arms of
the Apennine running across it here and there, and
towns such as Poppi and Bibbiena shooting up like
citadels from the vale.

FLORENCE. 45
After the luxury of a profound siesta for an
hour, we made a meal on such fare as the friars
could bring forth on a Friday. Soup and coffee
Avith caviare and bread and butter spread the board.
Tea we had brought with us from Florence, and it
now proved a welcome treat.
This spot, though it can lay no claim to the
beauties of VaUombrosa or Camaldoli, is as inte
resting as either of them. The rock is precipitous
on three sides, Avith a depth varying from 200 to
300 feet ; on the fourth side it runs out into a
natural causeway, with buttresses of a columnar
form, at sight of which it is said Hannibal turned
back Avhen meditating his descent on Valdarno.
However this be, the features of the place are those
of a fortress where much might be done at little
cost to repel an invader.
The extent of the monastery is enormous ; besides
a very complete system of cells, here is the library,
the refectory, and the kitchen and other offices,
also a monk's farmacia. The beautiful church
stands in a paved court edging on the cliff, a scene
well fitted for contemplation. A long gallery is
frescoed Avith the principal " events" in their
founder's life, a series of daring impostures on the

46 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
part of certain monks improved upon from time to
time. We heard as much of the marvellous as we
could well digest at once, but a fresh batch of
country people arriving, the young frate very soon
heightened the picture. " Here," said he, " is the
ledge of rock from which the blessed St. Francis
was pitched by the devil into that field below." I
rejected this, as being dishonouring to the saint's
reputation, who was a right holy man, and noways
devil-possessed ; but our " cicerone" contended for
the privilege of landing with unbroken bones, which
certainly under the circumstances Avould be desi
rable. It is a pity that they will insist upon " puffing "
a man who stands as little in need of it as any
who ever wore the hood and amice and went bare
foot. The caverns in the face of the cliff are an
undeniable Avonder. You descend, perhaps, 100
feet by a winding stair outside, and enter by a
natural portal. Here the scene was singular :
huge blocks of stone, some of them 20 and 30 feet
in length, and of all conceivable shapes, lay piled
one upon another, far below the foundation of the
monastery, in such utter confusion that they

FLORENCE. 47
reminded me of pebbles shot out of a AvheelbarroAv.
One mass Avith a keel rides upon the back of
another. The place has none of the featvires of a
quarry. I asked the frate Avhat he thought of it,
geologicaUy : " E miracolo," was the ready reply,
Avhich he explained by saying that Avhen the rocks
were rent at the crucifixion of our blessed Lord,
this rending of the bowels of Laverna's mountain
took place simultaneously. This Avas not so bad ;
indeed I never heard a Roraan Catholic make a
foolish answer Avhen he had been at the trouble of
thinking for himself; Avhich latter is a rare thing
with them.
As no woman may pass a night within these
convent walls, I descended the cliff late in the
evening with J  , to see that she was well cared
for: a bed for us both in the little village could
not be got, but we applied at the nunnery, where
tAVO sisters, advanced in life, agreed to make her
comfortable ; a pledge Avhich they fulfiUed weU
and kindly. Re-ascending the " poggio faticoso ed
alto," I leaned on a stout ash-stick which I had
cut in the meadow below. " Un buon cavallo ! "
said my guide, and quoted the proverb of " Andare
col cavallo di San Francesco." It is certainly the

48 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
best horse hereabouts, for I remounted in half the
time our four-footed friends had required in the
morning. This frate was very inquisitive on the
subject of the English raihvays.
An early ride of twenty miles next morning, and
a drive of near fifty, brought us back to the banks
ofthe Arno at the witching hour of eve, — " Come
la mosca cede aUa Zanzara." On our way we
passed the Campoldino, AA'here Dante fought; and
were shoAvn, in a parish church, the " natural
mummy " of his coraraentator, the Landino, dried
like a plant in a herbarium! — a singularity upon
which I feel no inclination to comment myself. I
hear, however, these sort of things are by no
means rare in Ireland ; and I know that among
the Scotch Highlands the bodies of such as die in
Avinter are sometimes " salted up " in a chest until
spring comes.

SIENA. 49

POGGIERELLO, NEAR SIENA.
Poggierello, near Siena, end of September.
This villa is a pretty spot in the immediate
neighbourhood of the old Etruscan town ; and we
have had a month's cooling here after the sultry
heats of Florence. Many things remind me of
an Enghsh mansion in this place ; we have a tidy
lawn and a labyrinth of evergreens, and there is a
great round well in the court behind. The main
difference lies in the acres round the house being
planted out with vines and olives, instead of apple
trees and cabbages. Further, we have a hall with
frescoes, twice as many rooms as we want, and a
cast of ApoUo in the garden. If that don't content
us, we must be difficult to please.
The Northern Gate of Siena is but a mile -distant,
and whenever you lift your eyes to a block over
the gatCAvay you are invited to enter the city by
an old legend which it bears ; " Cor magis tibi
Sena pandit ! " Sena being the Julian name. This
proraise of hospitality is well kept. We have long
since presented our letters, and have been kindly

50 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
received. The elegant mansion of Conte Fieri has
always been throAvn open to foreigners Avith a
hberality and kindness of heart to which Siena is
indebted for much of her present prosperity. I
mention this one name from a sense of grateful
obligation, and not as conveying to anybody
information which is new to them. But there
are several others, old and noble famUies, who are
nothing behind the amiable Count and Countess
in goodwill and graceful attentions. Perhaps our
national character and demeanour would not be
the worse of a little more " empressement " in
this respect: demonstrations, when sincere, can
hardly be overdone. A kind word sometimes
goes further than a purse of gold.
If the utterance of good wishes and greetings
may be held to indicate kindly feehng in the
speaker, surely Italy is the home of benevolent
courtesy. " May you wake up hke a rose!" is a
form of good-night which I have heard addressed
toa lady on her retiring. "Felicissima notte!"
is a very usual one; in which the superlative
never sounds like heartless hyperbole, but rather
reminds one of the fervent phraseology of our
olden time.

SIENA. 51
The Grand Duke has a representative here in
the person of a resident Governor who holds once
in the week a sort of Court-soiree. The actual
"locum tenens " is a Florentine, a matter somcAvhat
grievous to the Siennese, who naturally are better
pleased when the Sovereign's choice falls on some
head among their own ancient houses. The old
grudge of the middle ages has also left a feeling of
rivalry on certain points between the two cities ;
and Florence being the favoured capital while
Siena is now only a provincial town, the latter
hardly gets fair play at times. The Count Serris
tori is, however, reputed an upright and active
minister : and where there is esteem, liking will
always follow.
Society is on an easy, chatty footing in the cir
cles of Siena. There is a good deal of dancing,
continual whist of the kind caUed " Sturm " im
ported from Russia, and a musical assembly once a
week at the Contessa Pieri's. The singing, such as
we have heard, is mediocre ; but we came late in
the season for the nightingales as well as for the
festas. From our Avindows here we have two or
three sketchable views : in one of these the raoun
tain of Santa Fiora, an extinct volcano, comes in ;
B 2

52 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
in another a picturesque tower, which the country -
people call " Palazzo dei Diavoh," for an absurd
reason as far as I can gather. It was tenanted
once by a family named " Turco," the members of
which came to be pluralised as "Turchi;" the
contadini understanding by this nothing better
than " Turks and Infidels " nicknamed the place
as above. They now aver, however, that they
were astrologers, and that an unholy use was made
of their beautiful cylindrical tower. The prejudice
against anything of the " starry GalUeo " was pro
bably rife here as in Pisa ; so I dare say the amount
of it was that the Turco family peeped at Venus
and Jupiter through some sort of telescope.
Siena occupies the crest of a hill, and is built on
a singular ground- plan resembling the figure of a
star-fish. If you chance to be at the end of one of
these rays and wish to make a call in another you
must first return to the heart of the city ; for the
surface of the ground runs in alternate ridges and
ravines, and the houses cover the former. The
population has dwindled from 100,000 to 20,000 :
indeed none of the Tuscan cities have recovered
from the devastations of the plague which ravaged
thera in the time of Boccaccio. This city with

SIENA. 53
Florence and Pisa lost it seems among them from
200,000 to 300,000 souls! and this in a few
months. Poor Siena has now hindrances of her
own : not only has her riding-school been knocked
on the head, — a measure which I was gravely as
sured had endangered the peace of the Tuscan
States, — but what is a far more serious raatter, her
criminal Court is reraoved to Florence. One awk
ward result of this is, that if one man stabs another
in a street-brawl, every soul decamps for fear of
being sumraoned fifty miles to the capital to give
CAddence, a trouble which no Italian would encoun
ter on any consideration. This has twice occurred
no very long time ago. In one instance the Avound-
ed man ran a mile, his blood marking the track,
before he could get surgical aid, it being late in
the evening. The abolishment in Tuscany of the
punishment of death is supposed to have greatly
diminished the number of cases of this sort : may it
not rather have operated to keep back evidence ?
for an informer dreads the vengeance of the sur
viving culprit, whereas " dead men do not bite."
The favourite resort of the beau-raonde here is a
smaU green, or rather broAvn plot called the
" Lizza ;" hither come the carriages to drive round
E 3

54 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
the diminutive enclosure — hither also come the
townspeople with the bonnes and children to tread
the turf and loiter under the stunted trees. After
the Cascine of Florence it looks like a doll's garden ;
stUl the scene is always cheerful, recaUing ideas of
home. A few yards further are the Fortezza and
battlements, with a purple view at sunset of the
country towards the Maremma.
We have had a hailstorm here of a kind seldom
seen in England. The moment the black cloud
appeared in front of our haU, we ran to close the
outer shutters, but were too late by a few seconds
to save our glass. Pieces of ice of the size of wal
nuts dashed through some fifty panes in a tAvinkling:
one lurap I picked up was as big as a hen's egg.
This frozen artillery kept up a discharge of nearly
five minutes' duration. In the evening we found
the storm had driven in a multitude of mosquitoes
from the vines. These creatures tease us here
whenever the gauze-net is out of order : if it has a
brack as large as your finger-naU you are sure to be
woke in the dead of the night by a noise hke that
of fairy kettle-drums and fifes, with a sensation of
poisonous heat on your face and hands. The bites
are worse on the third day, and sometimes do not

SIENA.

disappear for a week : there is no remedy but cold
water and a httle vinegar, and this acts but feebly.
The mosquito is just our Enghsh gnat, only
blacker and humped at the shoulder : he is the only
insect I care a straw about in Italy.
This city has one noble structure, the Duomo,
a vast pile in the Italo-gothic style, so that you find
round and pointed arches intermixed with many
other eccentricities. It is unfinished, and must
ever remain so noAV ; had it been completed on the
original plan it would have been by much the
largest building I ever saw, as there is evidence on
the spot that aU which is now extant formed only
an aisle in the architect's design. The fa9ade,
however, is finished, a rare thing in Italy, and very
beautiful it is. Here are grotesque aniraals, sculp
tured to represent the different cities of the League ;
OrAdeto's goose, Pisa's hare, Perugia's stork, and
many others which I don't at this moment remem
ber. The she-wolf is for Siena, and an elephant
and castle, I think, for Rome.
The figures of the two angels bending before
the name of Jesus over the portal are very noble :
and the idea is one of those ocular preachings
which meet you at almost every step in Italy.
E 4

56 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
Indeed it is the Church emblems and pictures
which raainly educate the people, who for the most
part can neither read nor write. The interior of a
Roman Catholic Church is an illustrated catechism,
sometimes mingled with fable, but never suppress
ing fact.
It appears to me that a Roman Catholic as he is
has one immense advantage over a Protestant as he
is; supposing them both to be " good men and
true," and determined not to go through the mock
ery of what is called in Ireland " a Conversion "
either way. It is this : the Catholic's Church is
always open, his priest always at hand : go where
you wiU, matins and vespers are thronged, in some
one or more of the parish-churches. No one can
estimate the effect of this till he Adsits a Catholic
country and resides awhile. It ensures seasons of
rest ; it keeps aliA'e the feeling of mercy ; it yields
time for reflection, and oftentimes opens a door to
repentance, and crushes the wicked deed in the
bud of the Avicked thought. The feverish crowded
struggle of a headlong world is abated from hour to
hour ; the counter and the bank do not become an
imperious Moloch, absorbing the being of man and
devouring his energies ; but each and all, as they

SIENA. 57
boAv the knee or drop the curtsey, and retire with
the siraple sign of the Cross, carry away with them
the remerabrance that they have a nobler part, and
a higher calling than the thing we term " self "
and the " fashion which passeth away."
An Englishman may object to so many pictures;
he AAdll think many of the rites overdone and bur
densome on both ministers and people; he may
even misdoubt sorae among the ordained priests ;
if he cherishes a kindly heart, he will meet with
much to make him sad ; but he can never for a
moment doubt that he is walking in a Christian
land, among a baptized people, who, however
crushed by burdens, or " travestied " in human in
ventions, do nevertheless develope all the prominent
features of the faith in Christ.
I remember in Florence seeing the artisans in the
streets lift their caps when the " mezzo-giorno "
bell sounds ; this is to thank God for his blessings
in creation at the moment when the sun culminates
on the meridian. On the Rhine or the Moselle the
boatman rests on his oars, and the passengers bow
the head and cross themselves as they hear the Ave
Maria beU. In Britain, the opposite to all this ob
tains. Through a dread of conforming to Rome

58 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
we have discarded some good things which did not
flow from Rome : our very proverbs are losing their
force, and the old sayings of our more pious fore
fathers reproach us with their non-fulfilment. With
what face could we now repeat the couplet of the
bygone time ?
"Be the day never so long.
At length cometh even'-song."
It once pointed to a living consolation, a daily com
munion of worship : now it is become a dead
letter. The interior of this cathedral pleases every one ;
its vault is azure, Avith silver stars ; so appropriate
a panelling ensures a good effect. The pulpit and
stair are embossed in white marble like ivory.
Here are the bold paintings of Beccafumi, who, like
Giotto, was bred a shepherd-boy, and Duccio's
paveraent, a work unique in Italy; the figures
being portrayed by lines of a dark grey marble let
into a white ground, and the effect resembhng that
of chalks on a Bristol board. The church contains
one warlike trophy, the poles of the carroccio taken
from the Florentines at the battle of Monte A perti :
of these the Siennese, man, woman, and chUd, are
sufficiently vain.

SIENA. 59
Many large churches are here, disproportioned to
the present population of the city ; the dimensions
of San Domenico are enormous ; I fear to state them
from memory, but th§ vast arch in the transepts is
a noble thing, and would be thought so anywhere.
Here is a Madonna painted by Guido da Siena, and
bearing the date of 1221, nineteen years before
Cimabue was born : if they are correct in this quo
tation, the claim of the Siennese to being the earliest
school in Italy is established. However this be,
Sodoma's paintings here are more to my mind than
many of RaffaeUe's: look at his " St. Catherine
fainting between two nuns ; " who has produced
anything more powerful than this ? In San Quirico
we saw two fine pictures by Vanni : one a " Flight
into Egypt."
The Town-hall has a Babel tower and some more
Beccafumis. A pretty gothic font is here, which
the people wiU call " Fonte Branda ; " Dante's
" fonte Branda " it cert.ainly is not ; for that rises
somewhere near Stia, between Florence and Ca
maldoh : I made a note of it at the time, but we
were too lazy to climb a sandstone cliff under a
baking sun to look at it : the site may be known
by some old towers, Belcaro in this neighbour-

60 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
hood is a pretty drive : this is at once a viUa and
a fortress, and commands from its belvidere the
best vicAV of the Maremma country. Its porch and
chapel are adorned with sonae fast-fading frescoes
by B. Peruzzi ; our guide said " Raffaelle." RaffaeUe
must have painted through five long lives, instead
of one short one, if he did all that is ascribed to
hira. All the slopes hereabouts are finely cultivated :
Judea could hardly have had a richer dowry than
this favoured land  Vines, ohves, fig, mulberry,
pomegranates, cover scores of square-miles. The
raain profits are drawn frora the olive, whose cul
ture is as carefully regulated as that of the vines
along the Rhine. A compost of farmyard ingre
dients is heaped round the stem of each tree to a
height of 2 or 3 feet, to ensure warmth : the crop
is in alternate years, between AA^hich the trees lie
fallow as to any gathering. The olive hangs till it
is the colour of a ripe mulberry. Their red " vin
ordinario " hare is excellent : I think equal to
" Hermitage," but you must temper it with Water.
I only Avish the people would fat their fowls as
they do theraselves, but these are wholly cast on
Providence. Dogs and cats the same. Even the

FLORENCE. Gl
horses do not get much corn ; but plenty of lupins
and grass, and I dare say green rice, which now
and then carries them off by a dysentery. All
these matters an Italian takes very coolly. They
are most affected by the loss of anything that is
beautiful : and all persons and animals are classed
as being " pretty " or " ugly," as if these iraplied
intrinsic moral character : the white ox in the
vineyard is caUed "Bellino;" a parent mentioning
the " ragazze " always tells you of this or that, that
she is " bella " or " brutta," as the case may be :
our cook's little daughter is very poorly and the
mother fears she will die: the father says "Mi
displace molto per questa piccola: era tanto gra
ziosa ! " There is both affection and levity in this.
A custom in society here is Avhen you get pretty
intimate to address every body, married or single,
by their Christian name. If we stay another month
among these kind people, your humble servant and
his better half will be " Giovanni" and " Giovanna,"
and never any thing else. Florence again ; November 26th.
Six weeks have been spent in saying farewell to
this beautiful city, OAving to our having been detained

62 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
by a flood from the Arno. The waters are now
at length drying up, and to-morrow we quit it
on the road to Rorae. A month since we ran
doAATi to Pisa, and saw the Leaning Tower, which,
after Giotto's Campanile here, is the choicest thing
in Tuscany. Connoisseurs find fault Avith the irre
gular style of a building where the columns vary in
size and order. It is sometimes a pleasure not to be
learned enough to criticise; I confess this struck
me as a peculiar charm, contrasting as it does
Avith the monotonous, metal-roofed Duomo and
Baptistery, where one accurate pattern is repeated
throughout each tier, with the minute perfection of
an Indian Pagoda. From the summit of the Cam
panile, you get a good idea of the country round.
Bold cliffs, a marshy plain bisected by the Leghorn
Railway, and far away that city clustering like an
oyster-bed on the marine bay. The notion that
this tower was originally intended to slant is now
exploded ; a little examination on the spot would
be sufficient to convince any one of the contrary.
The upper stories are slightly curved in the oppo
site direction, so as to give to the tower the form
of the bole of a tree. The idea never occurred to
the architect tiU the lower part of the building had

FLORENCE. 63
sunk and " settled" through the boggy nature of
the ground. These same springs stiU flood its
area, and produce that grass of vivid green which
clothes the piazza. Moreover, the Duorao and
Baptistery both of them lean over; but in their case
the slope merely looks awkward, not being suffici
ently marked to form a picturesque angle with the
horizon. The Duomo is certainly a gorgeous pile, but too
tricky and pagoda-hke to hit my taste, as a cathe
dral. The paintings here by Andrea del Sarto are
exquisite ; tAvo of these are imaginary portraits of
saints, and may be found near the high altar ; the
other is a St. Agnes, and hangs on a piUar of the
nave, protected by a fee-curtain. TiU I saw these
I had no idea how well he could paint.
The Campo Santo demands more time than all
the other sights in Pisa together. Here is the field
of " holy earth" from Palestine, some rare objects
of antiquity, and Orgagna's frescoes Avith others.
His " Triumph of Death" is a fanciful thing, but
with a reality in some of the groups which could
hardly be surpassed. His " Last Judgment" I did
not admire : I think he had better have let the sub
ject alone, if only out of reverence. M. Angelo is

64 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
said to have borrowed from it largely ; if so, I shall
not like his great picture in the Sistine Chapel.
The site of the " Torre della fame " presents
nothing of the tower now, save its fearful memory,
but that Avill last till the crack of doom. It does
not, however, appear to be well ascertained how
many of his sons or grandsons were locked up with
Ugolino Avhen the keys were thrown into the
Arno. " Ahi Pisa ! vituperio delle genti
Del bei paese la dove il si suona,
Poiche i vicini a te punir son lenti,
Muovansi la Capraja e la Gorgona
E faccian siepe ad Arno in su la foce
Si che egli annieghi in te ogni persona ! "
Not a very christian wish, 0 Dante ! But between
Florence and Pisa there was no love lost.
Can any one explain the iron pin and pendent
chain with the legend " AUa giornata" on the
waU of the Lanfreducci Palace ? Did it imply a
daily victim ? Was the " marble city " after all
nothing better than a shambles ?
In the town of Leghorn we looked into a Jewish
synagogue ; had I not been told, I might have
thought it an exchange. Numbers were present,
but all in hats or turbans, and talking aloud.

FLORENCE. 65
The Florentines say that the late flood here
might have been avoided, Avith all its ravages, had
Fossombroni's adAdce, reiterated in testamentary
papers, been folloAved. He foretold all these conse
quences in case they did not take heed to certain
precautions in the system of draining, which has
long been going on in the Val di Chiana. The
plan recommended by the late prime minister was
a " colraata," producing an effect sirailar to what
they caU " wharping" in Lincolnshire. A bog is
first dammed up, and then a torrent from the hills
charged with lime and alluvial matter is let into it ;
this being allowed to stand for perhaps a couple of
months, a sohd deposit graduaUy accumulates on
the surface of the bog ; and, by repeating the
process, any depth of marsh may be filled up, and
a fertile substratum for future crops obtained.
Fossombroni in this way redeemed many thousands
of acres from sterility and malaria: but patience
was needed, and watchfulness against sundry
aAvkward possibilities to be counteracted by a con
tinual measuring of the channels and also of the
river's speed. To say that I thoroughly under
stand so difficult a subject were absurd ; indeed I
can't find any body Avho does (note [b]) ; but one
F

66 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
thing aU are agreed in: as soon as Fossombroni
was dead, the Grand Duke pushed forAvard a
hobby of his OAvn — a big canal, which was to do the
work rauch quicker. And it now seems that the
Arno was sluiced too rapidly for safety ; a tremen
dous thunderstorm, coming on the back of a week's
previous rain, coincided v^dth the removal of certain
important dykes, and Florence was Adsited at once
by a treble measure of water above her bridges.
" Hinc iUse lacryma."
The damage to property is now nearly one fourth
made good, by great exertions ; but six persons
have been drowned.
All classes have done their best in aid of the
general distress ; the sovereign has worked hardest
of all, superintending in person the distribution of
bread, wine, coals, &c., among the poorer families.
Subscription lists at the bankers are fiUing, charity
balls and concerts have been given in every direc
tion ; the troops have been picketted in bands to
labour at removing the raud, and Florence is
beginning to look like itself again. But for the
space of a fortnight the aspect of things was
dolorous. The pretty suspension bridge went like
a snapped thread ; one-fifth of the habitable city

ROME. 67
Avas sloughed with mud several feet deep, pave
ments Avere lifted, walls laid flat, pipes choked,
shops gutted, siUs dashed in, pictures and statues
went to Numa and Aucus; the Cascine became
another marsh; hares and pheasants caught cold
and died ; and, but for Avhat mortals call good luck,
the Ponte Vecchio, one of the chiefest ornaments
of Florence, and immensely important as a thorough
fare, would have been carried away. I saAV the
wave Avithin two feet of the crown of the central
arch ; had the tide surmounted that brief interval,
the entire structure, shops and aU, would have
disappeared.

ROME.
December 4.
After a week's wandering through Etruscan cities,
and among Apennine water-falls, here are the walls of
old Rome, the Tiber and its bridges, the Coliseum and
St. Peter's. We have had a first look, and that is
all as yet, but though only a look, it has opened
another world of ideas which no engraved plate or
pictured volume ever woke before.
r 2

68 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
There could not be a better introduction to the
city of the Caesars, than the road which winds for
two hundred miles through ancient Etruria and
the darkly Avooded Umbrian plains. I marked
nothing of special note before reaching Arezzo,
except the vicAv of Florence from the pass of Sail
Donato ; but that farewell Adew was wondrous fair.
Arezzo is a pretty town enough, richer in records
of the middle ages than in any relics of high an
tiquity. In the cathedral is the tomb of the fight
ing Bishop of Petraraala, worked after designs by
Giotto : not to admire some of the groups is impos
sible, but there are too many details followed out ;
I should like it better if it were simpler. In the
Badia Church we saw a " perspective cupola," the
first that ever blessed my eyes ; here is ingenuity,
and a good deal of effect : but it Avas a silly fancy
to practise an ocular deception in the sweUing
dome, where all ought to be solemn and majestic.
What so unsophisticated as the blue vault of
heaven, and Avhy should its architectural emblem
be otherAvise?
Arezzo contains the house where Petrarch was
born — " rara avis in terris ; " also a capital inn,
itself as uncomraon as a black sAvan in these parts.

ROAD TO ROiAIE. 69
Cortona may very likely be the oldest city in
Italy : it is supposed anterior to Troy. I am
tempted to quote, but the name of Dardanus's
town may be found in the 7th book of the Jllneid.
Cory tus, it seeras, Avas a son of Janus, and gave
his name to the city. Here scaling the hill in one
of the country cars, we found on the surarait a
noble range of Etrviscan walls. The blocks are
more massive than at Fiesole, and the lines of
masonry extend further : a modern superstructure
mostly rests upon them, but the old thing, without
mortar, without bands of iron, pin, or buttress, will
probably outlast all that stands upon it or beside it.
These blocks may fairly be terraed eloquent, but in
the town are other not less speaking attractions.
The museum is rich in bronzes, of course frora the
rifled tombs of Etruria. What a stately nation
was this ! They had ncAvly got out a massive,
circular ornament, as big as an eight-day clock, and
at the first glance not unlike one : but the learned
curator of the antiquities does not as yet hazard a
guess as to what this may have been ; probably
some sacred vessel.
As to works of art of a later date, the town is
peopled with the creations of Beato Angelico d.a

70 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
FiesoU: the sweetness of the countenances por
trayed by this frate, who never did anything for
money, delights every soul ; it is hke a vision of
angels on varnished wood. The rich old fancy of
gold leaf ornament harmonises admirably in his
paintings. Among those we looked at, an " Annun
ciation" is perhaps the best. Cigoli' s picture ofthe
" Miracolo," representing a heretic converted by
the devotion of St. Antony's mule, is at once a
marvellous work of art and an ill-chosen subject.
Why not take a true story from Scripture, as
Balaam's ass? Luca Signorelli' s painting of the
dead Christ I did not like. It is in Sta. Margherita,
a convent which crowns the highest point of the
rock: this building is beautiful Gothic, Avith a
Avheel-Avindow of exquisite workmanship. They
showed us in the cathedral a large sarcophagus of
white marble, bearing on one side a battle in bold
relievo. This, from having been found on the
plain of Trasimene beloAV, has been thought to be
that of Flaminius : it lacks, however, an inscription.
Descending from the height on which Cortona is
built, we took at a foot's pace the road which Avinds
through the pass once so fatal to Consular Rome.
The wild lake lay on our right, with a beautiful

ROAD TO EOME. 71
castellated promontory jutting out for half a mile
on its bosom. To every reader of Mr. Hobhouse's
"Notes" the scene is as familiar as an accurate
description can render it. The raarvel is, hoAV
Flaminius was beguiled into entering such a trap.
He knew that Hannibal lay hereabouts, and if he
was acquainted, as he surely raust have been, Avith
the nature of ground so near his camp at Arezzo,
how could he suppose the wily Carthaginian would
omit to line with his troops the jaws of such a pass?
Livj ascribes all his wayAvard conduct at this time
to rashness of personal character, goaded by ambi
tion, and blinded by political intrigues. But Livy
is a romancer. The act was one of deliberate
madness in any commander. Had the catastrophe
.which ensued occurred in the tiraes of feudal
chivalry, one would presurae that some fatal pledge
had been given, binding him to accept battle at all
odds when offered by the Carthaginian.
From the moment the Roman legions had
entered the pass, Hannibal had the game in his
own hands.
I made a rapid sketch of the lake and shore with
Borghetto, and another more leisurely of " Hanni
bal's Tower : " this latter is a massive grey ruin,
F 4

72 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
matted with ivy and brambles crawling over a
Avindow of red tufo.
Our next Etruscan capital was Perugia, second
only to Cortona in antiquity. Nothing under a
visit of a week could do justice to all which this
city contains worthy of note. Its site is almost
Alpine : oxen are needed in addition to your own
team to climb the hill, towards the summit of
which the ranges of masonry rise, tier above tier,
a gigantic stair in the rock. The Apennines here
are capped AAdth fields of snow, and when a breeze
springs up in that direction you feel as if iced
water were dashed in your face. We were glad to
huddle on all our AArraps, yet a few miles below
Ave had left a burning glebe and panting herds
men. Here are above a score of gorgeous churches,
where the pictures of Pietro vie with the stained
glass in the oriel windoAvs. This master's best
frescoes cover a vault in the Sala del Cambio.
The church of S. Pietro Martini contains his
glorious altar-piece, a Madonna and child, with
two angels hovering on either side: and he has
left along with Sasso Ferrato some exquisite busts
of saints in S. P. dei Casinensi.

ROAD TO ROiAlE. 73
In the Cathedral we saAv Baroccio's masterpiece,
a " Deposition from the Cross." If it be true that
the artist was undergoing the agonies of poison
Avhen he painted it, then the picture furnishes
another proof that our latent powers are more
dependent for their development on sorae irapulse
of spirit, than on any condition of body. Tre
mendous energies are evinced in the work: the
face of one of the Marys all droAvned in tears
dwelt long on my vision after quitting the spot.
The French stole this for the Louvre ; afterAvards
the Pope seized it for the Vatican : I don't know
how His Holiness was induced to refund. Who
ever visits the " Casinensi " should ask the monk to
lead him to a balcony behind the tribune; the
prospect from it embodies the grander features of
Italian landscape : the valley of the Tiber is seen
as far as Assisi, and dark lines of mountains fiU
up the back ground.
San Domenico is a very rich church, but its
chief ornament is the monument of Benedict XI.
by Giovanni di Pisa ; a chaste and touching per
formance, far more pleasing than the warlike
relieA'os on Guido Tarlati's tomb at Arezzo. Two

74 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
angels are drawing aside the curtains of the bier,
so as to shoAV the recumbent corpse within.
We got a sight of Raffaelle's " Staffa Madonna,"
in the Connestabili's Palace belonging to that
family — a picture of some ten inches high : the
Virgin is reading, and the child looking over the
book. I know of no production of his resembling
it ; if Raffaelle really did this thing before he was
nineteen, great as were his subsequent achieve
ments his early promise was even greater.
An English lady is now residing abroad Avho
bids fair to effect a new £era in the destinies of
subjects by the old masters : her copies ex
ecuted in water-colours will perpetuate, in the con
dition in which we now see them, many fine
paintings which can hardly withstand uninjured
another ten years' wear. Miss Chawner is, I be
lieve, self-taught, and does not consider herself as
possessed of the professional knowledge AA^hich
many dilettanti have in the art ; but in what she
produces with brush and pallet she surpasses all
who have hitherto essayed to repeat the old raas
ters. With Raffaelle, with Correggio, with Titian,
her success is raarvellous ; the " ritratto " being a
fac-simUe as to resemblance, and giving the effect

ROAD TO KOME. 75
of the dead look of an old painting, which copies
in oils never do until themselves cracked and
dusty. Her method excludes aU use of body-
colour ; but when the picture is finished, a little
varnish is applied for preservation.
AVGVSTA PERVSIA
is graven on the fine old arch of this city : an
Etruscan gatcAvay and a Roman inscription ! not a
bad speciraen of the monopolising system of the
great plagiarist Augustus. He had the grace,
however, to leave untouched the blocks, which
indeed were too heavy to be moved without
difficulty. Here, as at Cortona, the masonry is
simply the travertine masses squared and fitted
without band or ceraent.
We left Perugia with regret, our only conso
lation being that we also left an incurably smoky
chimney in our sitting-room at the iun. I had
heard of the famous excavations in the neighbour
hood, and that the cemetery to which they belong
is supposed to have matched in its plan and extent
the ancient city itself. A mile or two on this side
of the gates we came upon the site. Had I not
known that Cohzzi had been here burrowing, I

76 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
might almost have taken our guide for a magi
cian, or one of the genii in the old fables, as he
led the way over some broken ground not unlike
a rabbit-warren. " Di qua Signora ; " Ave turned
the edge of a bank, and a flight of steps appeared
Avith the red earth trenched and laid open round
it. Now we are down in a twinkling : that shady
cavern seeras squared hke a chamber in the rock ;
one leaf remains of the two which once formed a
folding-door at its entrance ; the guide is turning
it back on its pivot, let us step in. What a singu
lar apartment ! A clean floor, two large stone
sarcophagi, a broken urn, pendent lamps, and a
mimic genius swinging from the roof by a bronze
thread. That stern countenance facing the portal
can be no other than Medusa. Our guide says all
this is an Etruscan tomb, and he is right : some
scores more he in the same state around us, and
probably raany hundreds which have not yet been
re-opened, Colizzi has reraoved the figured "tazze,"
the " focolari," bronze ornaments, and jewels in
solid gold — but the rest, just as it now appears,
was sealed up after dedication some three thousand
years ago.
Soleran thoughts rush on the mind when con-

KOAD TO ROME. 77
templating such a chamber, " empty, SAvept and
garnished," but still the consecrated resting-place
of the dead ; where piety and affection paid the
last and dearest tribute to departed heroism and
worth. Truly, the " fungar inani munere " be
speaks a long and deeply rooted instinct. Deem
not slightingly of a race of Avhom nought save this
is left. Egypt has her pyraraids, Etruria her
chambers in the rock ; both -were tombs, to
shelter the ashes of kindred, and haply one day to
tell posterity of their rites and customs. This
nation culminated in fame and earthly glory,
before imperial Rome, Avith her senate and people,
was heard of. If the visitor likes to dip his hand
in where that ponderous stone lid has been lifted,
he may touch the bones of departed chiefs and
rulers. But beware of the mystic genius overhead,
all you who harbour thoughts of covetousness or
pride : he is the guardian of the tomb.
Scholars have perused the following passage in
the original of Dionysius of Hallcarnassus. The
Italian version seems aptest now.
" Gh Etruschi furono arrestati nel corso della
loro prosperita dall' ira degli Dei, che li oppresse
con una spaventosa sterilita cagionata da una siccita

78 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
senza esempio, che desolo le famiglie, devasto le
campagne, distrusse i bestiami, e fece perfino dis-
seccare le sorgenti deUe acque. Le genti in quests
deplorabili estremita si moriano di terribUi malattie,
perche la nazione, colpita da terrore, invio all'
oracolo, consultandolo sui mezzi di disarmare lo
sdegno degli Dei. E la risposta fu, di dovere a
Giove, ad ApoUo, ed ai Cabiri offerire la decima
parte di quanto aveano di piu prezioso.
" Questo essi si fecero : ma 1' oracolo si dichiaro
megho, che esigeva la deciraa parte degli uoraini !
A questo annunzio funesto la costernazione si
sparse in tutti. Ognuno temette a se medesimo, e
per quanto avea piu a cuore I'esecuzione deU' oracolo.
In poco tempo gh amici pivi intimi si allon tan arono
dagli amici, i parenti dai parenti ; le case furono
abbandonate ; le cittk deserte ; tutti presero la fuga.
Si ritirarono in Grecia, e cosi pri^d d'ogni soccorso
perdettero i loro possedimenti : e quell' impero,
colpito nella sorgente delle sue forze, ciofe privo
della sua populazione, miseramente ruino, ne piii
potette riaversi."
So says the Greek historian. This Etruria had
twelve kingdoms, with twelve capital cities and
twelve mighty kings. Porsenna, king of Clusium,

ROAD TO ROMi:. 79
A\'ho curbed and humbled Rome, Avas one. Each
capital had its province of subordinate townships,
its senate, and its array. But Avhat nation could
endure that worshipped false gods, and consulted
the oracles of devils !
True, Rome had done so already for many cen
turies. But, may we not say that Rome's case is
peculiar ; seeing that her gigantic career had been
traced out in the chart of prophecy ages before,
and the final overthrow of her colossal strength
predicted in the inspired Word ?
Shortly after this we quitted Etruria, and en
tered Umbria by the bridge of San Giovanni over
the Tiber. The stream here was prettily fringed,
and its waters were yelloAV already. We stopped
at a majestic church, " Sta. Maria degli Angeli."
Here is St. Francis's Gothic Chapel, cell of
penance, garden of now thornless roses, and many
other wondrovis things. The church contains
Overbeck's picture of the Saint's Vision. Surely
this German is the greatest living painter after the
all-talented Vernet. We were eager to get up to
Assisi on the hill, and so did not tarry very long
below. Arrived, and past the double doorway of
the " Sacro Convento," after regarding the noblest

80 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
wheel-window in Italy, Ave found there were three
temples, built one over another, the lowest being
svibterranean. The upper church is pure Gothic,
that is, about as pure as you will find in Italy.
It is stiU rich with the frescoes of Cimabue and
Giotto, but owing to the bad repair in which the
roof is kept they are perishing rapidly. I felt
vexed at this neghgence in so wealthy a society.
While we were pacing the naA'e, soraething fell
frora the roof: on stooping to pick up what I
supposed to be a piece of dehcate iron tracery, I
found it was a scorpion ; he had been killed by
dropping perhaps sixty feet on the pavement,
within a few paces of Avhere we stood. Had he lit
upon one of us Ave should have been severely stung.
The middle church is a glorious structure for those
who love the profound shade caused by deep-groined
vaults and low arches ; but the style of its embel
lishments is rather adapted to an oriental mosque
than a Christian church. The quadrilateral vault
with the Giotto's is very curious and interesting;
I only regretted that the light which illumined it
Avas so feeble. Here is the enthusiastic career of
St. Francis depicted under divers allegories. Every
one has heard or read of these. The group sym-

ROAD TO KOME. 81
bolizing his vow of absolute poverty I thought
the best done, as it is the most strikingly conceived.
"Poverty" is a woman standing among thorns, and
Christ gives awa)^ the bride. Here it is well known
that Dante helped him, Avhose fertile brain was
perhaps never equalled in this line, save by our
Bunyan. The lower church is more irapressive
by far ; it is hewn out in the native rock, all round
the block of travertine, in Avhich the saint's body
was found. This was the foundation, and over it
all the rest of the convent was raised. Here lie
Francis's remains, shielded by a shrine of alabaster
and gold ; lamps burn before the altar continually.
Of the esteem in which his memory is held the
following may give an idea. I observed two arms
crossed, worked in gold, on the folding-doors of
the shrine ; I asked for whose they were meant,
and was told by the frate that one was an arm of
St. Francis, the other an arm of Christ. " Do you
then put them as equals thus on the door ? " He
replied, " E come Cristo, ma non uguale ; " and
then added, " II servo fedele e il suo Signore,"
pointing I think to a scripture Avhere it is said,
" Where I am there shaU also my servant be."
Assisi was Francis's birthplace; his faraily thought
G

82 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
him mad because he stripped himself of every thing,
giving away even the garment off his back to the
poor; his father made strenuous efforts to have
him locked up. All his foUowers take the vows of
poA'erty, obedience, and chastity, but they do not
always keep the first-mentioned. This " Sacro
Convento " is enormously wealthy.
After Assisi the country grew softer and richly
wooded. From Fohgno to Spoleto is an undulating
forest of oak trees ; we saw it in all the golden and
purple glory of a prolonged autumn. CUtumnus,
limpid as May dew, rerainded me of the Bran some
railes above Dunkeld. The black marble temple is
exquisite, bvit, the learned say, not of high antiquity.
At Ter7ii we halted five hours, and drove
through scenery almost SavIss in character, to see
the Falls of the Velino. At the upper fall, we were
astonished, delighted, and plentifuUy besprinkled.
Words cannot describe the grandeur of this scene :
the river throws itself three hundred feet at a leap!
We have sundry fine waterfaUs in Britain, — Corra
Linn is perhaps the finest; — but they are babies
compared to this. The loAver faU is more beautiful,
pictorially : none of the sketches much resemble
either.

ROME. 83
After Terni, the road to Rome becomes flatter,
and we were soon AvhoUy surrounded by a desolate
campagna. One object broke the monotony of the
last day's drive : this Avas Soracte, a jagged pyra
mid, darting upward from the undulating plain
into a soft grey sky. As we drew near the city of
the Csesars, I felt glad that the cockney accompani
ments of farms and casinos were wanting. We
turned a sandstone hillock, and suddenly Rome was
before us ! Under a horizontal bar of azure cloud,
stretching along the western sky, lay Michael
Angelo's dome, and the formal lines of the Vati
can. Then came the Tiber, and " Pons Milvius,"
and then we entered the city by the Flaminian gate.
Rome, 21st December.
After aU, the finest thing here is the old Forum.
There is a pleasure in stepping the ground and
pondering the associations which it recaUs, greater,
I confess, to me than in Adsiting the Avails of any
one particular ruin. A compass of a fcAV acres
here between Titus's arch and the capitol, cora
prises the most beautiful objects left frora the
ravage of Imperial Rome : the grandest mass lies
a little farther eastward ; but viewing the entire
G 2

84 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
plot, from the Coliseura's ring to the Tower of
the Senator, the mind conceives the idea of one
vast araphitheatre, bounded by gigantic landmarks,
and exhibiting noble forms arranged for scenic
effect. Here, the Dacian captives look sadly
doAvn from the attic of Constantine's arch : here
that of Septimius spans the ancient footway below,
while above a street of modern Rome runs nearly
on a level with the frieze. Exquisite marble
columns, here a single shaft, there a group, shoot
up from amidst fallen chapiters and grass-grown
blocks : and the Basilica of Constantine, once lined
Avith Parian stone, and panelled with cedar and
ivory, has thrown open its bosom to the winds, and
gathers in the deep coffers of its chambers the
driving dust and chaff, while the sparrow and the
linnet nestle in the spring of the arches.
None of these mouldering masses is older than
the Emperors : not a block Avas laid by Etruscan
Kings ; not an arch or pillar tells of the stout
Republic : but when you turn again by the Appian
way and pace the Forura, old Rorae's genius is
present : it is no longer a bare plot of ground with
a hollow ruin on one side, and a priest-ridden city
on the other. It is once more the heart of majestic

ROME. 85
Rome, orators are in the rostra, bribeless tribunes
are pleading for the people, — surely it was but
yesterday that Brutus showed a bloody dagger
wrenched from the dead body of Lucretia, and
devoted the house of Tarquin to destruction.
Strange to say, its modern appellation is the
same Avhich Virgil assigns it in Evander's day,
(jEneid, viii. 360. ) when the Trojan leader passed
up the Tiber — " Campo Vaccino " marking the
precise spot : so that the orators have been both
preceded and foUowed by the loAving kine. Was
Livy playing the wag with natural history when
he recorded so sententiously his " Bos locutus ? "
Quit the Forum, and old Rome is gone : a mo
dern thing has succeeded ; a park of churches, a
metropolis of mosque-like doraes and belfries.
Where are the Seven Hills, once clustering with
the palaces and gardens, the streets and towers of
Rome ? Many are stripped and bare, save for
shapeless brick and crurabling tufo ; others are
travestied. Pass to the Tarpeian and you raay
note their outline — the ground plan of the city
whose arras encircled and sraote the world. Plant
ing your foot on the edge of a quiet gar
den, meet scene for musing, the Traitor's Leap is
G 3

86 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
on your left, and the seat of the earliest settlement
faces you. Aye, yon is the Palatine, now cum
bered Avith the bones of the Caesars' palaces : the
Aventine a little to the right, crovmed by convents :
away on the left is the Coelian; and wheehng
round, the Esquiline and Quirinal, with the Viminal
crouching between them. The turf which your
foot presses is part of the Capitoline. Modern
Rome has covered the Vatican, and the fortress of
Janiculum. has given place to a palace and gardens.
The Pincian is still, as of old, " coUis hortulorum."
Yon shadowy line, dotted here and there Avith a
buttress, is the Sacred Wall: its massive proportions
have fought Avell with time. Not so Rome's
Bridges; Pons MilAdus has softened doAvn into
" Ponte Molle," a new structure on the old foun
dations on the Flaminian way. For Pons iElius
you have " Ponte Saint Angelo," this stands alraost
as Hadrian left it, and leads to his enormous Mau
soleum. Pons Vaticanus is gone. Pons Palatinus
is in the case of the famous pocket-knife, — an heir
loom for countless generations, but whose blade
and handle had both of them been many times
renewed; it has been so often " restored" that one
may fairly doubt whether it retains a single origi-

ROME. 87
nal block. From the site of Pons Janiculensis, now
" Ponte Sisto," there is a very pretty view at sun
rise of an interesting part of the river including
Pons Fabricius lower doAvn. The most famous of
all historicaUy, " Pons Sublicius," now lies as Ioav
as it did on the day when Codes swam the river.
A bit of the old pUe is Adsible at low tides, but
soon hides itself again as if ashamed of the present
generation. Tiber himself is as yeUow as a loamy clay can
make him, and stiU keeps up his reputation for
flooding the anti-Etruscan shore.
The Coliseum, Adewed as an abstract mass, tells
of the masters of the world and lowers the present
generation to the grade of pigmies. The stupen
dous outUne of its perpendicular, the vast sweep
of its horizontal curves, tier above tier a hundred
and fifty feet overhead, the bold ring-lines of the
eUipse which clip the area within, are majestic and
beautiful. Sunlight and moonlight alike suit this
extraordinary pile : by day its colours are richer.
but the general effect is grander towards midnight.
The moon's ray has a harmonising power. Edges
of masonry soften, harsh tints are mellowed down,
arches transmit a silvery hght, buttresses throw a
G 4

88 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
deeper shadow — the thing which at noon had a
matter of fact appearance puts on the guise of ro
mance, and becomes at once dreara-like and real,
a dumb ruin and a speaking portent. What a tale
it would tell could the stone now cry out of the
wall ! The desperate struggles of the broken
hearted Gaulish captive ; the teeth and talons of the
starved lion fleshed in Christian gore; Trajan
smiling while Ignatius is rent limb from hmb ; a
complacent senate, Roman ladies applauding, even
vestal virgins looking on unruffled, the while a mad
populace beUows forth its joy and demands fresh
hecatombs to iramolate to Moloch ! Had it been an
hospital, an academy, a gymnasium, it were a duty
and privilege to cherish it and rear its attic again.
But, an amphitheatre, — the bloodiest shambles in
the known world, a horaage from imperial pride to
popular fury and licence ! — God's curse has been
on it from the first. Penitence may avail, if ought
on earth can, towards cancelling past offences : the
ground is consecrated now, chapels are ordered,
and a preaching-cross reared in the midst. May the
penitence be genuine !
Titus's Arch has the advantage of delicate dimen
sions, as nearly allied to beauty as the colossal

ROME. 89
mould of its neighbour is to the sublime. Its
choice treasure is the " relievo " on a wainscot
within, representing the procession which bears the
spoils of the Temple of Jerusalem, and meant to
complete the subject of Titus's Triumph on the
opposite panel. This bas-relief is the only au
thority extant, besides the description given in
Exodus, for the forms of the sacred vessels. The
most distinct now are the two silver trumpets and
the seven-branched candlestick. Under this arch
no Jew will pass. They will not face a record, by
the hand of the spoiler, of God's accoraplished
wrath against the people of his covenant, and the
city and teraple where he had set his name !
The Arch of Drusus in another style pleases me
very rauch. It is more ancient than the others, and
has a triangular pediraent, which is always grace
ful. Cecilia Metella's Tomb must be allowed to be
intrinsically ugly ; Avhat connection is there
between a huge cylinder enclosing a brick cone,
and the rites or memory of the dead ? Sepulchral
monuments should surely wear the prestige of
hope and reverence, as in the " starry pointing"
pyramids of Egypt ; but with the exception of that

90 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
of Caius Cestius, there is not a single pyramid in
Rome. Even in the modern Christian churches
the total absence of the spire is painfully evident
here : clusters of domes there are, and forests of
little belfries, but not the soaring spire, type of a
blessed resurrection.
The outer waU of Metella's Tower presents
curved blocks and lozenges of travertine, of Cyclo
pean dimensions, dovetailed in with the art of the
cabinet-maker. Yet there is a breach in the solid
crust, as if ordnance had been battering.
The reraains of Trajan's Forum are a heaA^,
sunken parallelogram ; admire it who wUl. The
piUar indeed is gorgeous ; but the Romans have
hoisted St. Peter's statue to the perilous elevation
of its capital. Trajan certainly has not benefited
much ; he never saw this column reared to him by
the S. P. Q. R. ; and now his effigy is displaced from
its suramit, while the fisherman is promoted over
all his sculptured triumphs. The relievos, en
crusting the entire shaft in an endless spiral, must
have cost a world of patience to make them out : I
tried for ten minutes, and was rewarded with a
murderous pain in the back of my neck.
Egeria' s Fountain, if hers it be, still flows pure

ROME. 91
and sparkling, within a dilapidated grotto, scooped
out amid the greenest solitude of the Campagna.
I am sorry to say those useful creatures the cows
Avill make the place in a sad mess when they come
trooping to drink of the spring. I tried a draught
however, and found it delicious. Over the jet
rechnes a mutilated figure which puzzles the anti
quaries. All around, the scenery is wild and fair.
Monte Cavi and the Albano hiUs rise behind ; in
the foreground stands a grove with " shadows
brown" that would have suited Numa, and the
vast expanse of the Campagna raidway is varied
by broken piers of the Claudian Emissary striding
at intervals like a disabled giant. Six miles of
this aqueduct now remain in possession of a brown
desert : what must the scene have been when its
myriads of arches were perfect, and the water was
distributed over five hundred square miles of a
richly cultivated plain !
Who has not perused descriptions and engravings
of Agrippa's Pantheon? yet who ever looked for
the first time on the original but was astonished at
the meanness of their previous conceptions ! Cin
dereUa, retuming to dust and rags after her fairy
equipments at the court ball, was not more oddly

92 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
situated than is this matchless building. The
dirtiest market of Rome surrounds Avith vegetable
filth the greater part of its exterior basement : here
on the steps " maccheroni " squabble, and raule-
drivers play at " mora," while the old women wash
their lettuces, and the young ones " make eyes " at
the passers by. The dome is buried amid a chaos
of jostling roofs and gables ; you raust go at least
as far as the Pincian to get a fair peep at it. But
the fajade, though black and griraed, looks boldly
forth, like an honest man through the clouds of
adversity. Agrippa's inscription, legible on the
frieze, has not operated to warn off marauders :
popes have been as mischievously busy as school
boys who find theraselves in an orchard. The
bronze plates from the interior vault are gone,
to make the " Baldacchino " in St. Peter's, and I
don't know how much beside. The castmakers
are not less active in their way : the bases and
capitals of these columns are of marble, while their
shafts of elephantine strength are granite ; the
forraer are marked with the adhesive plaster used
by the copyist. Well that those elephant legs
stand firm, and can neither be moved nor melted !
I thought the impression of space conveyed as you

ROME. 93
stand within'more striking even than in St. Peter's.
The rotunda's form is that of a truncated spheroid,
the slice taken off above leaving by its section the
aperture through which the silent heavens look
down on the pavement below. In a little chapel
on the left as you enter sleeps " Raffaelle Sanzio
d' Urbino." Those who love a contrast may pass
from the Pantheon to Vesta's Temple, close on the
Tiber ; a pretty toy, which has no fault but its
modern conical lid, resembhng the cap of a chimney,
the cover of a sugar basin, or the hat of a Chinese
mandarin, — whichever you prefer.
We have seen one Etruscan labour here — the
Mamertine Prisons. In his " Catiline," Sallust
describes the subterranean " locus in carcere." He
says of the dungeon, " Incultu, tenebris, odore foeda
atque terribilis ejus facies est." The " camera in-
super" was no doubt the roof Part of this is
really as old as the Tarquins. Church tradition
says the apostles Peter and Paul were held in
durance here, and our guide pointed to where the
water rose miraculously that baptism might be
administered to a convert gained by preaching in
bonds. I thought how surprised the good man
would have looked had I told him, on the authority

94 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
ofthe "Friends,"' that there Avas no such need,
" water baptism " being a carnal error. The hole
in the dungeon's roof, through which prisoners
were formerly let down is now fiUed up, and you
descend in a less ominous fashion by a side-door
from the chapel which is built overhead.
The Fountains are Rome's guardian angels : they
burst out in every piazza, and weU-nigh at every
street head, araid sculptured figures and emblems,
and the delicious water falls into capacious basins
of granite. The " rinfrescante " agitation of the air
produced by these jets, probably saves the city from
the encroachment of raalaria.
I think that of Trevi, despite all criticisms, in
comparably the noblest. The tAvo in the Piazza of
St. Peter's are, however, very beautiful and
simple. The palaces of English noblemen, in our metro
pohs, are mostly ordinary looking buildings as to
fashion and dimensions externally, but splendidly
furnished on a gigantic scale of comfort within. A
Roman " palazzo " is the opposite of all this. Ar
chitecturally grand in its exterior, but having no
comfort, and little of real splendour, save in one
"sala" Avithin. The staircase is wide, but un-

ROJIE. 95
adorned : the Hall of Canopy, with probabl}'^ a fine
fresco overhead, is empty, unAvashed, and ill-cared
for. It is true, a better economy prevails in the
mansions tenanted by some of the cardinals, whose
admirable manageraent of a very moderate income
deserves high praise. Walk down the Corso or
across certain piazzas, and you wiU say, " these are
indeed stately residences : " enter the arched gate
way, ascend the stone flight, and foUow the domes
tic who acts as guide through the long suite of
apartments, grand but comfortless, and you will
wonder Avhether the family ever live here at aU.
All seems sacrificed to display, and little or nothing
reserved for personal enjoyraent. In England we
have perhaps gone into the other extreme: our
noble mansions can few of them be said to adorn
the metropolis : architectural beauty they have
none ; the grandeur of raassive proportions they
rarely exhibit. Devonshire House, or Norfolk House,
neither of thera counts above a dozen windows in
the front : in Italy you raay reckon twenty, even
thirty. The Barberini is an enormous pile : the
Doria appears immeasurable : the only structure
I can remember in London worth naming for ex
ternal effect is Northumberland House. Observe

96 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
the palaces of the Colonna, Corsini, Borghese, and
others here, and you are fain to confess that the
nation of " haughty shopkeepers " have not hither
to ventured far in the way of embellishing for the
public. I have only spoken here of those of Rome,
but the Strozzi and Pitti in Florence are even
more majestic: the latter is noAV the sovereign's
residence, but was built by Lucas Pitti for hiraself
in the middle ages. It is true, however, that this
pile ruined him.
The display of pictures in the private galleries
here is prodigious, but quantity has mostly been
preferred to quality: every wainscot is croAvded,
sometimes a door is covered.
The Sciarra has perhaps the choicest coUection :
here is Claude' s^orious sunset ; Leonardo da Vinci's
" Vanity and Modesty ; " a " Holy Family " by
Fra Bartolomeo ; and one of N. Poussin's best land
scapes. In the Casino of the Rospighosi is Guido's
beautiful fresco of "Aurora and Sol's Chariot."
Looking at this recalls the imagery of Ovid or
Virgil : the Hours are charmingly depicted.
Below, Earth appears, in a lovely sea-piece, the

ROME. 97
deep purple tint of Italy lying on the mountains
and the ocean.
The Doria has Salvator Rosa's " Belisario " land
scape, and two stupendous Claudes; one of them
is the well-known scene with figures dancing in
the foreground. If this really represents " a mill
near Athens," Greece must be a marvellously fine
country. The Colonna has a haU paved, pillared and
Avainscotted with rich marbles : this is hardly fair
by the paintings, some of which are ornament
sufficient for any room. Here is Guercino's " Mar
tyrdom of St. Catherine."
In a dusty roora of the Barberini hangs Beatrice
Cenci's portrait. No artist is allowed to sit before
it, even with a pencil and board, and aU the hide
ous daubs Avhich sell as " copies " throughout
England are draAvn and coloured after the impres
sions of memory. Now it is true the picture does
leave a very strong impression on the mind, but
still these " copies " bear no resemblance to the
original. Even the tint of her dishevelled hair is
never well hit off: but the tremulous anguish of
the mouth, the eyelids swoln with weeping, the
look she casts back as led to her execution — Avho
H

98 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALA'.
wiU ever render these again as Guido has portrayed
them? No written poetry, not even SheUey's,
comes up to the spell of this speaking face, Avhere
the blight of early and remediless sorroAV has
dimmed a countenance Avhose natural cast was
happy and cheerful. If it be true that Guido
painted this, Avhy has he left nothing else equal to
it ? His Cleopatras, Helens, &c., are poor creatures ;
all are clad in blue, all cast up their eyes and ex
pose their bosoms ; but this thing in its modest
hood and sombre tints, Avas a study from the house
of Avoe.
In the Spada Palace stands " Pompey's statua ; "
colossal, stern, one arm extended, one hand grasp
ing a globe. It noAvays resembles in its features
the Avell-known busts of Augustus, nor any other
bust I ever saw.
Here is Dido stretched on the funeral pyre :
a sword transfixes the unhappy lady, like a skewer
through a pigeon. Any one who is curious about
, Guercino and his better half raay find their portraits
in the crowd round poor Dido. How little Guido
meditated some of his productions ! This thing
has no soul in it, though Avell draAvn and gorgeousl}'
coloured.

KOME. 99
In the Farnesina are Sodoma's frescoes : one is
of exceeding beauty, "Alexander's nuptials." Rox
ana is the beau ideal of a "blooraing Eastern
bride." One of the little cupids is pulling off her
slipper. Sodoma was the Goldsmith of painters ;
he did every thing happily.
The Vatican possesses a Avorld of treasures in its
museuras and halls. It is another Rome in itself.
In the Sistine Chapel you may see the pope :
this " primus inter pares " of Christian bishops is
an old man, with silvery hair, and of a stout habit.
The SavIss guards in waiting, reraind you that he
is a temporal sovereign, as well as a raitred priest.
But I thought his A^est and snow-white cap less
glaring than the silk apparel, laced cope, and red
hat of the cardinals on either side. A morning
here recalls a stately page in English history;
Wolsey and his retinue, and the beautiful chapel
of Hampton Court.
The Sistine Chapel appears small, amidst the
vast halls and corridors which surround it. It is,
indeed, barely large enough to accommodate at one
end Michael Angelo's fresco of "the Last Judg
ment ; " the dimensions of this awful picture being
some sixty feet by thirty. The Avork is a very
H 2

100 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
mingled performance. Sorae of the figures exhibit
a daring originality, others are directly copied from
the AvaU of the " Campo Santo " in Pisa. The at
titude of the Christ is precisely the same as in that
by Orgagna. The middle of the picture is the best
part ; here the artist Avas not cramped, and the
effect of his " foreshortenings " is admirable. The
representation of the martyrs rising before the bar
of Christ with the instruraents of their suffering,
is solemnly conceived. S. Bartholemy carries in
one hand the scalping-knife, Avith which they
flayed him alive, and in the other his skin ; another,
the gridiron on which he was broiled: — they appeal
against the wicked. The upper part is crowded,
and you can hardly distinguish the design. The
lower corapartraent is disgusting, and utterly un
worthy of a Christian artist. Araong other incon
gruous levities, here is Charon, I suppose out of
corapliraent to Dante. But, Avere the entire com
position one worthy of M. Angelo's talents, Avhich
it is not, still the question would remain, " Are
these subjects defensible in painting?" I think not;
and the pope who wished to erase it all has my
hearty approbation so far.
The plafond and arched panels of the roof are

KOME. 101
frescoed in a very different style by the same hand.
To my mind these are some of the noblest designs
eA'er executed by him or by any man. The im
parting of life to Adam, and the coming forth of
Eve into being at the bidding of the Almighty, are
inexpressibly majestic and touching. All around,
above the cornice and running the entire length
of the chapel, prophets and sibyls sit in solemn
conclave. Here Raffaelle studied, and to some purpose : but
why did he seek to conceal it ?
The Stanze and Loggie give a better idea than
anything else in Rome of the varied stores of this
man's raind; the "Disputa" in the Caraera deUa
Segnatura is a chef-d'oeuvre. Yet I think it a pity
that, in order to give so young a painter as Raffaelle
" carte blanche," the works of such a raaster as
Luca Signorelli should have been displaced. A few
compartments done by another hand would have
imparted both pleasure and instruction ; at present
you can only compare Raffaelle with Raffaelle. The
arabesqued borders and cornices in the " Loggie"
are a wonderful "jeu d'esprit." The "Trans
figuration" is more attractive than any of his
other paintings. It was his last effort, and he has
H 3

102 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
here attempted a higher flight than elsewhere. It
is a sublime escape from failure, for Avho could
anticipate aught but failure in depicting such a
scene? The attitudes of the figures floating in
the air are a vast conception, and here he could
hardly have a model to guide him : I doubt if
Michael Angelo could ha\'e produced these. The
loAver part of the picture has perhaps been spoiled
by Giulio Roraano. Raffaelle's other Avorks here
can hardly be commended, seeing in Avhat com
pany they are placed ; some people are in ecstacies
Avith the " Foligno " Madonna, but surely this is
anything but what one ought to conceive of the
Virgin. The Dom.enichino, "Communion of St. Jerome,"
hangs opposite to the " Transfiguration." This is
perhaps a more powerful painting : the draAving is
more true, and the " composition" better managed.
But he had not such a difficulty to contend Avith
in the nature of his subject. I heard a striking
critique on their comparative effect from a German,
Avho, Avith his companion, had been admiring the
Transfiguration, and then crossing the hall, stood
rooted for some seconds before the St. Jerome :
" Povero Raffiielle ! "

KO.AIE. lo;')
A painting may be a more attractive thing than
a statue, having the beauties of colour, Avhereas the
marble embodies abstract form; but the statue is
more purely ideal — and hence the first look at a
chef-d'aaisa^e in marble is more impressive.
The most beautifully finished of all here is the
Antinous, but the Belvidere Apollo is incomparably
more grand. Majesty is the predominating ex
pression. The position of the head, the outstretched
arm, the stride just taken forward, are all subser
vient to this character. The mould of the features
though faultless, has nothing in it soft or winning.
It is not untU you leave the " punto " and walk
round the pedestal, that you are aAvare how artifi
cially the effect has been produced. All is exagge
rated in the work. The just laws of anatomy are
disregarded, the sculptor's measures falsified, to
heighten the irapression conveyed to one who en
ters the portal facing it. The head, after every
aUowance made for posture, is too much on the
right shoulder ; one leg is a finger's length more
than the other — if the marble could start to life
in emulation of Pygmahon's bride, the archer
would be troubled at finding that his spine was
aAvry and that his left leg had outgrown his right.
n 4

104 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
It is true the Greeks took a similar liberty with
the projections of lips and eyebrows in their busts ;
but here the effect of muscular development might
be pleaded. I was disappointed when I found that
the perfection of sculpture is rather to produce a
sensation, than to give a faithful model of nature.
After all, the secret of balance has hitherto eluded
artistical search : it would seem to be locked up in
that of life. No statue has ever yet been cut or
cast, which in fair proportion of parts and unaided
by supports would stand upon its feet.
The group of the Laocoon, with less of poAver
shown in individualising, is far more touching. It
seems all but alive in the anguish of the man and
the pressure of the heavy serpent. The children
struggle, but more feebly, and look up to their un
happy parent to help them. If you gaze long on
this scene, you forget it is a raimic thing, the mind
becomes oppressed, and your philosophy almost
fails you.
Here is Canova's baby-faced " Perseus," with a
forra Avorthy of the antique ; and his tAvo " boxers,"
which are perhaps his finest productions. All
around lie sarcophagi and slabs with Greek relievos.
The Achilles and Penthesilea in the " Battle of the

ROME. 105
Amazons," are specimens of the " heroic," if there
be such a style recognised in sculpture.
Some of the statues in the ( liiaramonte appeared
to me every whit as good as these picked beauties
in "Apollo's court." The " Minerva Medica," for
instance, Avhich is a draped figure, and " a Avounded
Amazon ; " it is true they are not of so polished a
material. Here are prodigiously fine things scattered about
in haUs and museums. " Titus's bath " is a por
phyry basin big enough for the elephant at the
" Zoological " to give himself a souse. The mosaic
floors from Tivoli, Sec. are rude, bold things, and
remind one of the faraous pictures in children's
spelling-books. Then there are papyri, Etruscan.
" tazze," and paintings which were ancient before
Cimabue was born. They say the pope is vainer
of his Etruscan museum than of everything else in
the Vatican.
The " Gallery of Inscriptions " deserves a morn
ing's perusal. The Christian slabs on one side of the
hall face the heathen on the other. In the former
are preserved abundance of the old symbols : the
fish, the dove, the lamb, the olive-leaf, the mono
gram of Christ, &c. — -but you require time to

106 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
decypher them. Once up and down this gallery
makes half-a-mile ; and the wainscot is mainly
covered from floor to ceiling.
Every one visits the Library, though no longer
Avhat it once was. Napoleon relieved the " Camera
Apostolica " of some 500 of their choicest manu
scripts, and I doubt they never recovered a tithe.
I Avas most struck with the oddities here ; as
" Joshua's History " in Greek, on a parchment
thirty-two feet long ; in the plates, Roraan soldiers
are executing Roman manoeuvres for early Jewish
events; " Henry VIII.'s letters to Anna Bolena;"
those in French are full of false concords, the
English not much better; — " Cardinal Mai's Palimp
sest:" here a " Cicero de Republica" lies snugly
concealed under a version of St. Augustine's Com
raentary on the Psalras.
They say the Vatican comprises eight royal
staircases and above 4000 apartments ; courts and
bystairs by dozens ! Why should not the whole
College of Cardinals hve here, in brotherly amity,
alono" with his holiness ?
On Monte Cavallo the successor of the fisherman
of Galilee has another gorgeous palace for summer
residence. After this, to open an old treatise called

EOJIE. 107
Yipd^etS Ttov 'Attoo-toT^cov, and read " Silver and gold
have I none ! "
Castor and Pollux, Avhom somebody saAv riding
into Rome after the battle of Lake RegiUus, are
now become fixtures, and may be found at the
head of the Campidoglio stairs " sub dio." The
senator's lordly tower rises behind them : avc toiled
up this latter to get the vieAV, Avhich is an instruc
tive one. AU the seven hills can be well made
out, and modern Rome is laid down as in a chart.
What a fine street that " Corso" is !
The rauseum here is delightful, and not such an
overgrown monster as the Vatican system. Clirabing
the stair, you may ponder " the ground-plan of old
Rome," fished out of Remus's Teraple, and of
signal serAdce to the antiquaries, by utterly con
founding some of their darling theories ; and make
up your raind, if you can, Avhether a certain marble
Avarrior be meant for Mars or Pyrrhus. I don't
think it can be Pyrrhus ; it's too stout for one so
restless : Mars is more likely ; a very hog in armour.
Some old sarcophagi, presenting Theseus fighting
the Amazons, and scenes from the history of
AchUles, are more noble than any thing Roman
here.

108 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
Run and see the " Dying Gladiator," and don't
look at any thing else that day in shape of sculpture,
for you wouldn't enjoy it. I prefer this to all the
marbles in Rorae. Michael Angelo has " restored"
the right arm and hand on which he is leaning : a
prodigious performance, but far inferior to the
other parts of the figure : the vehement Italian has
failed to give the expression of " fainting at the
approach of death" which characterises the Greek
original. The " Protomoteca" series of busts are Avell
AVorth looking at, as illustrations of phrenology.
Masaccio's bespeaks exquisite taste : Domenichino's
enterprise and judgment, rarely combined. Petrarch
seems formed, hke Crichton, to excel in every
thing. Vittoria Colonna brought to my mind the
" Alma real dignissima d' impero," &c.
Elsewhere, CaA^alier d' Arpino and Laureti have
repeated Livy in fresco. Here you have the
death-struggle between Rome and stately Veii :
there Codes mans the bridge and stops the only
passage for Porsena to Rome. A little farther on
you forget all you have seen before, in peering
over, handling, and patting the king of all bronzes,

KOME. > 109
the Etruscan group of the she-Avolf and cub-like
tAvins. The Villa Borghese is the Hyde Park of Rome.
Here are undulating slopes, shaded walks, foun
tains, columns, arches, and a princely rauseum. In
the latter " (Edipus' Vase" would alone claim a
visit ; but over the entrance of the great hall is
Curtius, man and horse, taking the god-like plunge
to save his country ! To look at this makes one's
heart leap.
The Pamfili Doria has yet grander scenes of
natural beauty. You may Avander here on a
bright afternoon through time-honoured groves
and alleys of ilex, or amid vast cluraps of the
stone-pine, and forget the crowd and glare of
the city. We have no tree in Britain like these
pines. When a plantation of thera coraes to ma
turity, their curling foliage interlacing on the " vive
travi " forms another emerald raeadow sloping
overhead. Some of them reach to eighty and ninety
feet. The Italians say " Roma per Santita ! " and, as
far as number of consecrated buildings goes, they
have soraething to show for it ; Rome contains
aboA'c three hundred. In a city Avhere the "church"

110 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
is also the " state," aU offices in the latter being
filled by cardinals and monsignori, and where the
claim has for centuries been advanced and main
tained of an apostle's seat and authority devol\dng
on a bishop, one would not expect the churches to
fail in anything which man can supply. They do,
hoAvever, fail grievously in the very particulars in
which they boast of excellence. Take, for instance,
architecture. Let any one consider such piles as
Westminster Abbey, Freiburg Minster, or even the
Italo-Gothic churches of Tuscany, and corapare
AAdth these almost any church or basilica of mo
dern Rome. St. Peter's must be excepted, being a
structure altogether " sui generis," unparalleled in
the world. But take others. The " Lateran " is
a prodigious raass, indeed, loaded Avith balconies,
crested with statues, and visible frora the carapagna
at twenty miles distance ; the pillared porch is fine,
and a vault within has sorae rare old mosaics :
but hoAV much ponderous confusion cumbers these
beauties !
Sta. Maria Maggiore possesses two domes, and
has a row of pure Ionic columns in white marble,
types of the " Flos Virginum," down either side of
the nave ; but Avhat a medley of heavy pomp and

ROiAlE. 1 J 1
glittering extravagance counterbalances this ! vVn
enormous flat roof Avithin, better suiting a country
ball-roora than a solemn " basilica." An urn of
porphyry, with porphyry columns as supporters,
for the high altar; gorgeous, but out of all keeping.
The piazza, it is true, displays the most beautiful
pillar in Rome, but its proportions are raarred by
a thing like a gigantic tea-tray on the top, adopted
to sustain the weighty bronze Madonna. Constan
tine stole this frora sorae Greek chef-d'oeuvre for
his palace : he little thought that in the sixteenth
century a pope Avould carry it off and plant it on
the sumrait of the Esquiline.
The most satisfactory structures are S. Paolo,
now rebuilding, and the little church of San Cle
mente. This last has a marble presbytery at least one
thousand years old. The two stone pulpits, frora
which the Epistle and Gospel Avere read, stand on
either side. Behind rise the tribune and altar,
and a step higher at the back of all is the bishop's
seat. Most of the churches adhere to no one order of
architecture ; some which are in a better style are
sacrificed to a bad situation, and so produce no

112 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
adequate effect in return for the enormous outlay
and the ground Avhich they take vip.
In plain truth, modern Rome possesses more
temples made with hands than she can make use
of ; and it is to be feared that greediness has been
the predorainating motiA^e in consecrating a greater
number than her entire population could fill.(c)
The result is any thing but edifying ; some are
virtually closed, service being lacking for them
in a ritual Avhose parts are so numerous and com
plex ; others, being vaster than was needed and
teeming with bedizened chapels, have come to pre
sent the appearance of a picture-gallery or rauseum.
Italy is the land of music, and Pergolesi composed
the almost unequalled " Stabat Mater," but you
will look in vain for church-anthems here like
those which you meet Avith in England or Germany.
Either the Roraans lack in this respect a true,
Avorshipful taste and feeling, or the whole affair is
jobbed. The best Ave have heard Avas in the
" CappeUa del Coro," at St. Peter's. In the Sis
tine, strange to say, it is not first-rate, though the
pope and cardinal-bishops are generally present.
Statuary and painting have flooded the churches of
Rorae, and for the raost part Avith very indiff'erent

KOMK. 113
specimens in either art. Here and there you find
a gera, such as Daniel da Volterra's fresco of the
" Deposition," on a wall ofthe " Trinita dei Monti ;"
and the " Nativity," by Pinturicchio, in " S. Maria
del Popolo ; " but the ol ttoAAoj are a desperate
collection, such as might have been gleaned from
the studios of bad artists or the luraber-room of
good ones.
There is one exquisite marble in the Trastevere.
To see this you have only to drive to the little
church of Santa Cecilia and Avalk up the nave.
On a white slab over the tomb and beneath the
altar's shade reclines a figure Avhich startles the
sceptical, and arrests the attention of the most in
different. It presents the body of the saint Avrapped
in grave clothes, as it was found on opening her
sepulchre. The attitude is touching in the ex
treme : you see the head, which had been severed
by the executioner, turned halfway back over the
shoulder : the hands, which are small and delicate,
are clasped. This statue Avas the work of Maderno
(17th century). Saint Cecilia Avas a daughter of
a noble house, and great efforts Avere made to
rescue her from suffering, but in vain.
Previous to being beheaded she Avas put to the
I

114 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
torture, but they could not shake her constancy.
Below in the dungeon is shown an iron grating,
and a bath Avhere she was plunged in boiling
Avaters. Her story and traditional musical talents
have prompted some noble efforts on the canvass.
But was she really an accoraplished musician, so
young ? or are these chef-d'oeuvres to be regarded
as a tribute of Christian sympathy, emblematical
of the spiritual harmony to Avhich her soul was
attuned ?
The convent of Santa Aguese is little inferior in
interest: in the grotto beneath is Algardi's famous
relievo, intended to perpetuate the miracle vouch
safed in aid of poor Agnes. Those Avho feel in
clined at once to reject all such stories as fabulous,
should consult some notes in Mr. BorthAvick's
edition of "Newton on Daniel." There is no lack
of precedent, in early Christian records, for such
things. In many of these churches are deeply
interesting relics, Avhich suggest a Avorld of raedi
tation. I love to enter San Gregorio, and view
the identical raarble chair, frora which the good
Bishop read and -exhorted. Here too is his long
table, Avith an inscription recording in words what
a fresco portrays on the opposite wall. This is

KOME. 115
Gregory, feeding, as hc did daily, tAvelve poor raen
at his board. The eye counts thirteen gviests
present; the thirteenth is the angel Avho always
attended : the long slab of raarble, noAV shielded
by a wooden frarae to preserve it, is the identical
table of Christian hospitality.
The '¦'•Basilicas" are ahvays interesting, frora the
Avell-ascertained fact of their occupying the original
site. The first thing, it seems, was the heathen
court of justice — a "royal" court, hence the
name : this was adopted, for a while, as a place of
assembly and Avorship : next foUowed the quaint
but reverend building, which the early Christians
reared : last carae the cathedral-church as now
existing. Beneath their pavements lie the bodies
of saints and martyrs, in spots which have never
been hfted by the mattock.
San Paolo is the most "church-like " of them all
in its plan, as now resumed. No expence is spared ;
and though the costly glories which perished in the
fire cannot be replaced, the cathedral promises to
be wellnigh faultless in its majesty and simplicity
when finished. The altar's canopy is in the beau
tiful pointed-gothic style. The entire chancel and
transepts are being coated above, beloAV, and
I 2

116 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
around, Avith pure grey marble, Avhich bears a pohsh
like glass. Hoav unfortunate that this site verges
on the deadly " raalaria " region ! Already they
question whether in summer the canons may ven
ture to perform complin and vespers in so perilous
a spot. The aspect of Rorae, political and national, is
fraught Avith signs and tokens, some of which
bear shrewdly on the other states of Christendom.
Among these, the history of Concordats and
Protectorships is remarkable. This basilica of
San Paolo had the sovereign of England for its
Protector, previous to the Reforraation, just as
the Kings of France stood for the Lateran, and the
Spanish and Austrian rulers for Santa Maria
Maggiore and St. Peter's respectively: of these
four Austria alone is valid at this day ; but every
staunch Roraan Catholic frets at her emperor's
interpositions, and the " Veto " which he exercises
on the election of a ncAV pope is regarded as a
sinful blot on the church's banner. As to the
others, Spain cannot hold her own, much less
trouble or aid the Consistory^ here. France has an
unanointed head, whose very title is altered, for
he is not, like his predecessors, " King of France,"

KOMK. 117
but " King of the French;" and all the marked
favour shoAvn in his repeated, almost mira
culous preservations do not sanctify him as a
sovereign in the eyes of Roman Catholics. The
" Eldest Son of the Church," the " Most Christian
King," the successor of Pepin, and Charlemagne,
and St. Louis, lacks the " anointing " to his office.
Then England, dearest and most cherished of
aU, has parted company. The people to Avhom
Augustine went, and whom he half designated
"angels;" the nation whose pilgrims have left
the old prophecy on the destinies of Rome and her
Coliseum ; the subjects of the " Defender of the
Faith "... have sundered, haply for ever! — De
spairing of purifying a corrupt system, they have
taken the irremediable step of separation ; and the
whole " orbis terrarum," must suffer loss in
consequence. In England we have the sign,
thought by some a triumphant one, of St. Paul's
Cathedral, constructed under Elizabeth : in Rome,
San Paolo has also given the sign — sraoking
ruins, calcined colurans, and a pillared marble nave,
once without a rival in the world, reduced to
ashes ! Nothing save the western fagade remains
of the structure Avhich Constantine founded and
I 3

118 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
Theodosius reared, and where Alfred " paced the
studious cloister's pale."
San Sebastian has catacombs extending twenty
railes to Ostia. These have been pierced frora
tirae to time, and many of the inscriptions now in
the Vatican were thus obtained. The pope, they
say, is averse to the further prosecution of these
researches; whether from a conscientious feeling
of reverence, or from fear of malaria breaking
out, I do not know. We descended from the nave
into the dark Avinding passages beloAv ; and with
the aid of our torches followed for some hundred
of yards a main branch. Here and there a small
area relieved the stifling sensation caused by the
darap red tufo. All around, under loAV-arched
vaults, and in long narroAv niches, the bodies of
the early Christians Avere laid by their surviving
brethren. Traces of 170,000 torabs Avere found.
The quarries were originally Etruscan, Avorked
afterwards by the Romans, for the sake of the
" pozzolana " Avith which they stuffed their heavy
arches. Hoav free and bold is man where he has
a revelation to guide him, and how tiraid and
over-cautious raust he ever be in its absence !
The nations who " sat in darkness," when they

KO.MF. 119
lost their kindred, burned the body, gathered up
the bones for preservation in an virn, and after
depositing this in a sarcophagus of marble or
alabaster, enshrined the Avhole in a costly mauso
leum ; while the Christians to Avhom the assured
faith of a resurrection raade their very bodies a
raystery and precious, were content to lie, side by
side, thousands upon thousands, in the dark cells
of a pozzolana quarry. The Patriarchs in like
manner would purchase " a cave in a field : " and
still the sweetest burial is to sleep beneath the
rugged elms, and in the yew tree's shade, and
aAvait the latter day.
Brunelleschi achieved the double dorae in Flo
rence : as this was the first instance, the highest
praise is due to him. Michael Angelo took a two
fold model: he knew that the cupola of San
Giovanni could not be surpassed in elegance ; but
he knew also that the old rotunda of the Pantheon
Avas a vaster thing, and, if it could be lifted high
enough, would ensure an effect of subliraity not
reached by any architect in the world as yet. He
said he would raise the Pantheon's dorae aloft in
air, and he has done it ! From his 72nd to his
1 4

120 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALA'.
89th year, when most men yield to the " labour
and sorrow" of age, he toiled on amid partisan
envy and hindrance, and before he died, saAV the
double dome, the largest in the world, resting on
its piers in the city Avhere the foreraost Apostles
founded the Church of Christ.
" Palmam qui meruit ferat."
The Florence cupola is actuaUy a few feet taller,
but its supports are a hundred feet loAver than
those of St. Peter's : and this prodigious elevation,
joined to the bulging, cup-like swell of its meri
dians, renders the latter incomparably grander.
Had the energetic Florentine lived ten years
longer, he Avould have carried out his entire plan ;
a Greek cross, Corinthian fagade, and the " pvinto "
for the coup d'oeil to be the centre of the piazza.
The thing would then haA'e been faultless. But
raodern Rome was not worthy of such majestic
beauty : Maderno and others Avere allowed to
change the glorious design ; a line of heavy balco
nies alraost bisects the dome horizontally, and you
must stand far off to have an idea of the entire
structure. At the sarae tirae, it will probably be
conceded by those Avho have traveUed over the

ROME. 1"21
Avorld that they have never seen in any dime
an edifice so stupendously grand.
The sweeping colonnades of Bernini, the obelisk
in the centre Avith the two delicious fountains on.
either side, the immeasurable flight of steps, a
vestibule near five hundred feet in length crossing
their summit behind those enormous pillars, — lastl}^,
the matchless dome Avith its belfry and " candle
sticks," its ball and cross, clearing a hundred and
fifty yards aboA'e the flagstones of the nave, and
carrying the eye Avith it over the earthly porap of
travertine and raarble, raetal and glass, into the
depths of the blue sky of Italy ! When has earth
yielded so noble a. pile, or the all- visiting heaven
enfolded an outline so glorious ?
I honour Wren exceedingly, and look forward to
the day when I may again stand with my back to
Mr. Dollond's shop, and gaze upward at our OAvn
metropolitan Ball and Cross, nearer the heavens, and
more Avorthy of them than any other pile in London,
— but comparison between the two churches there
can be none. Situation, stature, material, are all
so different! I have often admired the effect of
the travertine in large masses; a marble struc
ture would have looked pale and sickly ; but the

122 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
rich ochre flush accords weU, and is in due keeping
Avith such vast proportions as these. Perhaps the
best view of the cathedral is from the Pincian
towards sunset, when the dome stands out in
relief against a bright sky behind it.
The tomb of St. Peter and the reraains of early
Christian martyrs, immediately under the Baldac
chino, may be regarded as the corner-stone of the
foundation. Its progress as a building from this
siraple and awful coraraenceraent has been strangely
at variance with church notions. Sorae forty popes
have devoted their own energies and the raoney
of their neighbours to urge the work forward
from generation to generation,- during more than
three centuries, during A\'hich interval the entire
plan was changed several times from a Greek cross
to a Latin, and vice versA.. Leo's sale of " indul
gences " without measure or modesty, to meet the
expences, Avhich latterly rose mountain-high, were a
main incidental cause of the Protestant secession :
on Avhich occasion our Eighth Henry, hailed as
" Defender of the Faith," earned from the Roman
Catholics the less gracious appellation of "Posti
lion of the Reforraation." The entire cost of the
structure has been estimated at six millions of our

RO.AIE. 1:2.S
money, but I do not see how this can be accurately
knoAvn, for many sumptuous ofterings and gratui
tous labours of artists were not taken into account.
One source of enormous outlay latterly has been
the copies in mosaic from the old masters. To
execute a picture of ten feet by^ six, if a RaffaeUe
or Guido, requires frora three to five years, and
costs ten thousand " scvidi." The material is not
now marble, as of old, but a hard porcelain.
The morning we visited the Fabbrica, our guide
pointed to shelves containing sixteen thousand dif
ferent shades in the usual colours.
The front gates of the " svibterranean grotto "
are not opened ; but a side-door admits you into
the circular passage beneath, on which abut the
shrines and chapels. St. Peter's remains and a
part of St. Paul's are collected, as Roman Catholics
aA'er, in an inner cassa, shielded by a tabernacle
Avith folding-doors ; the tAA"o leaves bearing their
effigies in equal honour. The wainscots arovind
bear paintings in rude fresco and various raosaics,
the work of the primitive Christians. Elsewhere
lie huge mausoleums in rough granite : one of these
holds the body of Adrian IV. (Nicolas Break-
spear), the onl}' English pope.

124 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
The most solemn sight revealed by the torches is
some uneven, raixed paveraent, in a plot of other-
A\dse bare ground, under which sleep the raartyrs !
This has never been disturbed. An oratory, a
basilica, and the present cathedral have successively
risen over it. The church raonuments, with the
exception of M. Angelo's " Pieta " and Canova's
Lions and " Genius of Death " at Rezzonico's
tomb, I believe disappoint everybody : gigantic
groups, colossal figures, vehement action — but
nothing AVorthy of the place or the architecture.
A government order having been obtained, we
started, a few mornings since, to ascend to the
ball. This document is from the state office,
signed by the rainister of the interior, who in the
formula washes his hands of all blood-guiltiness if
you should fall from any of the altitudes and dash
out your brains, a comfortable prestige for those
who are given to be nervous. The first stair, Avhich
mounts some 200 feet perpendicular to the attic,
is a spiral slope Avhich laden mules can traA^erse.
All here is clean and Avhite as dimity. Arrived on
the roof of the attic, you find a colony of workmen
and their houses, the statues of the Saviour and
TAvelve Apostles, and around you a superb prospect.

RO.ME. 125
These colossal figures viewed close are rude enough :
St. Matthew's thumb is an awlnvard bit of stone, a
foot long ; this gives the just effect frora below :
the second stair, somcAvhat narroAver, lands yovi
above the capitals of the pillars from which the
dome springs. Here we Avalked round the circular,
balustraded gallery, and again corrected the ira
pressions of distance. Cherubs' dove-like eyes
were found to be rough uneven bricks ; and mo
saics, which seem exquisite from the pavement,
Avere like a road coraraencing macadamization.
The paveraent ofthe church itself had dwindled to
the reserablance of a chess-board, and the Baldac
chino (90 feet high) seeraed a child's cradle. Yet
another stair, and a long one, Avinding between the
two shells of the cupola : it is narrow of course,
but as Avide as some garret-stairs. When we
emerged from this, we Avere 400 feet above the
pavement, and the great fresco at the crown of the
vault lay a little under our feet. Frora one of
the " candlestick " portals we gazed on a scene dif
ficult to describe. Rorae was reduced to compressed
domes, and jagged lines formed by the palace-roofs :
here and there an overgrown gable or crested
ruin towered above the horizontal masses, like the

126 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
hull of the Dreadnought among our Thames
lighters. Some of the shadoAvs projected were very
fine. The Tiber apparently motionless lay curled
on the umber-tinted Carapagna, the Latian and
Sabine hills SAvept the sky in undulating lines of
blue, Soracte heaved a dark serrated ridge, and,
seaAvard, Ostia raight be discerned crouching on
the water's edge. Some fifty steps lead from hence
to the metal ladder Avhich admits you at a
round orifice into the ball. Within this singular
retreat you may amuse yourself with tapping the
hollow shell, and listening to the music of the
spheres. The diaraeter is some 8 or 9 feet, and
you can perch very corafortably on the cross
bars. People raay think the above dimensions
scanty for a drawing-room ; I can only say the
ball is as roomy as sorae of the cabins in our
" raagnificent accoramodation " steamers. After
this we descended from our altitudes as safely
as the benevolent minister of the Holy See could
wish.

NAPLES. 127

NAPLES.
January 7, 1845.
Yesterday avc turned our backs on dirty Capua,
and got the first sniff of the sea-breeze, and the
first hearty stare at Vesuvius, from this beautiful
city. On our road nothing struck rae more than
the Pontine Marshes at sunset, all glowing with
umber and orange tints. We halted for an hour at
Cicero's Formian Villa to see the " lions," which
are very poor. The raarble Avhich once lined these
tufo galleries is gone, and in trying to make out the
plan of the " atria " you get your feet wet Avith the
oozy spring, and your coat sanded by the Avail.
But the sapphire heaven is bright as ever, and in
an orchard which skirts the bay Ave ate some
blood-red oranges off the tree ripe and delicious.
This, in January !
The first news here is, that Ave've got a Scotch
landlady, a good old soul Avho rents a "palazzo" in
the Chiaja, but talks about " the bush aboon
Traquair." " Napoli per bellezza ! " says the country
proverb, and stupendously beautiful it is. A city

128 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
bright as a pearly shell just throAvn up by the
Avave ; clifis and terraces hung with gardens and
bdvideres, and pierced by a gigantic grotto ; while
directly in front Capri's dark mass is moored upon
the water-line, and landward across the curve of
the bay, Vesuvius, like a brown sentinel, overlooks a
busy metropolis, a dimpling sea, and a landscape
sprinkled Avith a hundred villages. Before the
great eruption which blew off the top of the cone, this
mountain must have been a glorious object : still
the present broken forra is raore picturesque, and
that vast, black orifice is a safety-valve for Naples.
I know nothing finer than the long sloping out
line which descends betAveen Portici and Sorrento
meeting the coast at an evanescent angle ; its deli
cacy contrasts Avell with the bold jagged summit.
January 13.
A fcAV hours since Ave returned from the ascent of
Vesuvius. The difficulty, strictly speaking, is next
to nothing ; and though the fatigue is monstrous
one forgets it frora the moment of reaching the
crater's edge. Our way was this : a drive from
Naples to Resina ; thence some fiA'e miles in the
saddle over abominable roads, to the foot of the

NAPLES. 129
main ascent. Here we halted tAventy minutes at
Friar Tuck's hermitage (^d), and obtained some good
macaroni and bad Avine to supply the sincAvs of
Avar for struggling over the lava-rocks. From
this point the distance to the summit may be a
couple of miles, but an hour and a half is needed
to reach it if you would avoid vertigo and a stitch
in the side. We had aA'erage weather and the
occasional retrospective glimpses were magnificent.
Our path lay through indurated fields of lava, the
results of divers eruptions, piled one over another.
There is a part of the mountain, about midway
from its base, Avhere on a mixture of friable ashes
and vegetable mould, they grow the vines of the
" Lacryma Christi." Here green slopes and terraces
touch on the edge of the lava. From this line
for a mile upwards, the scene is Avild and haggard,
huge masses forming themselves into picturesque
barriers or curved and jutting edges. I felt all the
time very much as if I was walking in the moon.
It was certainly unlike anything we had seen before,
save that I recognized in the dark strata under our
feet the material which cut into cubical blocks
paves Naples. What is this material ? Is it
melted granite cooled doAvn again ? Whatever it be,
K

130 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
it is an enemy to shodeather and shin-bones. Ad
vancing, we found the sides of the cone very steep,
but the difficulty which presented itself some years
since, when all was loose cinder, no longer exists
here, and your footing is firm. Ladies however
do not walk up, if they are wise ; a " portantina,"
borne by a squadron of men and boys on long
poles, carries the gentler sex, while we lords of
the creation stride over the chaotic waste and
burn the soles of our boots. The cone surmounted,
we stood on the edge of a dark crater some two
miles in circuit and of no great depth. We ex
perienced ncAV sensations in traA^ersing the fis
sured crust which covers it. Half-cold cinders
Avere crackling around us ; at every other step we
saw through partial rents the red-hot lava fiowing
in the direction of the sea, and momentary explo
sions broke on our ears as the subterranean gas
escaped. The general aspect was that of the bed
of sorae vast furnace, where sulphur has streaked
the cooling raasses with orange and verditer, and
impregnated the jets of smoke Avhich burst through
apertures in its sides and bottom. I climbed the
chimney, a black hillock heaped Avith ashes about
forty feet in height, and walking round its edge

NAPLES. 131
looked into the mouth of the funnel. It Avas a
lake of fire : volleys of smoke Avhirled up frora it ;
occasionally carae a gush of fiarae with furaes of
brimstone, and every hoav and then a shower of
something like lighted rags, only heavier. At ten
feet distance the heat, even to windward, was suf
focating, and my feet were half grilled. The flame
which is intermittent probably resembles that
which plays on the surface of ignited alcohol. I
thrust a stout stick into a crevice in the chimney's
side : it took fire instantly ; this argues a great
degree of heat.
No written description conveys an adequate idea
of such a scene. I think, however, that a glacier
is a more supernatviral kind of thing : the sensations
produced by fire and smoke are famUiar to those
who have witnessed a confiagration, or Adsited a
coal and iron district : but the death-like stillness,
the benumbing chUl which possess you on a glacier
are something unwonted and mysterious. The
streaked veins too in the ice and the deep pre
cipitous clefts are perhaps as horribly beautiful as
the sulphureous lavas.
Returning, we descended by a rapid slope, aU
strewn with powdered ashes: you may get down
K 2

132 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY,
in eight minutes. When we reached the foot of
the green ascent, I found our precious guides, who
on various pretences had excused themselves, one
with tears in his eyes, from accompanying us
on the " salita," eating, drinking, smoking, and
singing " canzonetti." Had we been murdered or
carried off by the banditti who still infest the hill
these tAVO youths and the vahant soldier with his
musket Avould have coined a legend on the spot,
including a desperate corabat waged by themselves
with brigands " in Kendal green."
A pretty sight awaited us coming horae : night
had fallen, and the whole bay was ht up, producing
the effect of a necklace of diamonds on dark blue
ground. The expedition occupied about nine hours,
Naples, Month of May.
It is better to see the Royal Museum here before
visiting Pompeii, as in that Avay you get some idea
of what the contents and furnishing of that city
were, when first discovered beneath its sepulchral
mound of ashes. Everything that was not too hot
or too heavy has been transferred hither from the
above site and from Herculaneum ; and royal halls

NAPLES. 133
are fitted up like the arcades in a bazaar,. but Avith
wares 2000 years old. You turn from noble
specimens of the antique in " fine arts " to the
simple objects of domestic householdry and por
traitures of domestic life. No galleries can equal
these in interest. I shall say little of the marbles,
though the " Farnese Hercules," in every sense
a prodigious performance, is here. The animals
and busts in bronze mock the pulses of life :
" Plato's head" and " a group of horses" would
have thrown Benvenuto Cellini into raptures.
Then the bronzes — what a show! In lamps,
bells, tables, ovens — they beat us of the nine
teenth century hoUow: our portable kitchens and
coffee-biggins, " Etnas " and egg-boilers are not so
original as we fancy : many of our new patents
were, it seems, taken out by the Pompeians long
ago. But the kitchen departraent, bake-house,
larder, and confectionary, surviving on the frescoed
panels, will serve you for a dinner if you have
any soul at all. Under that glass case is a
coUection of the veritable articles taken frora board
and shelf in the excavated houses — eggs calcined
by the heat, oil in an enaradled bottle, spice,
K 3

134 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
conserves, and a loaf of bread, black but unbroken,
staraped with the baker's name in one corner.
Around are wainscots from the halls and bed
rooms of Pompen, the frescoes having been carefully
lifted and transported hither. You may learn the
arrangements of a buttery or larder in the " old
style," or, if satirically given, may see what " Cari
catures " were like sorae 2000 years since. The
" heroic " is not lacking either. Here is Achilles
educated by Chiron, and appearing at Admetus's
court. The Trojan shepherd too, on Mount Ida,
is here with the three rival claimants, awarding
the coveted apple, and receiving in guerdon the
ruin of his country. All these figures wear the
" pallium," attesting the Greek origin of Porapeii.
I did not see the " toga " once. Of the Etruscan
A'ases I am asharaed to speak : nothing less than a
volume could do them justice. In the frescoes,
the huraan form is nobly depicted ; but the land
scapes are confused and faulty in perspective.
Our visit to Pompeii was made on a festa-day,
Avhen free admission is granted to the lower classes :
there was no lack of hurable pic-nics on the broken
banks, and gay holiday dresses enlivened the streets
of the overAvhelmed city. I thought the Forum

NAPLES. 135
the most interesting spot in the kingdom of Naples.
So many classical objects grouped on a command
ing platform Avould ahvays be admirable ; but here
are features of sterner interest, reminding one of
some forest-glade Avhere they have been busy Avith
the axe. ]\Iany columns are fallen, many stand :
dismantled temples and voiceless theatres are
gathered round, their forms antique, but much of
their colouring and cornice fresh as if of yesterday.
After pondering the ravage awhile, you lift up
your eyes and Vesuvius confronts you, looking
down on the scene of his havoc like a silent bat
tery over a battlefield. He appears harmless now ;
brUliant colours are on his vast flanks, and the
light fleecy clouds are coquetting with his broken
summit, but yet he cannot be trusted ; that thin
blue film which floats away from his crater tells
of a loaded raagazine within, and none can say
when it may explode.
Pompeii is, perhaps, a mile and a half long : the
amphitheatre, an enormous excavation, lies away
from the rest of the town : Murat cleared all this
part. In the streets the very stones are a speaking
record; you tread the identical pavement whose
K 4

13'6 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
surface is unchanged in 1700 years; the carriage-
Avheel ruts are in the granite, and the mark made
by the iron tire is visible within the rut. Shop-
fronts are open, but the inmates apparently not
yet stirring. Here you enter a palace and admire
the frescoes and arabesques on its walls, its courts,
fountain, and baths ; but Avhere is the host ? This
next is evidently a hospitable mansion, and your
Saxon sympathies are enlisted by the old speUing
of the auspicious word " Have," mosaicked on its
threshold; but pass the portal and you will in
herit no vocal welcome : aU is real, but all is
dumb, and your OAvn footstep, echoed back from
the angle of the waU, reminds you that you are a
stranger and a " barbarian," pacing the hearth
stone of a departed lord.
In the house of Diomedes most is shoAvn ; a rich
cit, who could afford to give his daughter a hand
some suite of apartments. We went into the
cellarage ; a long passage at the bottom of a stair,
where some old discoloured " amphorae " still remain,
like ghostly sentinels of buried mirth. Here was
probably made the last rush by the unhappy inmates
to escape from the devouring element. On a wall
near its extremity the outlines of human figures

NAPLES, 137
are Adsible, an indelible stain made by fire and
blood !
We were three hours and a half in Pompeii ; it
was hke a waking dream. The fees are not heavy,
but are always levied on strangers,
I do not knoAv a more striking contrast than to
pass from this still beautiful city to the buried
Herculaneum ; while the former suns its relics on a
raised mound amid the scenery of meadows and
corn-fields, the latter lies deep, deep under the
cheerful surface, clasped and knotted by Vesuvius
in embraces of stone — for here poured the lava-
flood, but Pompeii AA^as smothered under a shower
of hot ashes. We plunged by torchlight into the
excavated theatre whose dimensions exceeded those
of San Carlo — I forget by how raany feet, but Ave
stepped the hne of the orchestra.
Here are places where the tools of the excavators
have cut sheer through sixty feet perpendicular of
a rock now solid ancl motionless, but which then
came rolling in with fiery billows of asphalte from
the jaws of the burning mountain ! In the long,
dark corridor you stumble upon costly labours of
sculptors and house-decorators, some of them per
haps still in progress when the dreadful lava burst

138 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
in and stopped it all. A carved cornice, a bit of a
marble capital, a patch of brilliant red peep out
where the wall has been reached ; and if you put
your finger into that auger-hole you may draw
out pieces of the cedar-beam burnt to a fine char
coal. Little more can now be done in the way
of excavating, for overhead is the toAvn of Portici
Avith some thousands of souls, as you may know
by the rumbling of the carriage-wheels.
Naples is a difficult city to describe. The
Italians call it " bella." A sunset Adew of the Bay,
with those pearly hiUs beyond, yields a coup d'oeU
perhaps without a parallel in Europe.
Within the gates of this " beUa Napoli," nearly
half a million of people eat their macaroni ; yet
scarce one of these can be persuaded by law or
gospel to do anything for the benefit of the city
which he loves to distraction. The tradesmen are
greedy jobbers, the artisans are snails : the nobles,
such as have not yet taken to street-begging, care
for little under the sun save curricles, ices and San
Carlo. All classes and both sexes live and breathe
for the lotteries.
Yonder is one of the frankest members of
society, a native specimen. His jacket unbuttoned,

NAPLES. 139
his shirt open, his feet bare, his brow and temples
exposed Avithout flinching to the sun's ray, he is
toasting himself on the lava pavement. He is a
lazzarone. Without a care for to-day, a thought for
to-morroAv, or a recollection of the forty years of
life called " yesterday," his "abandon" is perfect: yet
it is a fine animal ; he has wit that is proverbial, a
temper that never ruffles, the tact of a diplomatist,
and the limbs of an Apollo. All this is indigenous
Avith him : if he ever stoops to the servitude of what
Mr. Coleridge called " originating an idea, " it is in
the way of pondering a lucky number for the lottery.
Without the regularity of AA'hat we call a market
in London, certain districts here have a traffic
peculiar to themselves. If you wish to see five
millions of oranges, step on the quays of Santa
Lucia Avhen the boats from Sorrento are unloading.
.Silks and wines from Sicily come in by the port,
where a stiff Dogana awaits thera. Pass down the
Toledo, the finest two-mile street on the Continent,
and you Avill get an idea of the amount of mercantile
business in sundry departments. Gloves are a
prodigious staple : at every third or fourth door
dangles a mimic hand, and there is no fit like that
of the Naples kid at a shilling the pair : it is neces-

140 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
sary however to choose them. Next to these the
" belle arti " shops astonish one by their multitude :
who upon earth buys all these imitative wares, to
say nothing of " antiques," real or supposed ? —
Casts and models from the Museum, lamps, tazze,
patere, terra-cotta heads, lava and coral omaments,
with drawers of sparkling fossils from Vesuvius,
perhaps the prettiest item of the lot. In this rain
bow-tinted dimate every one sketches and paints,
but they don't all paint Avell. Besides the countless
daubs in oils and splashes in Avater colours, raostly
copied one frora another, here is that monstrous
invention the " Aguache " caricaturing the inimi
table face of nature in a style only fit to paper a
bedroom. The Chiaja gardens are delightful : open walks
and umbrageous alleys, and the fresh breeze from
the wave which breaks scarce twenty yards from
the terrace. Centering in the main promenade is
the enormous granite bowl from Paestum, supported
on modern lions : a very noble basin. Half a mile
beyond this the tide of life ebbs away at the Mer
gellina, where, saving the gulls, there is little but
fishermen's boats and the half-clad urchins groping
among the rocks for " sea-horses." Some of these

NAPLES. 141
youths are as diverting as seals or dolphins : they
live in the buoyant element, and if you throw in a
" carline " in deep waters will dive and bring it up
before it has time to reach the bottom.
Now if any one wishes to know the leading
characteristic of this beautiful "Parthenope," I
can glA^e it them on authority of four months'
standing. AU the way by shore or street, in
market or piazza, balcony or belvidere, frora the
bare Mergellina to the utmost verge of the busy
city towards Capodimonte and Resina, one thing
never fails under any circumstances, and that is
what the Italians call " Chiasso," best rendered by
the French word " Charivari."
Santa Chiara is a pretty church ; though most
of the consecrated buildings here look tawdry
after those of Florence and Rome. San Gennaro
has a wearisome collection of busts in solid silver,
some of them colossal, of bishops and martyrs;
these are ordinarily locked up in the cupboards of
the sacristy ; could a more unedifying way be hit
upon of sinking offerings ? San Gennaro's image
has a coUar of jcAvels of inestimable value if real ;
but as the French were here long enough to look
about them, the finer stones must ere this have

142 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
transmigrated into coloured glass. The relievo on
the fagade of the High Altar, representing the
entry of the saint's relics into the city, and the
discomfiting of Famine, War, Pestilence, and
Heresy before them, is well done. In San Severo
we saw some extraordinary pieces of sculpture.
The figure of " Modesty" is the best done. This
adhering of the veil to the face is arrived at by
using a model enveloped in wet cambric ; the
effect is marvellous, but after all these very out-of-
the-way things rather astonish than please ; and a
siraple natural subject affords more scope to true
genius. The other day we were present in the Royal
Chapel on the occasion of the annual " dead mass "
for the late queen. She was greatly beloved by
all classes, and to this day no Neapolitan speaks of
her but Avith reverence and affection. To conquer
so universal an homage, rare qualities raet in her ;
piety and charity shone conspicuous, and when
she died of a child-bed fever, this giddy city was
stunned by the blow. Sovereigns usually marry
again, and the King of Naples has now a second
consort, a Bavarian princess ; they have an in
creasing family, but the little boy Avhom his first

NAPLES. 143
wife brought him is the heir-apparent. Before he
is of age to raix in the gaieties of a brilliant court,
some one should read him a memoir of his
mother's life. " The Queen that bore thee
Oftener upon her knees than on her feet
Died every day she lived."
Her mausoleum occupies the centre of the little
chapel. The king and the royal faraily were in
a gallery above, and all the officers of his house
hold filled another. The archbishop, with his
clergy, conducted the service, and a noble or
chestra was in attendance. I thought the cere
mony solemn and beautiful ; if for nothing else,
at least as testifying to piety and affection in the
hving by recording departed worth. A tomb
stone legend does this, but not so heartily as a
service in the church. At a certain part of the
office the sentinels posted at the four corners of the
mausoleura aU turn to it, and shoulder and ground
arms. This simple military movement, the only
one permitted during the ceremony, had something
in it reverend and touching. I thought of our
own laraented Princess Charlotte.
The sovereign is a handsome man, in the prime

144 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY,
of life ; he is said to care for nothing but soldiers,
an expensive hobby. I believe he has some eight
or nine cavalry regiments, and tAvice as many of
infantry. He devotes to their maintenance the
iraraense revenue which he draws from the
lotteries, which here, as elsewhere in Italy, are in
the hands of government. If one may judge by
what one hears, or even by what one sees, the
troops Avill never do their training much credit.
The new recruits are marched into the city, tied
hand by hand, like a gang of thieves. I suppose
the fear is that they may decamp : but what a
commencement of education for men Avho are to
serve their country in an honourable profession !
There is certainly little chance of their " seeking
the bubble reputation ev'n in the cannon's mouth."
Of artillery " Sua Maesta" has no lack; and he
has fortresses which assign him a place among
earth's mighty ones, according to that distich
" Principini, palazzi e giardini :
.Principoni, fortezze e cannone."
The Ovo commands the harbour, and can sweep
the Bay. That of Sant Elmo, crowning the cliff,
is the key of the city. An enemy in possession of

NAPLES. 145
this could lay Naples in ashes in a fcAV hours.
This Sant' Elmo affords a noble panoramic vieAV ;
and Avhoever Avishes to get a true idea of Vesuvius'
position relative to the raountain ranges of Puglia
(Apulia) and the Abruzzi (Bruttii) should clirab
up to it.
Palaces, it must be alloAved, are chiefly inte
resting to their possessors ; but the royal residences
here are worth visiting, even after Windsor and
St. Cloud. The Palazzo Reale, in the city, is perhaps
the best furnished in Europe ; certainly in the best
taste of those I have seen. Its baU-room is truly
royal : here are a dozen of the largest mirrors in
the Avorld, simply impanelled in a delicate border :
a miUionaire cit would have buried them in heavy
gilt frames. On the groundfloor there is a suite
wholly wainscoted Avith real frescoes and arabesques
from Pompeii.
Capodimonte has the most beautiful site, though
somewhat a singular one. It is reared on the
undermined crust of a tufo-quarry, and yields first
rate views from its balconies of the city, the bay,
and the Vesuvian country. Carlo built here, and
also at Portici, for the sake of the quail-chase !
which if any one think unlikely in a king, they

146 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
may read CoUetta's account of a royal personage of
the same house, Avhose most engrossing occupa
tion, when victoriously established in Naples, was
shooting pigeons from his palace windows ; the said
pigeons belonging, in all probability, to his subjects.
At Portici the royal demesne is a sweet villa,
Avith gardens a la Zoological, where sundry kan
garoos jump for your amusement, and a stately
ostrich is ready to bolt and make off to Psestum at
twenty miles an hour, whenever they open the
doors of his hut, I never saw so fine a creature as
this bird : his eye, which could not rest a moment,
was like a prodigious opal. By the bye Capodi
monte has an avenue of ilexes, I believe a raile and
a half in length, araong other horticultural wonders.
Its farm is excellent ; and the produce, after sup-
pljdng the royal table, goes to market. Pictures,
in the sense of the fine old masters, are rare in
Naples, The Studj, however, has Correggio's
" Sposalizio," and one or tAvo others. The artists
here are inveterate copyists, Avorse even than in
Rome. I opine that for one original sketch made
in the landscape line, there are to be found a
hundred copies, each Avorse than its predecessor.
Hence, the merest daub, if original, will fetch a

NAPLES. 147
guinea, Avhich here is equal to three in England,
They have, however, one excuse ; whoever essays
to colour a picture out of doors in this climate,
between May and, perhaps, Septeraber, raay count
upon being hiraself done like a broiled kidney ;
unless he sit under an umbrella, in which case the
gadflies avIU eat him up. The most amusing pictures
at Capodimonte are those recording events and
scenes in the national history : as, for instance,
" the brave girl of Gaeta," who, after despatching
a French sentry a la Jael, spikes the guns of the
battery with a store of ready nails from her apron,
and then delivers over the fortress to her townsmen.
But of all palaces Caserta is the grandest — a
stupendous pile uniting four cubes on a square base,
any one of which might serve for a handsome royal
dweUing, The grounds are stately, and include
points of romantic beauty : one of these is the old
town, " Casa erta," a picturesque ruin on a green
hill, whose isolated gables and gaunt arches adrait
the blue sky through the rents of ruin. Here
is an artificial waterfall descending from a lofty
ridge over accommodating rocks, and a pretty
basin where huge centenarian carp rise to the sur
face to eat boUed peas. The queen is very partial
L 2

148 JOURNjVL KEPT IN ITALA',
to Caserta, ahvays retreating there when a certain
interesting event is at hand. It is twenty railes
off, but that is only forty rainutes by railw^ay
reckoning. Perhaps no city, save Rome, has environs so well
Avorth exploring as those of Naples. WestAvard lie
Posilipo, Pozzuoli, Baiae, Cuma, and the volcanic
lakes : eastward, beyond Porapeii, is the roraantic
Adllage of La Cava, from Avhence you may Adsit
Amalfi and Salerno, and farther south, Paestura.
Castellaraare is noAV almost a suburb of the metro
polis, and Sorrento is at the distance of a pretty
drive from it.
Once through the grotto of Posilipo, the road to
Pozzuoli is full of beauty for those who can enjoy
a marine bay and curling breakers, Paul halted
for a week in " Puteoli" on his way to Rome, I
fear the folks here think but little of the faithful
servant who " fought the good fight," in compari
son with San Gennaro. The Itahans are possessed
Avith a notion that they are neglected by inankind ;
their leading idea of a saint is a local benefactor ;
and in every city their oavu particular patron is of
paramount iraportance,
Puteoli is noAV a sunny sink of triumphant filth

NAPLES, 119
and disease. Men, Avomen, and children are
searching each other's heads in tlie open street —
I need not say for what ; fiea-bitten dogs, mangy
and fretful, plunge and grovel in the dust; and
the cab-horses, half eaten up alive, can barely
muster strength to dislodge the flies with a shake
of their rusty collar.
Beware of crossing a threshold ; you would
emerge a richer raan than you entered by some
thousands, I don't mean dollars. Art cannot make
our populations happy, not even "antiques:" here
are two marble statues in the street as old as the
Csesars ; and within a stone's throw lie a noble
amphitheatre, all but perfect, and the beautiful
temple of Jupiter Serapis : the people who inherit
it all look as if they were bought and sold.
The pleasantest sight here are the stacks of fresh
lupins kept for fodder. I drove in one morning
from Naples, wishing to sketch " Venus's Temple "
on the shore : looking about for what I could get
the poor animal Avho brought me to eat, one of
these bundles half as big as hiraself was pitched in
for a " carline." In articles of vertu, roguery
here has done with blushing: the boys offer as
genuine " antico" lamps in bronze and terra cotta,
L 3

150 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
Avhich CA^en our unpractised eyes detect at once
as imitation-ware : Avhen you rebuke them they
mimic you and grin. The prices are still raore
edifying ; say a dollar is first asked, frora this
they will descend to one-half, fourth, tenth of the
sura. The " Serapis" has broken columns of Egyptian
granite and " cipoUina" standing amidst the Avreck
of others : the base and pillar-sockets of the central
altar are still visible. The whole thing now rises
out of a store-pond for grey mullets, who are fat
tened by the raingling of salt water Avith the
volcanic springs. Further along the shore, and
approaching Baia3, is the Lucrine Lake, a wild spot :
the fishing here is superb, as of yore ; its Avaters
are croAvded vath a curled univalve shell, which I
find stains every thing red. Is not this the
" raurex" ?
BaicB is full of the wonders of other days, Avhere
luckily the frivolous has perished, but the raassive
and instructive reraain in great part uninjured.
The palaces of Csesar and Lentulus have crurabled
Avith all their raarbles into dust ; but the " Piscina,"
which Lucullus built to water the Roman fleet as
it lay at Misenum, remains : the " Stufi" cut by

NAPLK.S. 151
Nero in the clift' remain ; the Odeon remains ;
above all, the fine harbour and proraontory of
Misenum remain, nor is there much chance of their
running aAvay. Here Virgil droAvns ^neas's
trurapeter by the instrumentality of a Triton : I
have heard of a German AA'ho said that if he ever
took the suicidal plunge it should be in lovely
Lake Leman : if beauty of scenery Avas his object,
I could recommend this singular coast as having
equal claims on his choice. Both have one advan
tage ; the Avater is so translucent that the body
might be fished vip in time for a " Humane So
ciety" operation.
The red hexagonal ruin on the shore is highly
ornamental ; perhaps was once viseful, for Avho can
show that such nonsense as a " Temple to Venus"
was contemplated here ?
The '•'¦Piscina Mirabile" is a gigantic artificial
cistern covered by the superincumbent cliff, and
supported within on some forty pilasters of traver
tine ; paved, walled, and roofed with stone. Here
fresh water was collected, allowed to settle, and
then conveyed by an aqueduct to the fleet. The
man who planned this knew what it was to be
thirsty : I thought it admirable, and felt raore

152 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
and more convinced that the intrinsic eleraent in
all beauty is the useful.
Behind Pozzuoli Ues the region of the Solfaterra,
a Avord Avhich explains itself The volcano is
extinct as to any eruptions from its crater, but
internal action develops itself throughout the entire
district. If you break the earth, you see the colour of
sulphur ; you sniff sulphur in the air from a hundred
gaseous jets, and the very soil ofthe glen, apparently
an aluminous clay, owes its powdery whiteness to
the presence of sulphur. No doubt it Avas all lava
once, for here is the self-evident bed of the old
crater — a level area now grown over with myrtles
and arbutus, and the white-belled heather. Alto
gether it is a pretty spot, and has a retort-house
at one end Avhere the finest crystals of the raineral
are obtained for commerce. They showed us a
vent on the hill Avhich emits smoke whenever
Vesuvius is clear, but Avhen he puffs away is quiet :
so there must be sorae communication, probably
submarine. The intervening distance may be
twenty railes. A little farther on is the Lago
d'Agnano, a tidy piece of water, Avhere AvildfoAvl
are preserved for the practice of the royal fowling-
piece. I Avas desirous to embark on its surface,

NAPLES-

and look for the vestio;es of a Roman villa said to

¦¦&

be still visible vmder the wave ; but the game
keeper negatived this proposal, alleging that we
should scare his feathered charge. On the banks
of this little lake the Solfaterra plays some singular
freaks. We Avent into the " Grotta del Cane"
with the man who keeps these vmfortunate aniraals
for experiraents ; he had tAvo with him, one a
veteran who had seen five years of the service,
the other a raAv recruit ; this latter he seized by
the legs and laid on its back on the bare earth ;
after a few struggles the creature went into a
dead swoon, but on beiug brought again into the
outer air revived rapidly : he had had about a
minute of it. A lighted torch carried in Avas
instantly extinguished, and on the sraoke precipi
tating, our eyes were raade aware of the nature of
the agent at work. The white vapour lay like a
napkin extended in the air at about two feet from
the ground, supported by a layer of carbonic acid
gas underneath. This gas rises from the floor in
sraaU bubbles, which then burst : the layer is piled
at the inner extremity of the little cavern, and
slopes downward towards the door; Avhen this is
left open, the gas being heavy floAvs out like a

154 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
river, and may be traced by a chemical test for
some distance. A human subject standing erect
within the cave is safe frora its noxious effects, as
it does not rise above the knee ; but poor doggie
coraes in for the full benefit. The creature who
endures it longest is a snake, and after hira a frog.
A dog Avill not live over four minutes.
Nothing would induce ray terrier " Fox " even
to put his nose in at the threshold; the other
two howled piteously. If you stoop and dash up
a handful of the gas in your face, the sensation
resembles that of brisk soda water; it causes
sharp appetite, and the dogs need to be fed di
rectly after recoA'^ering from their partial asphyxia.
" Fiat experimentum in corpore viii " is the bene
volent rule here. Another cavern is irapregnated
with ammonia, and animals iraraersed in this will
not live so long. I carried in a locust, an insect
which abounds in the grass and bushes hereabouts :
he died to all appearance in a few seconds ; but,
on my bringing him into fresh air, thought better
of it, and presently fiew away.
The Lago d'Averno has the Sibyl's bath, and
some remains of her palace in a deep woody re
cess. After passing the outer grotto, or " Nym-

NAPLES. 155
phaeura," you enter on a dark passage Avinding
under Ioav arches. Here the tourist mounts pick-a
back, and is carried in by a man stripped to the knee
through Avater a foot and a half deep into Sibyl's
charaber, Avhere sure enough is an ancient bath hewn
in the stone. The smoke of the torches, which are
absolutely necessary to produce a glimmer in this
pitchy grotto, made the trajet to and fro Sibylla's
bathing-quarters anything but agreeable. It raust
not, however, be supposed that she dwelt in the
darkness of "Stygian care forlorn:" a door now
closed up by raasonry no doubt once led to better
apartments. Malaria, so destructlAe here in Vir
gil's day, is prodigiously active still. From hence
we Avandered on Avith donkeys as far as Cuma.
Here was her " domus," and many of the " centum
ostia " remain in the shape of apertures in the
cliff terminating in a kind of gallery. 1 followed
one of these for fifty yards till fallen blocks im
peded farther ingress ; but I saw traces of a
communication with another similar grotto. No
doubt the cunning prophetess had a complete laby
rinth, of which none knew the secret but herself.
Part of a flight of steps is visible, perhaps the
grand staircase leading to the lady's first-floor.

156 .JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
The cliff outside bears a massive ruin, comprising
a tOAver. Here araid violets and the bramble-rose,
poppies and scabii, I found the bee-orchis in great
beauty : I ara sorry to say both the specimens I
gathered here perished ; I put them in an empty
cigar-case, and afterwards inadvertently sat upon
it. Before leaving, I bought of an excavator a
pair of beautiful vases just out of the earth. Frora
the cliff we had a view of the tomb of Scipio
Africanus at Liternum along the shore. Here he
lived and died an exile in his villa: a slate found
Avith part of the well-known inscription, " Ingrata
Patria, ne ossa quidem mea habebis," identified the
locality. The lake Avhich Virgil chose for his Acheron
modern Italians call Fusaro : it is a fine sheet of
water. Styx is a muddy ditch. All possibility of con
sidering yourself similarly situated with the Trojan
hero is cut off by the presence of a pretty Casino
on the lake ; to which you are ferried over indeed,
but not by Charon : this " Vecchio bianco per
antico pelo " is superseded by hungry Neapolitans,
who give you a cast for two grani, and then, oh !
horror of horrors ! you actually fall to and devour

NAPLES. 157
eels and oysters Avith glasses of real Falernian, a
Avine which, Avhen genuine, is delicious. The fish
are fattened in the lake, and you choose them
Avhile SAvimming about in their baskets.
Thus all tourists play the knave in matter of
romance : after a couple of hours on donkey-back
over Phlegra3an fields poor hviraanity prevails, and
you prefer a snack with your roguish guide and
half-clad boatmen, to feasting on high remembrances
of Csesar and the Scipios, iEneas and the Sibyl.
The modern Italian is not, however, so deter
rained an epicure as he of old Rorae. A "festa"
always implies society, araong the loAver classes
generally a Avedding. Lucullus no longer dines
Avith Lucullus; and for ordinary days the popu
lation are abstemious. A single cup of " cafffe nero"
in the morning, a plain dinner, and light supper
suffice the better sort : the poorer are content with
macaroni, poral d'oro, and cold Avater. The royal
table, I ara told, is one of the simplest in Naples.
A trip made to Pcestum a few weeks since
repaid us with more interest than any three days'
excursion I can remeraber since the Highlands
of Inverary. Saving Pompeii there is perhaps

158 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
nothing in this country so well worth visiting.
Putting up at Salerno as our head-quarters, we
took the opportunity of seeing the Monastery of
La Cava, as also the " grotto of the Capucines "
at Amalfi. The former of these is very beautifully
situated in Salvator Rosa's country, and possesses
one of the finest organs in Italy, from which we
Avere treated to an anthem: this instruraent they
say contains 6000 pipes, a number which sounds
scarcely credible. The ascent to the church is by
a winding path through some copsewood, and up a
steep sandstone cliff. A stream brawls beloAV, and
the Frati have Avidened it into a small lake under
the convent Avindows, which serves for a store-pond.
A considerable mass of the tufo-rock projects into
a chapel within the transept line ; here in a deep
recess lies the body of Alpherius their first Abbot,
whom the inscription on his tomb declares to have
reached the age of 120. They have a noble choir,
as usual in black walnut. A storm of wind and
rain set in whUe we were there, and on coming out
of the church porch Ave had the satisfaction of
Avitnessing an ample distribution to some fifty poor
people. Two huge metal panniers were emptied
among them, one yielding pea-soup, the other

NAPLES. 159
hunches of bread. The establishment is one of
Benedictines. There is one feature in Salerno Avhich must I
think strike every one Avho passes a day there :
I do not mean its glorious bay, but the suffering
poor who throng its streets and churches. I never
met anywhere so many and sad specimens of
burdened, poverty-stricken, diseased humanity in
a population of the same size. In the cathedral
they fiUed the lower end of the nave, clustered in
groups round the pillars, and with iraportunate
cries and gestures indicating faraine, alraost threw
themselves upon us Avhen we gave them such
carlines as we had. I neA'er felt so forcibly the
utter inadequacy of a passing aid : alas ! the
corapany we saw, to say nothing of scores in
the town alleys, would need 100 dollars per
month to give them bread. They do not, I fear,
get as many carlines : Avhat is everybody's business
is nobody's business ; and the very flagrancy of the
case, the undisguised fact that one-third of the
population are starving mendicants, renders habitual
lookers-on indifferent. The Syndicate leave it to
the Church ; the Church casts the burden on the
Public; the Public is an " abstraction" and does

160 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
not recognise the evil though it is gnaAving at the
roots of society. The mischief is aggravated and
made hopeless by the natural turn which all
Italians have for begging ; a trade Avhich they ply
apart frora any necessity and without compunction.
In a certain sense all classes, save the affluent, beg ;
your servant receiving regular wages expects a
" regalo " every now and then, and if you do not
give it him will openly shoAV his discontent ; the
shopboy Avho carries a light parcel a hundred yards
Avill not leave your door without " una bottiglia,"
an absurd phrase as they are not giA^en to drinking :
Avoraen sitting spinning at their threshold beg
abjectly as you pass ; every child will try the
effect of iraportunity with the everlasting demand
for " qualche cosa : " Avhat they get they run with
to the lotteries, Avhich are open in every street
in the kingdom. What is wanted is a firm magis
tracy animated by church principles : but where can
this be found ?
Iri England Ave have it not, at least not practi
cally developed. True, there is with us the
vigorous tone of public feeling, and the pleadings
of natural affection find utterance through an
unshackled press: but still we lack the prorapt

NAPLES. 161
operation of a system of ordinances — a body of
men, ministers of mercy, at once free and re
sponsible: and of this no A'oluntary society, no
band of Commissioners, can supply the place.
Moreover, such organised body AviU need to be
permanent, for " the poor shaU never depart out
of thy land." Voluntary societies, or charitable
individuals, cannot be treated as responsible : com
missioners appointed by the state are not free, for
they are bounded by the letter of their instructions.
The idea in my mind is a ministry ; in one word,
the Poor of Christ have a claim on us for a
DEACONSHIP. God grant Ave may set our shoulder in earnest
to this !
In France the law and police are all-poAverful,
but cruel. I saw fewer beggars in Germany than
anywhere. As for Southern Italy, it would be matter for
marvel if you were to stroll a hundred yards or meet
a group of half a dozen persons without being re
minded of your purse and teased to open it. The
Avarm climate, the cheapness of food, perhaps more
than all the influx of tourists, encourage this ruinous
propensity, whose fruit is emaciated faces and
M

162 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
squalid rags, I grieve to say the King farms the
lotteries : yet they say he has a kind heart and wiU
hardly bring himself to sign a sentence of death.
But the people are his property, ergo their money
is his, and he drains it into his lotteries, and there
with pays troops to keep them in order ; if order that
can be called which is dishonest greediness in the
trading middle classes, and careless, cureless, hope
less misery among the lower,
Pcestum is along forty miles distant from Salerno,
We started at daybreak and found a tolerable road
as far as the little river Sele, where there is a ferry
to be crossed before doing the last four railes to
Psestura, Here a disagreeable scene occurred: a
deep stream, burning sun, cold wind, rickety boat,
jibbing horses, capricious driver, cheating boatraen,
and a bank at once precipitous and rauddy.
Two precious hours were lost before we got fairly,
or foully, over with our vehicle and horses, there
being none on the other side. I must not omit to
mention one charm of the stream, a movable column
of biting flies.
A suspension-bridge is in progress of erection,
which may one day raake the fortune of an ad
venturous innkeeper. The country after this is flat

NAPLES, 163
marsh sprinkled Avith Ioav bushes ; on the right is
the bay, on the left a line of forked hiUs, The
"rosaria Passti " are gone, but the rushy SAvamp bore
in place of them a profusion of jonquils. Here Avas
also that pretty aquatic plant, the bog-bean.
Stopping our vehicle at the country inn, we took
a " cicerone " with us half a mile farther to view
the Temples. If I were asked to define first-rate and
second-rate "lions," I should say the former always
surpass your previous expectations while the latter
faU far below them. Here is Phistu, Poseidonia,
Pcestum — according as your thoughts run more on
the Etruscan, Greek, or Roman era : and glorious
must the city have been if it corresponded in its
general aspect with the majestic features which are
still extant and legible at fifty raUes' distance. '
Of the three structures so much admired by
architects and connoisseurs, the one nearest to the
Sele is called " Ceres' Temple," and that farthest
off is supposed to have been a " Basilica ; " but of
all this nothing is known. The very name of the
city, however, leaves no room to doubt that the
middle Temple, by far the noblest of the three, was
dedicated to Neptune. It was this which engrossed
our attention, as I suppose it does that of every
M 2

164 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
one, ahnost exclusively. It is certainly the most
beautiful building we have seen. The pediment is
uninjured, and the outer colurans are coraplete,
Avith nearly the whole of the architrave and
frieze. As far as I could tell by stepping the
ground, the length of the teraple is about 150 feet
within, and its breadth sixty: height of* the pedi
ment perhaps five-and-forty. This for a Grecian
teraple, which did not intend an asserably of
Avorshippers within its Avails, was large. The
order is Doric, the colurans being short and thick
set, and consequently of iramense strength. The
frieze and architrave together are fully half the
altitude of a column, which gives the temple
rather a heavy look, specially when seen from
above. It reminded me in its form of a vessel on
the stocks. It is hardly fair to compare anything
Avith the fagade of the Pantheon ; but the Paastum
structure, though certainly inferior in sublimity,
is far beyond it in beauty. Neither is the sublime
lacking in that long roAV of columns. Of beauty
it has every attribute : exquisite proportions of
outline, a variety of shifting tints, and a natural
colour in the stone of a deep orange harmonising
admirably Avith the purple and green meadoAvs.

NAPLES. 165
This stone is from the bed of Salzo or Sele, an
origin demonstrable by the petrified vegetable
substances Avith Avhich it abounds : it is very hard
in texture, the edges of the fluting in the colurans
being but little injured. Within the main circuit
we found great part of a court on a raised terrace,
and smaller columns and an architrave supporting
a few of a second story. Part of the building was
overgrown Avith bramble and wild olive, and
around lie the marshy pools where the buffaloes
repair to drink and wallow in the mud. Beyond
the line of the fen the horizon is formed by the
SAveUing Mediterranean. In certain lights the
orange hue of the temple is melted down to lilac.
We dared not stay till svmset, but took our leave at
4 p. M. In sumraer the "Malaria" frora the marsh,
Avhich is of the most deadly description, drives
nearly every soul away till October. They have
not, however, far to go, retiring merely to the
shelter of some cottages, which skirt the side of an
adjacent mountain. An oak forest fringes the
base of this line of hills, well-stocked with wild
boars and forming a royal chase. The French
man employed on engineering at the suspension-
bridge told me that all the smaller garae is free,
M 3

166 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
and that he shoots as many snipe, woodcock, and
quaU as he can eat — which must be a good many,
for Frenchmen have capacious stomachs for
" volaille." This village has a movirnful celebrity of its own
in modern times. It Avas here that poor young
Hunt and his wife were murdered by some brigands
whom he was so unwise as to provoke.
You should never say "perche ?" to an armed
Italian. It seems they struck his servant, and H.
lost his temper, and forgot the vehemence of their
national character. The popular version of their
having meddled with jewels on his wife's person is
incorrect. The event at the time fiUed Naples with
consternation. At present you meet with no bri
gands, but you must equaUy make up your mind
to empty your purse of its contents. Every man,
woman, and child here is a practised and deter
mined beggar. The very dogs will have food or a
battle. Your guide, whose ignorance is translucent,
is worst of all ; and mine host of the inn makes
double charges, and then, on your refusing to pay
thera, professes the innocence and inexperience of
a babe. On our return from Psestum we visited

NAPLES. 167
Amalfi ; it Avas one of those delicious days Avhen
sky and Avater combine to produce an eftect which
can hardly be rendered in a painting. The trans
parency of the wave, the pearly radiance of the
shore, the opal tints on the hills, with a heaven
whose blue seemed melted down in a way unlmoAvn
in our latitudes — it was Italy all over, glowing
Italy ! in her raost attractive summer garb. We
had a boat manned with six oars to row the
fourteen mUes which intervene. I found the
charge for this to Amalfi and back was a guinea ;
but then we had seven men, counting the steers
man, and a handsome awning, and they performed
the distance either way in a couple of hours. The
folk here row Avith the backwater stroke, standing
up with their faces toward the prow ; one foot is
advanced and an impulse is given by rising on the
instep ; perfect time is kept by those who row, and
when they slack their efforts the steersman animates
them with the cry of " maccheroni," which they aU
take up. I envied them their light and picturesque
dress ; the white shirt and trowsers form one piece
fastened at the waist by a coloured sash. Shoes
and stockings they don't trouble theraselves about,
M 4

168 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
but all wear a pendent cap to protect their head
from the vertical ray.
The rocks and caves of Amalfi are worthy of
SAvitzerland ; one of the latter, called the " Capu
cines' Grotto" because connected Avith their con
vent, is a stupendous vaulted chamber in the
mountain's side: from its mouth you get one of
the finest seaward prospects in the whole country.
In this town we Avent to see the Fabbrica of the
best maccaroni in Italy. The process is a simple
one : an enormous pressure is employed to drive
the paste through the ring Avhose centre is
solid ; about a hundred pipes are driven at
once by using a form thick-set with such rings.
'There are many varieties, both as to calibre
and quahty. After this we ate of a new dress
ing of this national dish at the H6tel de la
Lune, (mem. a roguish inn, but comfortable,) to
wit, tossed in a bowl with fresh butter and eggs.
This is the third way Ave have tried it. The Nea
politans prefer it with " Sugo " and Pomi d'oro.
Perhaps the most delicate is the simple fashion of
plain boiled, with fresh butter and pounded parme-
san in separate dishes. The English method of a
hot brown fry, redolent of strong cheese, is intoler-

NAPLES. 169
able. I should add there is yet another, favoured
by the common people. This is, almost raw, with
a httle oil, and large draughts of cold Avater.
Amalfi itself is, I am sorry to say, dirty, very dirty,
unconscionably dirty, in fact, an Augean stables.
It reminded me of an unwashed hand bedizened
with jeAvels ; for all around is fresh, pure, and
sparkling. The Italians one and all hate washing,
until the time coraes for governraent to bid the
Stuffi and Bagni open, when I hear they are araphi
bious. We rowed into a sea-cave on our return :
sorae hundred feet long, and I suppose 90 feet over
head. Here were dropping stalactites, green and
azure Avater, A'erraUion funguses, coral, &c. Not
far off is the " Buco," where the Avave dashing in
through an orifice in the rock gives a report as
loud as a gun.
As we neared Salerno, Ave called on the boatraen
for a song. They gave us two or three : "II carn-
panello," " Ti voglio ben," &c. ; one voice, that of a
youth, Avas clear and sweet, which the delighted
father, who steered, never failed to point out by
rapturous exclaraations of " Lo figlio ! e lui stesso! "
The chorus was noisy, but fair enough in an open
boat and after five-and-twenty railes' rowing.

170 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
Amidst this fairy-like scenery the compass was
invented. This reminds me avc must leave Naples in a few
days, as the lava-pavement in the Chiaja is of a
white heat, and the sea is approaching that happy
condition when it is said to take fire.

ISCHIA. July.
Here is a spot within a few miles of the mainland,
but with a perfectly different style of features in
its scenery. It is not Italian, it is not Swiss ; I am
told it resembles Greece, and the raoonlight view of
Casamicciola frora a cliff above has sometimes re
minded me of sketches which I have seen of that
country. The people of the island moreover are Greek by
extraction, and though the original stock has since
been grafted Avith so many strange slips, stUl the
intervention of a considerable arm of the sea, and
certain primitive habits surviving among the peo
ple, keep them a distinct race in many respects.

ISCHIA. 1 7 1
The Ischiote is less sophisticated than the Nea
politan : he is everj^ inch as greedy and as much
bent on roguish tricks, but he is not so " rus6 ; "
his mind has not worked so hard in the winding
Avays of deceit.
Naples is now a furnace, and this island is at
once cheap and interesting. The living is in
some departments better than in the metropolis.
If you want veal, fine butter, or good beer, you
must order them from Naples ; but if you are con
tent Avith bread and eggs, poultry and small birds,
abundance of fish, and a profusion of fruit and
vegetables, you may get fat here, yet be as free of
the big city as Robinson Crusoe on his lone island.
Grocery, it is true, you must have ; but the Aviser
plan is to bring a two months' stock with you
when you first come ; and then, if any is left, you
can bless some simple household -with it on de
parting. As for fish, LucuUus or Apicius should
have passed a season here. We have whiting,
mackerel, red mullet, sardines, anchovies, lampreys,
Peter-fish, crabs, needle-nose, and perhaps half-a-
dozen more sorts of which I do not even know the
names. Then the tunny-nets are out all day, and
yield the base of a delicious pickle. All these

172 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
might be had in Naples, if the fishermen had
courage to venture out farther into the bay ; but,
though the best swimmers in the world, they fear
the storms on the Mediterranean, and not A\dthout
reason. For fruit Ave have cherries, strawberries,
apricots, and plums, and figs better than I ever
ate anyAvhere. Grapes to eat are not yet well in,
but some capital wine is made here from the true
Falernian, white and red. The way of life among
the poorer classes, and they immensely outnumber
the others, is simple and uniforra.
After the brilliant bustle of Naples, it is pleasing
to Avatch the homely labours of a population of not
more than 8000 or 9000 adults ; yielding, indeed,
only a sraall item in the cargoes that throng the
port of Naples, but sufficing to sustain the
islanders, and presenting here and there the
cheerful and healthy images of patriarchal life.
During working hours almost every raan in Casa-
raicciola is driving an ass or making bricks : and
CAcry woraan or child that you raeet carries on
their head the immemorial pitcher [note 'e)], which
obtained for this island the name of Pithecusa in
days of old. ElseAvhere, the husbandry of crops
and vines is going on ; and perhaps a tenth of the

ISCHIA. 173
entire male population are einployed in fishing off
the coast. The donkeys during the day are all on
one errand ; that of bringing up barrels of the
mineral waters, hot and cold, to give you a
bath " chez vous." But AA^hen pearly CA^ening sets
in, this drudgery ceases, and both " cucci " and
" cucciaji " find another and a pleasanter occupation
in convoying groups of tourists over the most
picturesque spots of the isle. It nowhere looks
like a solitude. Beside scores of scattered hamlets
there are a few sizeable towns, Ischia, the capital,
has a castellated fortress, rock-built amid the
Avaves ; Foria is cradled among fine bays ; Lacco
lies under the shelter of a promontory; Casa
micciola, the main bathing-resort, covers sorae
undulating ground, and partly fills a ravine. All
parts are perforated with " stufi," and teera with
mineral baths. Here are " fumaroles," " venta-
roles," hot fountains, cold fountains, lava-rocks,
clay-pits, and plenty of lodging-houses. Tradition
avers that Ischia rose from the bottom of the sea,
and the constant occurrence of marine sheUs in
all the clay-pits favours the theory, I should refer
their presence to volcanic action, which we knoAv
draAVS largely on the sea and its contents.

174 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
In fact the entire island, not much above five miles
long, is an extinct volcanic pile, having the apex of
the Epomeo, some 2500 feet high, in its centre, and
its slopes diversified with mounds of lava and beds
of scoria more or less ancient. Between these lie
endless ridges and ravines, which, during a repose
of raore than two thousand years from eruptions,
have grown bushy with the Spanish chestnut and
myrtle, the aloe and the cactus. The higher
moors are covered with arbutus and broom, and
every nook and crevice of the rocks teem with a
scented fiora. The acanthus is now in bloom, and
it is a gorgeous plant. Goats' milk here is abun
dant and delicious, owing to the profuse supply of
mint, thyme, and other aromatic herbs. Perhaps
the leading features of beauty in the scenery of
Ischia are its jutting capes and little marine bays
and inlets. The bay of Santa Restituta equals in
wild loveliness any spot I know. The rocks which
occur near Foria, as you descend from the Epomeo,
are worthy of Savoy. Lacco has its singular
stone in the sea, resembling the doddered trunk of
sorae primeval tree ; and you can scarce look aloft
Avithout encountering the soaring peaks of the
Epomeo, Avhite as Dover cliff.

£=¦

ISCHIA. 175
Perhaps, as every place has a drawback, it may
be as well to mention that of Pithecusa, or it might
be deemed the terrestrial paradise. Venomovis
insects and reptiles are as plenty as blackberries.
Scorpions are a populous nation; hornets, a count
less tribe ; of vipers there is a decent sprinkhng :
raosquitoes, of course. Despite the heat of the
weather I laughed the other day till I almost
dropped off my chair at the nocturnal adventures
of a gentleman and lady who passed a night on
the island in lodgings, as they thought very nice
ones. Scorpions love lamplight, or the smell of
oil, I don't know which, perhaps both : on retiring
to rest, the above-named couple became aware
of sundry black things about an inch and a half
long with pincers in front and a long tail behind
skirmishing about the floor and walls of their
dormitory. It was no use thinking to sleep amidst
such visitors ; and as to killing those that were
visible and then putting out the light, that would
little avail, for others might come when it was
dark and bite them.
They wisely determined to pass the night like
wakeful naturalists; so the lady made herself as
comfortable as she could under the circumstances.

176 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
and the gentleman provided himself with a glass
decanter from the toilet-table and coraraenced a
Scorpion-chasse. He nabbed so many before-
morning that when day broke the landlady, who
had A'owed her apartraents to be a faultless paragon
of comfort, was presented by her sleepless lodger
with a pint-bottle nearly full of live Scorpions.
The only reraedy for the sting of these creatures
is araraonia applied externally on the instant.
Frora all I can learn the poison of the old ones is
very virulent : with a child it might probably be
fatal by inducing fever.
The truth is, however, they rarely harm any one,
owing to their not being molested. The people of the
island Avill sometimes pronounce all the tribes harm
less: but this is a specimen of" favete Unguis " in the
Irish style. I observe they take special care not
to meddle with them, save as we say " with a pair
of tongs. ' ' Frora a viper they will run away. Scor
pion s if found Avithin doors die the death ; hornets
they hold it " unlucky " to touch. We have had
one very large viper killed in the courtyard, and
I have despatched half a dozen scorpions, one a
Nestor, in our rooras. The hornets are enorraous :
I have counted on the vine in the balcony above a

ISCHIA. 177
score of these Avithin a quarter of an hour, but they
never come in at the Avindows, though always set
open. Your scorpion is an ugly beast : he has eight
legs, shoAving his close affinity Avith the spider, and
runs very fast, backwards and sidcAvays as well
as forwards. Their greatest pleasure is to get be
tween your sheets, or lie curled on a pillow. The
people of this house vow they have wings, but that
is a mistake.
The sandfly by the bye is something AVorse than
a mosquitoe, as he burrows under the skin.
The origin ofthe people in this isle is no doubfc
Greek : and modern traveUers aver that the Greeks
are rogues. It may be so, but I vow they do not
stand first on the list. Clearly the Neapohtans
lead, and nine-tenths of the roguery here is impor
ted from Parthenope, The Ischiote, however, is a
lover of fun, and dehghts to join in a practical joke
at the expense of Neapohtan greediness and extor
tion, A friend has furnished me with the foUoAV-
ing anecdote for the truth of which he vouches.
It may serve to help gentlemen who are embar
rassed in a similar way ; so I quote it out of pure
benevolence, A visitor here from the mainland
N

178 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY,
put up at the house of a Neapolitan, who engaged
to find him in board and lodging for a certain
sum : he was so unguarded as to pledge himself to
a stay of two months. No sooner was the agree
ment signed than he found he had fallen into bad
hands. Without infringing the letter of their
compact, his landlord managed to break it in spirit
every day. The guest was an invalid, and whole
sorae diet Avas indispensable : but he could obtain
no butter but what Avas rancid, no meat but what
smelt above ground. Complaints were idle, for
the only reply was, " If you object to your fare pay
me my two months' rent and go,"
In this dilemma between regard for his health
and a due care for his purse, he apphed to a friend
for counsel; and returned to his " appartamento,'
resolved to all appearance to fight it out.
Next day, he had a large table laid out in the
best roora, and plentifully spread Avith "macaroni"
and pitchers of Avine. " I am of a hospitable turn,"
said he to the host ; " a party of my friends will
arriA^e to-day, and we shall commence a series of
entertainments which I propose to prolong whUe
under your roof," At the appointed hour came a
troop of donkey-men and brick-makers, with a

ISCHIA. 179
pair of fiddlers : a tremendous onslaught on the
Adands was followed up Avith stoups of liquor ; and
then the music opened, and dancing commenced,
the landlord looking on Avithout a remedy.
After witnessing the overthrow of table and
chairs amid a performance worthy of Comus's rabble
rout, and remembering his tenant's parting speech
in the morning, the Neapolitan gave in ; and the
invaUd received " carte blanche" to cancel his
agreement and retreat to other quarters.
Knowing of what the Ischiotes are capable, I
would have given a good deal to see the party
when the fun was at its height. I can just fancy
the nods and becks which they would throw at the
sulky Neapohtan.
Donkey-riding here is dehghtful. You start
about ^ past 5 in the evening, and may be out tUl
near 8, when the dew becomes heavy. The number
of paths up the mountain is considerable, and some
of these yield very pretty excursions. If you take
the coast-road you get the sea-breeze and meet the
people in groups, dressed in their bright costume
whenever it is a festa.
The prospect is from many points magnificent:
one of the sweetest views' is from a knoU behind
N 2

180 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
the Lago d'Ischia ; but from Vico, from Mount
Tabor, from the Rotaro, above all from the Epomeo's
summit, the tourist wiU be delighted and the artist
astonished, whether he looks landsward toward
Vesuvius, or seaward beyond Ventotene. We had
heard of sunsets in the sea, but I had no idea what
they were like till Ave saw some here : a segment of
50 degrees over the horizon lit up with orange and
gold, while the huge disk gloAving like a carbuncle
plunges into the wave !

CAPRI. End of July.
We shall leave this island to-day; after having
fought three nights with the mosquitoes, who are
many and determined, without the protection of a
gauze-net, the people here not having one. These
insects have a singular sort of discernment : they
always attack a stranger or new-comer, while the
Aborigines are rarely troubled by them.
We have seen no scenery equal to this in Italy,

CAPRI. 181
or rather, nothing reserabling it in character. It
bears no geological affinity to that of Ischia : the
rocks which form the island run in a continuous
lofty ridge, from East to West, meeting the sea Avith
precipices at either extremity. Southward, looking
towards Sicily, the cliffs are stiU bold and pre
cipitous. On the Naples side there is a break in
the barrier, and the gigantic wall has given place
to long lines of slope, interspersed with the raost
beautiful rockwork, and covered with briUiant ver
dure. The caves and grottoes have delighted every
soul from Augustus to Shelley. Owing to the sin
gular angles and curved recesses here formed by
the rock, the colours on the water are marveUous ;
they are finest at mid-day, and have sometimes re
minded me of what one has heard of a dying
dolphin. Our first visit was to the " Grotta az-
zurra." Two little cobles, each carrying a boatraan
and a tourist, took us in under an archway of about
3 feet high by as many Avide. This is the only
entrance or exit, and with the least roughness of
the sea you can neither go in nor, if in, corae out.
We glided in on a surface as sraooth as glass, and
then saw the singular effect which has given the
cavern its name. Owing to the smallness of the
N 3

182 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
aperture, nearly aU the light which enters is re
flected from the bottom of the sea upwards, passing
through 20 or 30 feet deep of pellucid water, and
strikes on the vaulted roof of Umestone, from which
it is again refiected doAvnwards. This results in
the most vivid blue conceivable in the basin round
you. Probably the sky-tints in this latitude are partly
referrible to the same cause, a great deal of light
being transmitted from the bottom of the shores
and bays round Naples: but no sky ever ex
hibited a blue of this peculiar character. I have
seen an enamel something hke it, and the scale of
a fish when wet approaches it, but neither of these
can impress you with the sense of being enveloped
in a totaUy new atmosphere.
I think if a broad plate of mother-of-pearl were
passed through the blue of the " spectrum " and
waved up and doAvn in it, it would be much Uke
the water in the grotto. When stirred by an oar
or other object, the flash and bubbles resembled
the coruscations of the Bude light. Outside of
this cavern the scene was scarce inferior in beauty :
scarlet funguses were clinging on the water-line :
diminutive flying-fish threw themselves by twos

CAPRI. 183
and threes out of the sea, describing a small arc
ere they fell, and as our boat drove a ripple into
the bay or threw the wave like a living emerald on
the rock, the whispering sound among pebbles and
tiny shells was as music in some home of the
fairies. The spot called the "Arco Naturale," from a
curious portal pierced in the limestone, was our
next expedition. No one Avho does not visit it
can conceive the beauty of this. With exemplary
zeal I effected a water-colour sketch here under a
vertical sun which very nearly changed me into an
African. Close by in the " Grotta del Matrimonio " is the
mouth of a fosse where Tiberius consigned to a
cruel death some scores of his temporary spouses.
Bluebeard was nothing to this monster, and even
to this day Capri is at a disadvantage from his
prolonged sojourn in it, for many wiU not tread
where such a wild beast has once set his foot : nor
indeed would I, but that I hold the surface of the
ground to be altered. One of his grandest palaces
stood on the summit of the eastern rock, which
looks forth like a watch-tower toward the rising
of the sun. This spot now possesses a consecrated
N 4

184 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
building, and at 2 a, m, this morning we were
off on donkey-back to clamber up to it and see the
" Spuntar del Sole." After a ride of an hour and
a half through the heavy dews, we reached the
cliff-head one hour too soon. The hermit padre
Paolo, who dwells here always, gave us a shelter
in the Chapel, and entertained us kindly till the
mighty lurainary announced his approach by a
bright suffusion of yellow over the eastern horizon.
The tableau was glorious as he cleared the hills of
Amalfi and Sorrento and spread, to our eyes, a
mist over the loAv-lying valleys. Soon the sea
flushed and warmed, the hills and shore caught
form and colour, and the vast reach of the Medi
terranean changed from a dull leaden surface to
heaAdng azure billows.
Before descending Ave went over part of the
ruined Palace. There are several courts on a large
scale, and two wheel-ruts are visible on a mosaic
road, which actually plunged from the edge of
the cliff, and wound down to the shore a thousand
feet below. On the floor of a court we saw four
natives dance the " Tarantella," A woman beat
the time to a rude measure on the tambourine ;
the steps are free and graceful ; the shy looks of

ISCHIA.

the woman and the vehement attitudes of the raan
are intended to represent a courtship.
They dance it on the sea-shore at Ischia, but I
think hardly so Avell as here.

ISCHIA.
October.
How hard it is to say farewell for ever to a dear
friend ! and such has this pretty island now be
come to us. A sumraer season has flown by since
we first set foot on the Epomeo ; the myrtles were
then in bloom, and the arbutus was putting forth
its tender shoots to solace the goats : now the
purple berry hangs on the myrtle, and the arbutus
bears clusters of ripe fruit like the largest coral
bead. The becafique has given place to the quail,
and the quail to the woodcock, and already the
water-rail and speckled thrush, sure precursors of
winter, are found in the neighbourhood. The
glorious sunsets in the sea have been succeeded by
the flushes and lurid gleams which attend a
storm on the Mediterranean ; and the chestnut

186 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
woods skirting the Eporaeo are no longer dark
green, but an umber red. The shifting of the
season is visible in tokens yet more familiar ; the
pretty moth so abundant here, which the house
holders call " angiolo," and regard as a lucky fairy,
is less lively ; he no longer hums round our
curtains, or creeps in and out of the key-hole, but
has taken to dozing on the window-pane : the
lizard from a restless flirt has become a shy, retiring
scout, and my special pets, the two gigantic sphyn-
ges, whom I have so often caught and released
again, have paid their last visit to the bush of
crirason marguerites in the garden.
We have seen nature come and go in some of
her most winning aspects, and would not like to
wait her utter decrepitude in the fall of the year.
Winter here is a terrible time: Ave are assured
that every road is broken up, and the mountain-
paths become utterly impassable from the fury of
the torrents which then pour down the sides of
the Epomeo : we have indeed witnessed one speci
men lately of what they caU their " cattivo tempo : "
the storm burst forth about 9 p. m. and lasted till
1 in the morning. The rain fell in absolute spouts
of water, and the glare of the lightnings with the

ISCHIA. 187
prolonged bellowing of the thunder among tho
crags was awful. The Epomeo seemed like a
treraendous battery on a battle day.
What is worse, hoAvever, than all this is the
condition of the poor. We have a pretty large
acquaintance among them, and many of the old
and infirm speak of their probably dying from cold
and starvation. Distress they could scarcely
escape, but their improvident habits aggravate it
a hundred-fold. Take a populous instance, the
donkey-men : these avUI earn, one day with another,
during four months, from June to September in
clusive, a dollar a-day each of them : of this
their donkey Avill require less than a tenth, and
their family, with management, not quite half.
They might therefore lay by in these four months
sixty dollars — above ten guineas of our money,
but which goes as far as five-and-twenty here, I
am sorry to say they never lay by a farthing,
serious as they know the " rainy day " will prove.
Misery foUows ; of course they must hve all the
Avinter on tick, and the roguish tradesmen, who
are generally Neapolitan speculators, take advan
tage to charge them interest, cheat them in the
price, and put them off with a bad article into the

188 .TOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY,
bargain. In an argument with a father of a
famUy on this subject the other day, when I spoke
of the coming distress, he said, " Dio me ne
guardi ! " when I asked him what he would do, it
was " Iddio sa." But when I exhorted him to lay
by out of his actual summer receipts, he replied,
with a shrug of the shoulders, " Non si puo,"
Next day was his " Giorno di nome " (day of the
saint whose name he bears), and I saw him ludi
crously tipsy, dressed like a merry Andrew, and
singing aloud between the mouthfuls of macaroni
which he kept swallowing. I doubt not he spent
on that day all the ready cash he had, and perhaps
borrowed more ; for which latter he Avill have to
pay interest.
One trait of the Ischiote woraen I raust record,
though I do not know that it bears on this matter
of the islanders' improvident character, unless it be
favourably. This is their passion for articles of
jewellery ; especially earrings of the largest size,
wrought in solid gold and after fantastic patterns.
Having been obliged to discharge the servant Avhom
we brought with us from Naples, on account of
her flagrant dishonesty, my Avife engaged a married
woman of the island to Avait on her. This Teresa

ISCHIA. 189
has been a great corafort, being a steady, honest,
hard-AA'orking woraan, A remark raade one day on
a pair of these enormous pendants drew forth an
animated account from this young Ischiote of a
similar pair, an heirloom in her mother's family,
which were made over to herself upon the occasion
of her marriage. It seeras they had soraehow
found their way to the pawnbrokers', and a con
siderable tirae elapsed before they could be re
deemed. During this trying season Teresa took to
her bed and movirned like a Avidowed dove over
the absent treasure. She summed up her story
with the words, " Questo mi ha fatto molto
male ! "
During the past week we have had the vintage in
Casamicciola, and a pretty sight it has been. As
I never witnessed one before, I took care to be
present at all the stages of the operation: from
gathering to carting, from carting to vatting, from
vatting to pressing, and finally the barrelling off
of this precious nectar. The scene in the wine
press is well worth witnessing once. The bunches
being thrown in, men and boys follow, after
stripping to the knee and being carefully washed
in fair water — a fact this which I vouch for : hear

190 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
it, ye bakers and brewers of " Auld Reekie," and
reform your ways ! Some of these turn the stuff
with pitchforks, whUe the others dance up and
down and press out the juice. The vat of our
h'ost is about twelve feet square, and stands under
a covered shed, Avith a simple arrangement for
letting out the liquor afterwards into a lower reser
voir, and a cross-beam and millstone for bringing a
heavy pressure to bear upon the grape-skins.
During the process of treading, the door of the
shed was kept wide open ; yet the fumes which
rose were so strong that all the treaders soon became
inebriated, or, as they term it, " allegri." From a
modest silence they passed to singing, and from
singing to vociferous shouting. The scene brought
forcibly to my mind divers passages in Holy Writ.
After some hours ofthis, the juice Avas withdrawn,
and strained through a Avicker basket as it fell into
the reservoir below. Then all was brought up
again by buckets and thrown on the skins which
lay in the bottom of the vat. Here it was left for
six days, the doors of the shed being closed and
locked upon it. At the end of this period the
shed was re-opened, a heavy pressure by a fiat
surface applied to the heap, and the liquor flowed

ISCHIA. 191
forth as clear as cider. This Avas stowed aAvay
in huge barrels, Avhich Avere finally bunged up,
after a smaU quantity of strong acrid matter
squeezed from the refuse grape-skins had been in
troduced : Avithout this last the wine AviU not fer
ment. It is to be drinkable in two months, and will
cost about one-fourth of what " small beer" would
in merry England: it is not, however, nearly so
good. Having said thus much of the regular Avine of
Ischia, I shaU add that a French merchant who
is settled here, and has built the largest house in
the island, and on one of the most beautiful spots,
grows the Falernian grape, both white and red,
and makes a delicious wine from it, quite equal to
Burgundy, and at one-sixth of the cost. He has
also taught the white to effervesce like Champagne,
a result achieved by a twofold process in addition
to the usual steps. The bunches, after being
plucked from the tree, must lie a whole night on
a bank exposed to the heavy dews, to charge
them with carbonic acid gas ; and the bottles Avhen
fiUed must be plunged, previous to corking, neck
doAvnwards, into a pail of fresh spring water.

192 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
At fifteen pence a bottle this beverage is deh
cious ; and, what is more, " sincero."
Whoever passes a month in Ischia should scale
the Eporaeo. I have been up it tAvice ; once alone,
when I was favoured with paradise weather and
saw the Avonderful prospect from San Nicolo's
Convent; and again in company, some seven of us
besides a cook, servants, donkey-men and dogs.
On this last occasion, as will sometimes happen,
we were unlucky in our day — a fog escorted by a
sweeping blast overtook us at Pansa, and by the
tirae we reached the surarait we were children of
the mist. There was nothing for it but to dry
our dresses, dine, and then descend, how we might,
over ankle-breaking crags and banks of slippery
clay, to a cup of tea and a nightcap.
The " giro " of the whole island in an open boat
is both agreeable and instructive. For the twen
tieth time in my life I was within an ace of becom
ing a zealous geologist, but escaped it. We
had many adventures in the course of the day;
one was disturbing a wasp's nest, when our boat
man was stung by one of these insects on the
cheek; this man, a brave and hardy sailor, and

ISCHIA. 193
built like a wrestler, cried like a child, and we all
had to set to and comfort him !
On the long sandy reach facing Capri we made
acquaintance with a natural cuisine well known to
the contadini and fishermen, and large enough to
dress the victuals of a regiment. Here you need
neither fuel nor fire, pots nor pans : you have
only to scoop a hoUoAV in the boiling sand, Avrap
your Adands in clean paper, and bury them; twenty
minutes will cook a fowl, four or five an egg ;
"pomi-d'oro" and such like are done to a turn
before you can say Jack Robinson. The row in
an open boat was delightful ; and, rounding the
last headland, we came on the ruins of the old
palace of the Bolgars, very interesting to those
Avho have heard the story of the fair Restituta, a
daughter of that house.

194 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.

PALERMO.
November.
Nature and art combined ncA'^er produced a raore
beautiful result than this city ; masses of traver
tine masonry mingled Avith groves of orange and
citron, cover the A^ast " pianura ; " behind the hills
SAveep in a seraicircle ; in front the ocean runs up
Avith a delicate loop of blue on bright sands ; and
far away, a hundred miles as the crow files, the
Avhite cone of Etna reflects the ray of the setting
sun. It would be difficult to describe Belmonte,
the villa where we are lodged, a mile distant frora
the city. The peerless prospect in front of us, the
garden laid out round the mansion, the crested
rockwork and red cliff rising one above the other
at the back of the pleasure-ground, lower down in
the vale hundreds of acres bushy with the cactus,
and as the eye wanders further, to every palace an
old buttressed wall, and clustering on every wall
the dark fohag"e and golden fruit of the orange
tree, a fairy-tinted sky above, and an air like
balm, though November's breeze is sighing through
the olives. It is a spot too beautiful to stay long

PALERMO. 195
in; so it is fortunate that Ave are birds of passage.
In the city all is noA'd and picturesque. Walk vip
the Via del Toledo and you Avill get an idea of
Moorish architecture ; here balconies hang in clus
ters like birds' -nests, and every cornice and sup
port is carved with grotesque faces in the stone.
The sides of the trottoir are dappled with shop-
fronts proclaiming bright colours to be the rage ;
widespread stalls fill every possible and impossible
place, proffering hot chestnuts to warm you, and
icy-cold cactus-figs to cool you, with some twenty
species of pulse, and fish and tobacco ; sunburnt
men in red and yellow caps lie sprawled in the
streets; at every window protrudes a woman's
bust ; around are buUdings reared by forgotten
princes, and inhabited by beggars ; the duorao
with Saracenic towers without, and the appoint
ments of a whitCAvashed barn Avithin ; churches
gleaming with shrines of agate and gold, a pretty
botanical garden, a raised terrace by the seaside,
dirty lodgings, bad hotels; — it is Naples again,
but Naples in an Arab dress, bedizened with
jewels, but without bread to eat. The population
appears even a grade loAver than the half-clothed,
quarter-fed adventurers who lounge in the Chiaja.
o 2

196 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
The abbey of Monreale demanded our first visit :
but I shall not describe it, save to say that the
panellings of the nave are coated with mosaics in a
finer style even than those we saw in Rome. The
greatest, because worthiest, name heard here is that
of Archbishop Testa, who during his occupation of
the See was the friend and father ofthe poor. He
fed them, clothed them, educated them, and plea
ded their cause with the mighty. " Ma," added
our guide, "e morto quell' uomo venerabile, e adesso
sono ritornati nella miseria." Certes the patriarchal
dispensation was raeant to abide, in substance,
under all outAvard changes : avc err in thinking to
confine its exhibition to the limits of the fiimily,
or rather sovereigns should remember that for
them the nation is the family, and that to deem
otherwise will narroAv their minds and cheat thera
of their true dignity.
Testa lived hke a patriarch : his heart expanded
as his family increased, and the revenues of his
See, the inflvience of his name, the fruit of his
studies, the hours of his time, the watchful travail
of his spirit, were given to the flock of Christ.
After Monreale, Ave started on a visit to the
Temple of Segesta, fifty mUes distant. The drlA^e

PALERMO. 1 97
down upon Borghetto and across the CasteUamare
tract, and the pass of the ]\lonreale, is very fine :
the latter often reminding me of the pass of Leny
in Perthshire. The greater part of the landscape
exhibits open plains interspersed Avith boulders of
rock, some of them rising to several hundred feet
in height, and beautifully coloured. Arrived at
Calatafimi we halted for the night, not without a
presentiment of Avhat awaited us. The inn, so
caUed, is a disorderly cow-house, into which both
pigs and mules intrude : an abominable loft over
head receives you hungry and tired, and here you
must keep the windoAvs open or else choke. We
had taken the precaution of bringing our own
sheets, one of Shamoy leather included, and a fcAV
ounces of tea : these with patience and hope of the
raorning kept up our courage during a night of
fierce contention with a marching host. When
day broke I haUed our landlady with the an
nouncement " Padrona, quanti pulci ! " " Sicuro "
("to be sure") was her response. And yet you
are expected to write " contentissimi " opposite
your names in the traveUers' book. But all sub
lunary troubles have a lirait : as the day broke we
broke our fast, and were off with raules and a
o 3

198 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
donkey on a four-mile ride through the early dews
to the heights above, where once stood Segesta, to
forget our sleepless sorrows in contemplating a
Greek Temple and the remains of a theatre.
How strong has ever been in a Roman mind the
leaning to omens, specially in the matter of a
name ! The masters of the world, when they took
into amity and aUiance this city, claiming a com
mon origin with themselves in Trojan ancestors,
shrank from the poverty-stricken sound of "Egesta"
and rebaptized it " Segesta."
Pyrrhus with his elephants, or Hannibal with
his heavy armed infantry, were scarcely so for
raidable in the eyes of the S. P. Q. R,, as an un
lucky crow, or sacred chickens A\'ho refused to eat.
After clirabing a pretty stiff brae we came upon
the classic ground ; a situation as fine as that of
Paestum, and one calling up grander ideas.
The Temple is larger in its dimensions than
that of Neptune, and pure Doric, The columns
are formed of cylindrical blocks like miUstones, of
very unequal thickness; towards the centre of
each column there is a considerable bulge: these
are not channelled, as those at Paestum, but they
are loftier, and the proportions of the entire struc-

"3, S-^onIiflK^-tiraifiQufieii.

T IEMIP[

[C(&E$T^ .

PALEKJIO. 199
ture struck me as being more elegant. The quarry
from Avhich they Avere hcAvn lies all around : bend
ing strata of calcareous travertine cropping out
from the mountain's side.
The effect of the morning light was grand and
imposing : the Temple looks nearly due North, and
the sun's ra}s gilding the colonnade on one side
projected on the other a beautiful shadow of the
entire building, piUar, nave and pediment, on the
grassy slope. This effect is best seen as you de
scend the opposite hiU, on Avhich the amphitheatre
stands : the Temple then faces you, and the sha
dow is laid down on the right, if the hour be about
8 A, M,
The whole thing is as ghostly as Melrose Abbey :
nothing is here to break the charm of solitude
Avhich approaches almost to the sublime ; the mules
making up for lost time among the bent and tre
foil are hidden by the edge of the hill ; the shrewd
guide is Avith them, occupied probably in comput
ing how much he AviU charge you. Meantime you
may forget your foolish purse, and think of the
days that are gone. How many thousands once
were busy here ! and Avhat is become of their dwel
lings ? Here is indeed the Temple, standing un-
o 4

200 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY,
hurt as if by magic : but for the rest, nought save
waste blocks strewing the vast area. Where are
the happy homes, the busy mart, the sociable
streets ? All is gone, but how did it disappear ?
Did an earthquake level the " pauperum tabernas
regumque turres " yet spare the temple ? I should
rather incline to believe that some ruthless con
queror, such as Agathocles, in the hour of ven
geance, ploughed up the city but feared to touch
what was consecrated.
The Araphitheatre, Roman of course, must have
been an elegant one, judging by what remains. It
was of unusuaUy small dimensions. The courses
here are laid in a blue stone selected from the
curling edge of the quarry. Report says that the
imperial Nicolas meditates a trip from the palaces
of Palermo to this mountain scene : I advise him
to carry his bed Avith hira to Calatafimi. What a
man is this ! surely the eagle of his tribe. Even
Madame Catalani's glowing description of his ap
pearance scarce prepared me to see such an ener
getic Colossus. L'Imperatrice seems to be mending
in health here : but oh ! grief to the Palermites,
they must not fire the guns, as she cannot bear
the concussion. But to return to our villa. What

PALERMO. 201
singular associations cross one's path in life ! All
my schoolboy days rushed back on me just noAv as
dear as if present. AVe were taking a turn on the
gravelled walk that runs round the shrubbery : a
little yellow owl was tied by the leg to a hutch :
sundry suspicious-looking twigs lay here and there
athwart the hedge-row, and half a dozen linnets
and sparrows stood chirping at him. Returning
chez nous, a glance at our landlord explained the
Avhole affair: he held in either hand a prisoner
fluttering on a lime-twig; "due bocconi," said he,
AAdth a grim smile : the " ci vetta" hadbeen playing the
part of decoy-duck, and these were the first-fruits.
In another minute, before we could grant them
grace, he twisted both their necks, and declared Ave
should see them at dinner.

202 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.

CATANIA.
December.
After a peep at Messina, here we are at the foot
of Etna, in a town historically old, but actually
ncAV, looking up at a cone ten thousand feet above
us white Avith snow. Nothing can AveU be more
striking than the coast of Sicily, whether you
sweep by it in a steamer, or take a " vettura " oc
casionally and post across such levels as have
roads made on them. From Palermo to Messina
we had the boat, and from its deck made acquain
tance with the Lipari Isles, Scilla and Charybdis,
and Stromboli. The appearance of this latter gives
a more simple impression of the poAver of volcanic
agency than even the lofty furnace of Vesuvius :
here is a rocky chimney rising like a lighthouse
amid the waves, and in a state of constant ignition
day and night for some thousand years.
Charybdis has golden sands and a picturesque
tower : there is still a considerable whirlpool off
shore which the steamers avoid. SciUa's rocks
Avould Avreck any craft mad enough to brush
against them ; but Avith ordinary care there can be

CATANIA. 203
little danger of coraing into such contact, for the
tide Avhich carries you into the bay of Messina
through the strait floAvs like a raillstream.
The road from Messina hither presented nothing-
worthy of remark, save the dry beds of water
courses, which in six Aveeks are to become torrents.
Of these, albeit noways picturesque, one is con
strained to take note every half-hour, as the large
pebbles almost unwheel you. The Avay the vehicle
is packed, though sensible enough on other grounds,
renders these bumps inevitable whenever the road
is uneven : aU the luggage is slung in a rope-net
below the belly of the carriage, and of course
clashes with every obstruction that occurs. And
thus, three horses abreast, yovi get along, some
five railes an hour. The sixty odd miles between
Messina and this took a couple of days, as the
same cattle must do all the Avork.
We have been here a week, and I have ascended
Etna ; a matter very easy in sumraer, but sorae
what difficult in the snow. Real danger I should
say there is none for any healthy person, if he or
she wUl observe certain precautions. Professor
GeraeUaro, Avho lives at Nicolosi on the mountain,
was good enough to put rae on my guard just in

204 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
time. We reached this spot, sorne 14 miles from
hence and lying at the edge of the first lava- field,
in the evening, and I at once made my arrange
ments for starting towards midnight with a guide
to reach the summit. Calling on GemeUaro, he
gave me two wrinkles: "Borrow a Sicilian Ca-
potte ; and before you set out lie down and sleep,
if it be only for a couple of hours, — as the tem
perature betAveen this spot and the Casa degli
Inglesi varies above forty degrees of Fahrenheit."
Forewarned, forearmed: so to bed I went and
dozed two hours, then dressed, pocketed a pair of
long stockings to don over my boots and pantaloons,
with an extra pair of gloves and a comforter, and
finally got into a great rough Capotte which I
deemed as impenetrable as if it Avere the shelter of
a stout rooftree and warm fireside. I little thought
that Avithin six hours the air of upper Etna would
pierce through it like the blade of a SAvord, be
nurabing my joints, chilling my marrow, and
freezing my breatli in icicles on Avhiskers and eye
brows. I started about eleven p. m. Two men
accompanied me, one to scale the summit, the other
to look after the horses, which must be left at the
Casa degli Inglesi. We had moonhght for 2 or 3

CATANIA. 205
hours, after Avhich Diana veiled herself, I rather
think behind the mountain, but Avon't be positive.
After passing 4 miles of lava, Ave entered the Bosco
and Avandered for about 5 miles more through
Avinding paths and among broken banks Avhere
doddered oaks rising out of the fern recalled the
scenery of AAindsor Forest. In this " bosco " is
a hut, Avhere Ave halted a quarter of an hour to
feed the cattle, and don our extra Avraps. Shortly
after this we eraerged frora everything hospitable
and habitable upon a vast country of lava : now it
A\'ould be a claraber for half an hour along the
edge of a precipice, now a plain two miles across,
Avhitened by lakes and grips of frozen snow; then
another precipice, — and so on for nine miles.
There Avas not rauch wind, but when a breath did
come it was hke a rebuke void of love, chill and
disheartening. The Capotte has a band by which
it buckles at the waist: I shall always like the
sight of a buckle and band : I believe it saved me
once or twice from dropping out of the saddle.
There are fcAV things more exhausting to the
spirits than a long endurance of severe cold by
night : the muscles and nerves become over
wrought, and their usually cheerful play turns to

206 JOURNAL KEPT IN I'TALY.
a dead pull : perhaps the brain is slightly affected,
the heart certainly is, as your pulse plainly indi
cates. Then, the horses will stumble, and when
they stumble often they get frightened and refuse
to go on, and then you must dismount and lead
your beast, though your fingers are frozen and
your head giddy. Amidst this diversion I had
two severe falls ; one of them, Avhich was into a
deep grip, the horse shared with me. I know
when Ave reached the Casa degli Inglesi at past
five in the morning, I thanked God heartily and
audibly. Here we halted, unlocked the doors, lit
a fire in the outer roora, and gave the beasts a bag
of fodder. The guides fell to eating : I was too
sick to accorapany them, but they did ample jus
tice to my cold foAvl and bottle of Avine as well as
to their o-wa. viands. I never looked on such a
scene as that Avhich was presented frora the thresh
old of this Casa. A vast " pianura " of black lava
ribbed and spotted Avith snow, here a hillock per
haps 200 feet high, of the sarae stern raaterial,
there the dira crest and plurabline of a precipice;
on the other side, looming through the sombre air
like a barrier-limit of the Avorld, the huge cone of
Etna. Beyond this, absolute void. There Avas

CATANIA. 207
comfort in feeling that amid the wilderness I stood
on the threshold of an English home ; for this rude
tenement Avas reared by a party of English, and
God laiows how many lives it has saved. Still I
longed for day to break and reveal something akin
to the habitable earth if it were but a grey stone or
a lichen. An hour and a quarter of severe struggle, with
the aid of a stout staff each, brought myself and
guide within a hundred yards of the topmost ridge.
The loose ashes made this part of the business
very wearisome. I observed that in ten steps avc
did not advance aboA^e half as raany feet. All at
once, in our last halt for breath, Ave saAv the horizon
flush from a dull pink to bright orange, ancl up
came the sun. With it came rays of golden light
bringing warmth to our bodies, and form and
colour to every object around us. We scrambled
over the remaining bit, and gained the sumrait of
the cone. Here ocular proof is obtained of the
prodigious elevation of Etna, of which one has no
adequate idea from below. Some six or seven
thousand feet beneath us lay a fleecy field of clouds
resting like pillows on the region of the Bosco, and
spreading from thence in a vast semicircular area to

208 JOURNAL KEPT IN IPALY.
the visible horizon, Avith perhaps a hundred and fifty
miles of radius. When I first looked on this I sup
posed it to be the sea, and raarvdhng at its un
wonted appearance requested the guide to show rae
Catania : " Queste sono nuvole, e Catania non si
puo veder " was the answer. Indeed it lay fully
three thousand feet lower, and was at this time
buried under the mist. As the sun ad\^anced the
enormous white mass parted in divers directions,
and the sea shoAved itself, a gulph of indigo, with
huge things careering on its surface like icebergs
after a thaw : these were the clouds rent and piled
up. "Adesso si vede il mare" said ray friend: I
srailed, for I saw he had discerned my previous un
belief of his assertion. In the course of twenty
minutes the lava-fields on this side of the Bosco
Avere visible.
We now walked on the edge of the great crater
Avith our backs to the sun. My attention was
drawn from one phenomenon to another: I was
marvelling how crystals of ice could be formed
araidst hot scorise and smoking sulphur, Avhen the
guide called me to look at a " bella cosa;" I raised
ray eyes and beheld the shadow of the cone pro
jected in air on the morning moisture in the di-

CATANIA. 209
rection of Lipari. It seemed exactly another cone,
heaviest towards the head, which was of a violet
colour, and shivered into shadowy streaks on the
flanks. Behind it was a sky brightening every
moment with the sun's ray, and across this a fcAV
dark horizontal hnes broke from the penumbra.
This thing is spectral in its appearance, and more
than any other object aloft, impresses one with a
sense of the singular and isolated position of Etna's
summit. The main crater is about five hundred feet deep
at this time ; so say the guides, but I think this
must be measured doAvn the slope of the funnel. I
could not, however, see to the bottom, owing to
volleys of sulphureous smoke whirhng up ever and
anon, accompanied by a rumbling noise and occa
sionaUy by a shght vibration in the ground under
foot. Here I found amidst warm ashes, on the
slope of the crater within, heavy crystals of ice set
all at one angle and curved like sharks' teeth. I
picked up one bit as big as a walnut and asked the
guide if he could account for its presence. Far be
it from him to give a " rationale " of any thing of
the sort : it would derogate from the dignity of

210 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
Etna, It reminded me of a chemical experiment
played off by a French savant at one of the late
" Scienziati " meetings. He made water freeze in a
red-hot cup. The silver or platina being brought
to a red heat, a few drops of water are throAvn in,.
which do not eA'^aporate but jump about. Sul-
phviric acid is now poured in, which in the act of
boiling produces so intense a cold by the disengage
ment of its latent heat, that the drop of water at
once turns to ice. I opine the chemical process here
to be the same, only on nature's grand scale. The
raorning mists supply the moisture, and Avithin
the crater there is no lack of sulphureous mixture
boUing as in a retort : hence, as hot fumes ascend,
the crystals of ice are precipitated. If any one re
ject this solution of mine let them find a better,
remerabering that they are to account for pieces of
ice forraing on a bed of warm ashes. This prin
ciple of " disengagement of latent heat " raay also
help to account for the severity of the cold felt on
Etna, which is far greater than is due to its eleva
tion. I believe the summit of an Alp at the same
level is not so cold though in a more northerly
latitude. A Russian, Avho ascended the mountain
a fortnight before I did, Avas perfectly amazed:

CATANIA. 211
he said he never felt, even in Petersburgh, such
peculiar sensations of cold.
There lay another smaller crater not far off Avith
a caldron of flames at its bottom, but the sides of
this cannot be descended with safety ; we paced a
few yards down the interior of the big one, but I
was never fond of breathing sulphur matches, so
did not go far.
On our return over the lavas I stopped to ex
amine " Empedocles' ToAver," as the country people
caU it, but now held to have been one of the early
altars to Ceres : this latter guess is ingenious, but
may give place to a better. The remarkable fact
about it is, that it presents a fine specimen of brick
work not found elsewhere assignable to such a date
in the Etnean country. As to Empedocles or any
one else, permanently inhabiting this elevated
region, I hold it to be a fable ; if he really did so
for a week in December, it would fully account
for his jumping into the crater to warm himself.
SicUians quote the view of the Val di Bue from
the edge of Etna's north-eastern cliff, as the finest
they have ; it is certainly the wildest. Your eye
travels down to a vast plain lying far below ; from
p 2

212 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
its level rises an extinct volcano, whose fields of
lava, richly tinted, are spread round its base ;
mountains forra a ring fence, themselves of con
siderable stature, but shrinking into mediocrity by
the side of Etna. On reaching Catania, I sketched
this scene and the spectre of the mountain from
memory. The descent was as rapid as the ascent had been
long and toilsome. I thought the Bosco beautiful ;
the trees are of the species of oak called " dee,"
growing in a ferruginous soil which abounds with
some curious speciraens of semi-petrified earth, pro
bably due to the action of saline springs. Emerging
from this, I encountered my dear partner on horse
back ; she had braved the morning dews, and was
bringing a basket with provisions for breakfast,
and a ready ear for my raountain tale. Fox fol
lowed among the attendants, and seemed vastly
surprised that he had nothing but lava and ashes
to run upon. I retain two meraentos of this ex
pedition, a beautiful piece of coloured scoria from
the crater's edge, and the oak stick cut from one of
the " del," with which I clirabed up the cone.
This Catania, or xar Eri/a, lying at the foot of

CATANIA. 213
the mountain, derives its chief interest at this day
from its position ; the era of its glory, and it is to
be hoped also that of its calamity, has gone by,
and it is now a second-rate town, inferior to Pa
lermo in beauty and to Messina in wealth, but still
attracting many visiters to its singular neighbour
hood. Every thing teUs of Etna, breathes of Etna ;
the exquisite honey at your breakfast-table is from
the slopes of Etna ; Etna's suoav ices the fruits and
confectionery; Etna's lavas, cut into polished
tablets and boxes, adorn the shop-windows ; if you
ask about the weather, Etna's cone is the only au
thority, and according to its actual appearance, hot
or cold, wind or calm, fair or foul is predicted.
Above aU, if you have legs and your health, you
make a push to chmb to the loftiest crater in
Europe. The Saracens caUed him " Mongibello,"
which means "mountain of mountains," Etna
resting on a vast region of hiUs as his base.
Catania is ahnost entirely new, having been
rebuilt on the old foundations after the earthquake
of 1693, which slew sixteen thousand persons here,
and in all Sicily, I believe, a hundred thousand.
The shock overthrew the old town, leaving only up
p 3

214 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
to the first floor in the Benedettini monastery, and a
few other buildings. Indeed from the first it has
knoAvn its full share of troubles. In a. d. 535,
Belisarius took it ; in 550, Totila; in 1542, earth
quakes shook it dreadfully ; from 1575 to 1578,
it was ravaged by pestUence ; from 1581 to 1591 a
famine raged. In 1624 the pestUence came again ;
in 1647, again ; in 1669, Etna buried every thing
westward, and great part of the tOAvn itself, the
wave of lava, thirty feet high, halting suddenly
within ten yards ofthe Benedettini. In 1693 was
the aAvful earthquake.
There is great lack of a good history of the city,
which is the more surprising as many authenticated
traditions, knoAvn to man, woman, and child, exist.
The Duca di Carcace, the first noble here, has
draAvn up an elegant httle volume, but it scarce
amounts to more than a guide to museums and
villas. Some one should commence a work on all
the ancient capitals of SicUy ; no country ever had
so many or so mighty, save perhaps Etruria ; and
among these Catania would furnish an interesting
volume ; it is more ancient than either Palermo or
Messina, a colony from Chalcis having founded it

CATANIA. 215
in 758 B.C., Nasso and Leontium being prior only
by a few years. It was christianised as early as
A. D. 44 ; and its inhabitants have from the first
borne such a warlike character that they never
erected fortifications to defend themselves, until an
attempt of the Turks to sack the town had nearly
succeeded, in the middle of the sixteenth century.
If such a work as the above were undertaken, it
would derive much interest from questions of chro
nology and language to which it would give rise.
The latter has always been shifting and changing ;
at this day it is a medley. The former is involved
in admitted confusion, from Avhich it can only be
extricated by bringing to bear on the disputed
points the coUateral light of general history.
Another very interesting branch would be the
geography of the island, or, rather, the decision of
the different districts in which distinct colonies
settled down, and a note of their emigrations from
time to time. If I were living here for five years
I would undertake it, and get Professor Agatino
Longo, of this toAvn, to help me ; who is a very
well-informed and agreeable man, though devoured
with philosophical hobbies. p 4

216

JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.

Synopsis.

PEOPLE,

EBA.

LANGUAGE.

Ciclopi.

Lestrigoni.

Sicani.
Siculi
¦
80 ante Trojam
captam
"I Sicilian.
_f Phoenician.
Trojani,
Chalcidenses
-
765 B.c,
Corinthians
-
-
Grecian mixed.
Megarenses.
Eomans
-
.
Latin mixed.
Saracens
.
-
Arabic,
Normans
¦
Beginning of 12th
century -
• Norman.
Castilians, &c.
"
14th century.
This is a rough sketch of what would be needed
as a running comment to accompany the body
of the work. There is one antique here, the
elephant of basalt, in the Piazza ; this is probably
due to the city's amity Avith Pyrrhus, 300 b, c, ; it
was then they lost their solar quadrant, which
emigrated to Rome, as part of the spoil seized by
Messala, Catania stands, despite its wars and its
earthquakes ; but where are Leontium, Agri
gentum, Tauromenium, Syracuse, and others ? all
once mighty cities, and how little do we know of
their fall !
CATANIA, 217
There are several modern " lions" here. The
Biscari museum is as well arranged as any I have
seen, though necessarUy limited, being a collection
made by one famUy, almost by one individual, the
late prince; here are some of the most beautiful
petrifactions in the world. The Duomo is a hand
some building, and contains St, Agata's head in a
sUver case, but it cannot be shown till her " festa"
in February arrives. She is the patron-saint, and
in the " Maria" nunnery is a painting representing
the torture infiicted on the youthful martyr ; it is
a fact that the executioners cut off her breasts !
Coeur de Lion called at this port on his way to
Palestine, and presented a croAvn of gold at her
shrine : this and a collar Avith inestimable jewels
are kept locked and guarded under seven fire
proof doors.
The noblest church, however, here, or in all
SicUy, is the Monastery of the Benedettini, which is
on a free foundation, even the sovereign having no
power to dUapidate its revenues. This princely
society keeps the poor of Catania from perishing by
famine : a sum of several dollars is disbursed every
morning in necessaries to reheve the most pressing
cases. Sovereigns have been guests here, and the

218 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY,
buUding comprises a palace, a museum, and a
" hanging garden," constructed on the terrace
afforded by the last wave of lava which took this
direction in 1669, Here, from a window looking
out into the court, we gazed on the scene and fact
of the " miracolo," A space of some ten yards
broad, by perhaps thirty in length, is flanked on
the left by the con vent- wall, on the right by the
paraUel line of lava-rock, now solid, and supporting
shrubs and trees, but then liquid enough to flow.
It here stopped short of the church, which its
further progress for a few seconds must have
thrown down. The great earthquake, twenty-four
years later, shook down aU the upper stories, but
left the basement level up to the first floor standing
and facing the lava as before. Thus it has escaped
tAvice, from eruption and from earthquake-shock.
The Catanians love to dwell on this miraculous
interposition in favour of their church, and who
can blame them ?
The choir has one of the finest organs in the
world; we heard a voluntary on it. This town
was Bellini's birthplace ; the people are passion
ately fond of music. There is one good picture
here, author unknown, — the " Spasimo."

CATANIA, 219
The Catanians have many troubles, but they
have also many advantages natural or acquired, I
think on the whole they are happy people. Their
corn, which erst fed Rome, is almost indigenous,
for the date of its introduction into the island
cannot be traced. Their vines, growing low as
on the Rhine, yield a far more generous grape
than that which ripens on the straggling festoons
of Italy : their fish are abundant and dehcious ; no
seas in the world can show the hke. Cefalo, spina,
merluzzo, nasella, alice, are superior to any sorts I
ever ate any where. Then, if they Avish to build,
they need not bake bricks or quarry stone ; here is
the ready lava, durable, and of all colours ; and
marbles, agates, and alabasters, to face it with, for
those who can afford expense. To this day they
dig up rare coins and odd antiques, and their river
roUs do'wn amber of three different hues, a per
quisite for the peasant and fisherman. They are
lively and faithful craftsmen, as the terra-cotta
groups witness. Their sUk fabbrica weU nigh
mates that of France, and the material is a si bon
marche, that every Catanian woman goes to mass
in a long mantiUa of good black silk, enveloping
her from the head to the ancles. Finally, Mongi-

220 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
hello, their only terror, is at the same tune their
pride and dehght : when he is quiet, they rejoice in
his beauty ; when an eruption threatens, they
humble themselves before the Almighty, and con
fess their sins as a people. London, Paris, Rome,
seats of pride and luxury, have ye any thing
better? or is the unseen mine beneath your palaces
and markets, ready to be sprung when least ex
pected, less dangerous than the artiUery and lava-
floods of Etna ?
One effect of visiting a country like this is to
force one's attention to the subject of volcanic lavas.
The amount of those in existence in the Two Sici
lies, if computed geometrically, is truly prodigious,
and then arises the puzzling problem of " what is
the source, the actual generation of the lava ? "
As to its amount, the measure of the Etnean fields
has never been taken; it probably comprises one
third of this island. But Vesuvius, a mere baby in
comparison, has vomited enormous masses whose
dimensions have in part been tested. WhUe we
Avere in Naples they were boring an Artesian well
in the vicinity of the palace. The shaft had been
sunk 450 feet, and they were not yet through the
volcanic strata.

CATANIA. 221
Again, Ischia is simply a volcano : the entire re
gion of the Solfaterra, Phlegrfean fields, &c., is an
old volcanic district. Some persons deem that the
Avhole kingdom of Naples has come out of the
bowels of volcanoes ; it is very possible : if the eye
may decide, then I should say every thing betAveen
Vesuvius and Cuma, including the Bay of Naples,
was once one great crater ; it certainly retains that
form, only, as the old lavas return to a consistence
of clay, one walks over them without knowing it.
The nature of the lava-rock prior to its volcani-
sation is not known : it would seera, however, to be
homogeneous, liquefying in all parts of the world
at much the same teraperature, and everywhere re
taining its heat for a length of tirae which is diffi
cult to account for. The scorise, ashes, and vitrified
matter shot forth in gaseous explosions have a to
taUy distinct character and are never liquefied.
Probably the lava has a base of clay with lime
and alum combined. Iron from time to time
mingles with this, and hence on the crater's edge
you will always find it in some form or another.
Round that of Etna small shining prisms like
" tourmalines " are picked vip : they go by the
name of " ferro specolare " from their reflecting the

222 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
light, and they are not fusible in fire, GemeUaro
gave me a paper of them when I was with him.
The eruptions are unquestionably due to a super
abundance of moisture : when the water is decom
posed explosive gases result. Hence, earthquake-
shocks generally coincide with the throes of the
mountain, A very wet season is always foUowed
by one dangerous to those who dweU near a volcano :
it has been noted also that in the first stages of an
eruption streams of salt water are sometimes
vomited. Volcanoes, moreover, throughout the
known world, stand in the vicinity of seas, as Coto
paxi, Hecla, Etna, Vesuvius, &c. Stromboli is in
the sea. Some one has observed that where a sea
has retired, or the inland lake dried up, the volcano
has become extinct. Now aU this dangerous
activity of the water would alone lead one to think
of clay as the base ; for that substance is imper
vious to water, and when the charabers within the
mountain's jaws are heated they act as boilers and
generate steam. There is another and distinct
reason for assuming a base of clay, and that is the
apparent fact that old lavas return to the state of
clay, as is seen in the Solfaterra. Having said this
it is fair to mention one objection to clay being

CATANIA, 223
supposed the prevailing ingredient, which is this :
clay is very cold, but the lava torrents retain their
heat sensibly for a number of years. The current
of 1669, I am assured, was warm in parts for ten
years afterwards : and that of 1843 is hot now, at
the end of tAvo winters, on the Bronte side of the
mountain. This difficulty is very great : but may
be met by the fact that metal, which radiates very
slowly, is present in the formation, I think, how
ever, there is another consideration which may
solve the problem.
The lava-rock would appear to possess the pro
perty of internal combustion, as a piece of phos
phorus does. Whoever has read that very interest
ing book the " Etudes sur la Nature," wUl remember
a chapter there on origins and species, by B. St.
Pierre, in which he remarks, contra the geologists,,
that Etna's forges must have been formed before
an eruption could take place. I quote from me
mory and have no copy of the Avork within reach :
but his argument is unanswerable, and will bear as
a corollary [note (/)] that there raust have been
fuel in the forge from the first. In brief, the fusion
results from fire kindling within the rock itself,
when the viscous nature of the substance and its-

224 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
aversion to assuming a gaseous form, cause the
fluid stream of stony matter. A chemist would
say there is a reaction of the component elements
ofthe rock, as in the case of fermentation.
Switzerland has glaciers, but no volcanoes ; why ?
because it is inland. Its fresh- water lakes would
not feed a volcano. The " faU of the Rossberg,"
however, was accompanied by an explosion of gas,
a shower of heavy missiles, and an exuding of vast
masses of clay ; which had every volcanic character
save the phosphoric and metaUic one of melted
matter flowing as from a forge.
While speaking on the subject of the lava, I may
note here what has been found to be the chief danger
attendant on approaching a stream of it in motion.
This danger hes in any covered tank or reservoir of
water happening to be near. In one of the latest
eruptions of Mount Etna a number of persons had
foUowed the course of the lava for some miles,
occasionally stirring it Avith sticks, and even run
ning across the heated current. At a certain
point, the stream carae in contact with a smaU
reservoir ; an explosion of steam followed instan
taneously, and about a score of persons who were
standing near lost their lives ; others Avere scalded.

CATANIA. 225
The same thing occurred not very long ago on
Vesuvius. Among the specimens of lava which I collected
while in Catania, I have one exhibiting a trans
parent agate-like substance, striped as are the
Scotch pebbles : this Avas Avithout doubt formed
by the heated lava thus coming in contact
with water.
While on this subject, I mention a fact unAvelcome
to divers modern geologists. The origin of basalt
is probably aqueous ; a variety Avhich is evidentl}'
stalagmitic may now be seen in a chff near
Aci-Trezza on this coast. The Cyclopean Isles
hard by are of this material. We have raade our
trip there, but a rough sea forbad our landing on
the sheer rock. In the attempt we were nearer
being drowned than I ever saAV a boat's crew in my
life, " Non nobis, Domine ! " said I, and say still.
The "temporale" came like lightning, the Avaves
rose hke a castle wall, our boatmen were panic-
struck, and our fat host, Abbate, very near upset
us all. My servant, a Florentine, turned as pale
as if he had seen the Angel of Death.

226 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY,

SYRACUSE,
Syracuse, January, 1846,
We paid a visit to Messina a week ago, where
we had the pleasure of being wind-bound on Christ
mas day. As the breeze still continued adverse for
Naples, and a steamer here on such occasions is
only another word for your coffin, we have run
down the coast thus far to get a peep at scenes
renowned in the annals of Athens and consular
Rome, Messina has not many lions, but it seemed a
comfortable sort of place to live in. From the
brow of a mountain behind the to'wn there is a
noble view of the two seas, Tyrrhene and Ionian.
On the quay stands one fine piece of sculpture, a
fountain with sirens. There are three or four
splendid convents : in that of " Monte Alto " I found
an entire waU covered over with votive offerings in
descriptive pictures, which is the old Roman cus
tom of Horace's day surviving to our century : —
" Me tabula sacer
"Votiva paries indicat uvida
Suspendisse potenti ;
Vestimenta maris Deo."

SYRACUSE. 227
Substitute " Marise " for the two last Avords, and
nothing else is different.
In merry England on Christmas day people eat
roast beef and plum pudding, turkeys and mince
pies : you may eat most of these here also ; but
the special dish in honour of the " Nativita " is
" capitoni," enormous eels stewed in a rich sauce.
Every soul ate capitoni in Messina. Indeed there
was an unusual supply ; for a shipload of them
intended for the Naples market could not leave
port in time o-wing to the gale : and thus the spe
culator, a sea-captain, was fain to get rid of them
in Messina at half price. Now I can only say they
are very good ; but we took the precaution of
ha'vdng another string to our bow in shape of a re
spectable roast joint of beef and a real good English-
looking plum pudding. After that, it is very hard
if we are left for the year of grace " eighteen forty-
six " Avithout Victoria's bonny face in our purse.
January, 1846.
Syracuse of all the spots I have ever seen affects
me most strongly with the idea of desolation.
Here are some fifty square miles, once peopled
by a million and a half of souls, as bare and lone
Q 2

228

JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.

as the top of Ben Cruachan. Of the five divisions
Avhich made up the ancient city one only, Ortigia,
lying at the extreme edge on the sea-coast,
survives. But Epipolis, which had the citadel,

and overlooked aU the rest, is now a vast plain
strewed with ruins level with the knee : its towers,
which erst kissed the blue sky, noAV kiss the sod.
Tica (Tu-xri), where Fortune's temple stood, has
shared the fortunes of Nineveh, and is in ruins:
Acradina, ruins ; Neapolis, ruins : and such ruins !
myriads of blocks, but each one laid low : columns,
but all broken : .banks and terraces of masonry
presenting the appearance of a landslip: baths
faUen in, arches crushed, the main hnes of roads
scarcely to be traced — nought remains but the ex
cavations of two theatres, the " Latomie" or quar
ries, subterranean grottoes, a catacomb, and two
headless columns of the teraple of Olympian Jove.

SYRACUSE. 229
Thc natural features of the country round are
too strongly pronounced for the flight of time to
affect them materially. Towards Etna, which is
a majestic object from hence, the ground sweUs
into long sweeping ridges. Epipohs crowns a sort
of cliff, from which you look down on the penin
sula of Thapsos on the left, and on the right
have a bird's-eye view of Plemrairium and of the
port, which is double. Here we threaded a range
of subterranean galleries from which of old issued,
as if by magic, the Syracusan horse and foot on the
flank of the Athenians. These ambushes lie under
neath the city's foundations, and I have met with no
remains which give a bolder idea of the conceptions
and labours of the men of other days. Labdald%
position is marked by one of the few large masses
extant : here Nicias' camp was pitched, and here
he had fuU leisure to reflect on the foUy of the
whole expedition. The Port has a circumference
of seven miles ; 500 saU of the line might lie as snug
within its arms as a coble in a boathouse : Nelson
harboured here for a week with fourteen seventy-
fours, having 10,000 men on board, a matter which
the SicUians have not forgotten. Bronte, on the
side of Etna, is not better known by the tremendous
Q 3

230 JOURNAL ICEPT IN ITALY.
lava-torrents which it has vomited than by the
lion-hearted commander to whom it ga\''e a duke's
title. The entrance to this port was defended
anciently by a bridge of boats connected Avith
strong chainwork ; an impassable barrier when
such was needed. At present Ortigia is entered
on the land side by five gates and four drawbridges.
" In hoc portu Atheniensium nobUitatis, imperii,
glori£E naufragium factum existimatur," — so says
Tully : but what chance could Athens, whUe at
variance with Sparta, have had against such a city
as Syracuse ? SaUust observes, shrewdly enough,
" Atheniensium res gestae, sicuti ego existimo, satis
amplse magnificseque fuere ; veriim ahquanto mi
nores tamen quam fama feruntur:" and then he
gives the reason.
At the foot of Epipolis are some fields of
scorise and old lavas from Etna, but the folks
here do not care much about Mongibello. An
old fisherman was asked by a professor what
account he could give of that " rara avis in terris,"
the basaltic cluster of isles caUed " Ciclopi." He
of the skiff and nets cut this Gordian knot readily
enough. " Furono fatti da Domin' Iddio "... a
wiselike answer, not unworthy of certain folks'
consideration now-a-days.

SYRACUSE. 231
Arethusa's Fountain is now a scanty rill drizzling
alongside of a stone waU. When we looked on
it I reaUy forgot the " Sicehdes Musae," and
thought of the banks o' Clyde ; for two or three
brawny wenches, stripped to the knee, were sous
ing, rinsing, and straughting the linen in the
waters of the coy nymph. The Anapo and Ciana,
two streams which uniting a little above the har
bour mingle their fresh waves with its salt, are
better worth a visit. The Ciana is beautiful:
fringed with colossal waterflags, and its bosom
reflecting the floating thickets of the " papyrus."
This latter is identical Avith the plant of the
NUe, When growing it has a graceful ap
pearance, the triangular green rush and golden
mop-hke head swaying and nodding in every
gust. Here are several small islands of it
anchored in the stream : it sometinies stands
twenty feet high. The process of making the
paper is a simple one, but can only take place on
the spot, as the stalk must be slit and pressed the
same day it is rooted up or it will lose its adhesive
property; these strips laid one over another,
gridiron fashion, are pressed in a napkin — et voild
tout. A lad here makes it very tidily. We rowed
Q 4

232 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY,
six miles up the Ciana to its source, a limpid
pool some forty feet deep with the springs welling
up in its bottom. The New River head, near Ware
in Hertfordshire, is not unlike it ; only here the
water is so translucent that you may see shoals of
the " cefalo " swimming about full fathom five,
I regretted on this jaunt that I had not a fowling-
piece with me ; summer-snipe, whole snipe, moor
hen, dabchick, and yellow wagtail flirted around
the boat : I even put up some Avild-duck ; and an
enormous buzzard rose leisurely from the flag-
stubble, where he had no doubt been doing his best
to flout the game-laws.
The " Latomie," in the Tica district, were ori
ginally the Syracusan quarries, from which they
cut many thousand cubic feet of stone, to rear
their city walls and temples.
After the defeat of the Athenian army, these
were used as prisons to confine the unhappy cap-
.tives, and proved the condemned ceUs of such as
could not recite Euripides, Some of them are now
converted into rope-walks, others, appertaining to
the convents, are dressed as gardens, and present a
singular scene of verdure. The " Silva," of the
Capuccini is the most beautiful ; here the tops of

SYRACUSE. 233
the pines and orange trees barely reach half Avay
up the cliff Avhich their convent crowns. The
crypt here has relics of undoubted authenticity,
the natural mummies of some twenty of the holy
fathers of other days ; each of these lifeless forms
is fastened to the waU by a belt round the waist ;
some have coUapsed and faUen, presenting the
appearance of a martyr at the stake, I was vexed
to find such lack of reverence and true discernment.
What parent or brother could endure to meet
the form and features he had knoAvn and loved
thus exposed as curiosities in a musty vault ? If I
Avere Sua Maesta, I would insist with the superior
on their interment. Our guide here was a Capu
cin of four-and-twenty, who, for zeal and kindness
with simplicity of manners, might have sat for the
portrait of Cristoforo in the " Promessi Sposi,"
San Giovanni had the honour of having S. Marziale
for its bishop, the first Christian prelate who filled
a chair in Sicily, In the primitive church below
we saw the identical cross of masonry set by this
bishop, when he consecrated the building ; and a
rare old eagle in stone, meant for that of St, John,
with the first three verses of his gospel below.
The mixed architecture here resembles the cross-

234 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY,
ings and overlappings of some of the geological
strata. You can see huge Grecian columns
peeping out from under a mask of Roman cement
and brickwork. The catacombs are hcAvn in the
tufo, and reach, it is said, to Catania,
St. Lucia's church is full of interest. Here is
the picture by Caravaggio, of her interment, with
the aged mother kneeling beside the corpse : his
strong lights and shadows suit the subject weU,
This Lucia was a poor girl, but of great personal
attractions : there is a story extant of her refusing
to hearken to the suit of one Avho was attached to
her, lest she should miss the cross of Christ. Her
day is now the great " festa " of this city, whose
principal quarter bears her name as patroness ;
including the fortress where the king's cannon
thunder from the ramparts. It is impossible not
to honour Roman CathoUc Christians for the
honour which they invariably pay to the memories
of those whom they hold to have been foremost in
the good fight,
Dionysius' s Ear is the finest of aU the caverns ;
whose " ear," however, it never was, but probably
an echo- vault for a theatre, or odeon above. It
is true, that in form it resembles an ear, more.

Wallcmlith.

''"'H'l"
- 'wwsr*»
Xan^CfrLXoiLp-rnaniLCPcitemosteT E.o^^ Da.ytSanlitli'totliel'tePr
©iB.®ir'irA ©ILL' oisiesKii]®.

SYRACUSE. 235
however, the asinine than the human, as some
one pithily observed. The ground plan within
has the figure of an S. Its dimensions are vast,
some 200 feet long, by fully 100 in height; yet
the old floor lies lower stUl, but is paved over,
on account of the springs of water which flood
the level.
They have a museum in the tOAvn : a mixed,
though smaU coUection. It has one gem, the
Venus ; a lady who unluckily lacks the head and
half an arm, but they have acted wisely in not
attempting restorations. This is one of the best
statues that have yet been dug up anjrwhere ; the
drapery, which is beautifuUy arranged, is a very
great advantage. In some respects I prefer this
to the Florence beauty.
The Esculapius in the same room is a poor thing
and heavy. Less ancient probably than the Ve
nus, but as much mutilated, is Archimedes' tomb,
towards Acradina — if indeed his it be. The
Grecian cut front in the face of the rock has a
striking appearance ; but this pretty pediment and
a bit of a pUlar or two raise your expectations only
to disappoint them. Within aU is empty, nor has
any one niche or chest furnished an inscription to

236 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY,
Avarrant the assertion of SicUian antiquaries. Still,
like the Spada Pompey, if it can't be proved neither
can it be disproved ; and one naturally wishes to
believe it. I have amused myself -with sketching
an outline of what may have been his last resting-
place in the city which gave him birth, and which
his genius aU but saved. One thing is in favour
of the sentence which assigns it as his. It is the
only sepulchre visible in these parts : and to bury
within the city walls was contrary to all law and
custom, a rule only departed from in the case of
iUustrious citizens and patriots.
The Syracusan features are handsome and " sta
tuesque : " all they lack here is, first, the old city ;
secondly, a carpet on their floor in December and
January. In the best inn of the toAvn we shiver with cold :
Oh ! for Kidderminster !
I am vexed that we cannot make out a trip to
Girgenti, once mighty Agrigentum; but the coast
road is just now sloppy and the weather tempes
tuous. Lentini, old Leontiwn, is now a wilderness, the
resort of huge tribes of water-fowl of every wing,
Avho resort to the marshy lake. I have no speci-

eg

iii

SYRACUSE. 237
men of its birds, but a very fine one of its ribbed
lavas. The site of Taormina, ancient " Tauromenium,"
is indescribably noble ; and its theatre must have
been the greatest thing in the island. You are at
a loss whether to admire most the vast masses of
brickwork, the specimens of alabaster and agate
facings, or the evident remains of exquisite co
lumns in Parian marble at its entrance. We
walked round the enormous Attic, and I wavered
for a moment in my vowed preference of the Coli
seum above all other structures in hoc genere.
The prospect is beautiful beyond description :
thirty miles of coast run along like the curling
edge of a shell in bays and inlets ; rich slopes
descend from MongibeUo's base to the shore ;
and ten thousand feet aboA^e all, that proud cone
rises hke a gigantic wave from amid a sea of
purple clouds. We had a chmb of two hours
from Giardini, and reached the Theatre's Cliff in
time for a glowing sunset.
At Giardini there is a tidy inn, and a shrewd,
busthng, inquisitive, benevolent old body of a
landlady. We did not quit Syracuse without experiencing

238 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
one sore disappointment. Those who know by
experience the pleasure of meeting with a country
man or countrywoman while roaming in distant
lands, with the delight of comparing notes and of
exchanging a greeting in one's mother-tongue, Avill
feel for us when they peruse the foUowing.
In the hotel Avhere we were lodged, the floor
above was tenanted by a married couple, who had
resided there for several weeks. Our own stay
proved a brief one, and during the course of it we
never met with these dear people : they had pro
bably long since explored all the spots in the neigh
bourhood which kept us so busy sight-seeing.
However this be, somehow we never met without-
doors, and generally, on coming home at the close
of the day, we were too glad to swaUow a dish of
tea and go to an early bed. Only, we heard that
the lady had long been and was still sedulously en
gaged in gathering all the specimens she could
find of a small blue shell, which strews the sands
of the Anapo and harbour: also we were aware,
as was my terrier " Fox," of the presence of two
little dogs in the apartment above, one of which
was said to be a perfect beauty. The day daAvned
at length whose afternoon was to see us re-embark

SYRACUSE. 239
on board a steamer for Messina. What Avas our
joy to learn that the family overhead were depart
ing by the same boat ! Now should I be able
to indulge the feast of reason and flow of soul.
What questions I would ask my new-found ac
quaintance, how we Avould box the compass of
geological and antiquarian science — specially on
the subject of the lavas ! — there I thought I should
shine. Then, the lady — a thousand pardons for
not naming her first — how delightful, how cheer
ing, how chatty it would be on board that horrid
boat ! The dogs too ! Fox, I am certain, knew
what was in question; for he knows everything,
and understands moreover at this time three lan
guages beside his own GaeUc. The hour drew on ;
we had despatched a hasty dinner — our bags
were packed, our biUs settled, the porter was sum
moned ; we had heard too from time to tirne en
couraging sounds above of packing, pushing,
thumping refractory luggage. Their very door
on the stair was ajar, and I could note the pat
tering of lap-dogs' feet. The lagging moments
passed at length, the moment of departure came.
We crossed our threshold. Fox whined, and I
instinctively raised my head and gave a glance up

240 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
stairs : my eyes met the landlord's face ; it AVore
a dispiriting, negative smile — " Questa famiglia
non parte ancora," said he : " la signora non ha
abbastanza di quelle piccolo conchiglie; bisogna n'
avere piu ! "
Next to the lava-labours of Etna, nothing has
struck me more in this beautiful island than the
poetical turn of the people. Theocritus was the
father of Idylls ; and Virgil is always appealing
to the " Sicehdes Musse.'" I suspect the experience
detailed in his Georgics, his most perfect work,
was mainly drawn from hence. The words " Ca
labri rapuere " in the epitaph attributed to him for
his own tomb, whether they were really his or no,
prove, by inference, that he was close opposite this
coast at the most observant period of life ; and no
doubt he crossed over. Dante aUows that the
first Italian effusions in playful satire were termed
" Siciliani." Even Petrarch savours of Trinacria.
The speech of the inhabitants is to this day rather
poetical than prosaic, abounding in lively images
and picturesque modes of expression. The stu
died cringing so common in Naples is rare here :
during a stay of six weeks in the island, I have
only tAvicp heard the title " CeUenza," which is

SYRACUSE. 241
everlastingly ringing in your ears in the metropolis.
Their similitudes are endless, and sometimes very
striking. In Florence you will hear " BeUo come
il campanile : " but here, if a lady is fair, she is
" una candela di cera ; " if too languid, " ha un
viso come un pesce boUito:" gentlemen who sit
sluggishly on their mules instead of springing off
to aid the weaker sex up the hiU are designated as
" pezzi di lava." If a httle girl has anything re
markable about her, " E molto simpatica, una cosa
particolare." " Buscar qualche cosa," I am sorry
to say, has here, as in Ischia, the double meaning,
either to earn a carline or steal it, as the case may
be. Their humour is never richer than when
shown in describing their own peculiarities of
character. Two current SicUian anecdotes may give some
idea of the national obstinacy, a trait in which
they certainly are not surpassed by any people —
not even by the immovable Swiss. One of these
relates that a SicUian on his way from Catania to
Messina, is met by a friend, who asks him where
he is going ; the reply is, " Ho da essere a
Messina ;" — " I must be at Messina." The other
observes, " You should say, ' Se Dio vuole :'" but
B

242 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
this only draws forth the vehement assertion, " Se
Dio vuole, o non vuole, ho da essere a Messina."
Hereupon, to punish his impiety, he is changed into
a frog. On recovering, after a year's penance, his
pristine form, he meets a man on the same spot,
who puts the same question, and gets the same
answer, with the old offence repeated. Again he
becomes a frog ; but though he has tAvice done
penance as a croaking reptUe, he hardUy sins
again, word for word the same, and now, being
incurable, is turned into a marsh by the roadside,
where so many are croaking that the sin is
evidently national.
Another story introduces a Sicilian married
woman, whose husband coming home from his
work, finds the house turned topsy-turvy, and
half the furniture destroyed; windows broken,
curtains torn, tables upset, the very bars of the
door tAvisted by main force. On requesting
an explanation, he is told by his wife — " Maritu
miu, forfici foru ! " which means, " Husband mine,
'twas the scissors did it ! " and she holds up her
working scissors. Finding he can get no better
answer, I am sorry to say he so far forgets himself
as to carry his better half into the garden, and

SYRACUSE. 243
there attaching the bucket-rope to her neck he lets
her doAvn into the well. After a souse up to the
chin, he repeats his enqviiry as to how the mischief
Avas done, but ahvays gets the same answer — " For
fici foru!" He noAv gradually lowers her deeper
and deeper, putting the interrogatory from time to
time, but with no better success. At length she is
fairly plunged over head and ears ; but Avhile thus
immersed, and speech impossible, the unyielding
lady stretches out one arm, and holding the hand
above water, moves the middle and forefinger so as
to represent the action of scissors opening and
shutting. At sight of this the husband gives in,
draws up his wife, and takes her tenderly horae,
voAving that he will seek no better answer than the
only one he seems likely to get, — " Maritu miu,
forfici foru ! "
These stories are genuine sketches of Sicilian
pertinacity. The " forfici foru" is now a pro
verbial phrase, equivalent as a reply to ours, of
" Find out, and then you'U know."
Looking at the faded capitals of SicUy, one feels
a deepening conviction that the sway of ancient
Rom€. blighted every thing that sat under its
shadow. These cities began with Phoenician en-
R 2

244 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
terprise, and were perfected by the arts and
fostering amity of Greece ; but from the day when
Rome gained the ascendant, they never knew real
prosperity. In her palmy state they did not share
her glory, but when she fell her ponderous ruin
overwhelmed them. Since that, Goth and Saracen,
Norman, Spaniard, and Bourbon, have lorded it
over the lovely island, trampled the pasture, and
oppressed the sheep. Nor are things really better
now. No complaints can reach the ears of the
kind-hearted sovereign who fills the throne, nor
any representations obtain redress from the venal
officials of the Neapolitan court. The Catanese
are ridden with taxes, and overburdened with
poor. They are just now building a new quay at
their own expense, of which the royal treasury Avill
reap the benefit in enormous harbour-dues. The
cement found on Etna, being of old eruptions, is
not strong enough to bind the stones. A supply
was requested from Naples, where a fine rich
" pozzolana" abounds. For every sack ofthis the
Catanians are made to pay the fuU market value,
and I saAV on the quay that they are obliged to fee
an officer day and night to watch over it ! This is
surely someA\'hat illiberal.

KOME. 245

ROME.
April.
There is something about this " Roma " unlike all
other capitals. If you see it for the first tirne,
though every block and flagstone are new to you,
you feel as if it were an old friend, at least a scene
Avhich you have dreamed of all your life. Leave it
for a season, Adsit other cities and return: Rome
seems changed, a new creation. Surely Trajan's
pillar is taUer, and the Coliseum vaster than you
supposed; St. Peter's dome has a grander swell,
and the fountains are more life-like and magical.
Perhaps you quitted it in winter and have come
back in spring : take a turn on the Pincian and
mark how the spikes of the cypresses and the um-
breUa-hke tops of the stone-pines are varied by
masses of bright foliage and white blossoms on the
acacia and chestnut. The very streets are more
cheerful : the shop-fronts are glittering Avith new
models, the picture-dealers have exposed a fresher
lot, other cardinals roU by in other carriages — a
foriner generation has passed away, and you are
E 3

246 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY,
pacing the Corso among new faces. Go to the
Campagna, to renew an old acquaintance Avith
Egeria's grotto: it is old no longer; the grot is
cooler and its fountain fresher; and the unseen
nymph as she flings a straggling creeper in your
face laughs at the dreamer who thought, because
his temples were groAvn grey or his step less elastic,
that boon nature has no, resource in the spring
time and the zephyr. True, the works of man are
mouldering : Avhile the grove has put forth greener
shoots, and a heavier crop is waAdng on the slopes.
Time's scythe has been mainly busy ; and the " im
ber edax " has eaten into brick and marble, tufo
and travertine, though you cannot find the crumbs
from such gigantic repast. The most changeless
features are the face of the Tarpeian and the out
hne of the Seven Hills : but where are the royal
adornments, the " fitting and furnishing " that
once beautified imperial sites? How heavy is the
hand of Time ! Do you hear the vaunt of the
placid Augustus ? "I found Rome all of brick,
I shall leave it of marble." How sternly the grey
beard smiles as he listens to it ! Hark ! he is
Avhetting his scythe — " What a foolish way they
have of tricking out the crust of this rickety

ROME. 247
planet ! I have seen Babylon and Nineveh in
their day; they Avere a breakfast for me. Here
is Rome, — her heart sweUed with pride, her face
plastered over with the spoil of the nations, — a
choice morsel for old Time. I am hungry -with
ranging over the plains of Greece and the steppes
of the Caucasus. Rome is ripe. By my beard !
I wiU not leave to this overgrown city a temple or
a palace, a clean arch or a white block — ho ! there
— the Goth and the Vandal ! " And what is he
mumbhng now, as he sits over against the faUen
palace of the Csesars? " I found Rome all marble
and bronze, squared stones and costly arches : /
have left it dust and ruin, — a sunken pit and a
broken column ! "
During the past month we have been on divers
excursions into the Campagna. Frascati is a
bower of verdure, ht up with the blossoms of the
almond and the globe-rose. On the heights of
Tusculum we have breathed the purest air of the
hUls and inspected a beautiful bit of old Roman
pavement. At Grotta Ferrata we found Domeni
chino's boldest frescoes; and made acquaintance
.with the original of a Poussin in the graceful
monastery of Palazzolo built on a cliff which over-
B 4

248 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
hangs Albano's lake. From the summit of Monte
Cavi and standing on the site of the temple of
Jupiter Latialis, amid gleams of sunshine and
driving mists, we have looked down on the two lakes
of Albano and Nemi, and counted in fancy the
thirty cities of Latium. What a scene is here ! and
what a path leads up the hiU and descends again
to the level of Albano I You ride through a forest
of ancient chestnuts, whose domain must at one
time have been invaded by a whirlwind, for all
these trees are tAvisted in the rind hke a cables
after this, a winding lane, its banks tufted Avith
thyme and orchis shooting up under the thick
hazels, and some hundred yards of the most per
fect Roman road existing. Then there was Castel
Gandolfo., with its galleries of Uex, and its Barbe
rini Villa, and its emissary on the lake below : and
Aricia's de'wy woods : and Nemi, rock built, Avith
its dark volcanic pool sleeping in that mysterious
hoUow. Nearer to Albano are the Tomb of Aruns,
Porsenna's younger son ; and the Fortress of the
Savelli, an ivy-clad ruin of the middle ages. Here
you may forswear butter, that yeUow deceit, and
eat the delicious " ricotta," a something between
curds and clouted cream. No neighbourhood can

ROME, 249
be finer : fcAv capitals can boast one half so fine,
Tivoli., in another direction, merits a three-days'
visit even better, not so much on account of its
waterfalls and Vesta's temple (called '•'• Sibyll' s")
as for its Campagna and the noble remains of its
viaducts. In the course of a ride of twenty-eight miles we
visited five of these latter, and some of them are
the grandest we have seen. They shoot in bridges
over deep ra^vines, tiers of arches clustering with
forest-trees and brushwood to a height of sixty and
seventy feet, and patched here and there with
broad flakes of light on the red stone. In Tivoli,
you may visit Maecenas' villa, a stupendous toy;
or Hadrian's, far vaster ; or marvel at the petri
factions wrought by "praeceps Anio." Hadrian,
by the by, did not lack taste, despite his hideous
mausoleum in Rome; he has planted this whole
district -with " melagina," an odoriferous shrub
bearing a white flower like that of the syringa ;
the first shp of which he was at the trouble of
bringing over from Egypt.
A pretty ride of fourteen miles leads from hence
to the scene of Horace's Sabine Farm at the foot of
the Mons LucretUis. I found the site a bear-

250 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
garden ; of all his darlings nothing is left but the
stump of a column. I did not get up the hill to
Blandusia's fount ; so can't say whether it is still
" splendidior vitro ; " but, coming back, we had a
taste of something better designated by the trans
atlantic term of " clear as mud : " a thunderstorm
drenched us for two hours, and the river ran away
Avith its OAvn banks ; passable roads all at once
became a sonorous bog under our horses' hoofs : —
but, Ave made the cattle go ; strong round-built
creatures, who mind nothing but a spur, but when
that argument is adduced, they cut away like
ostriches. To my surprise, Avhen we reached
Tivoli they had not turned a hair.
We have lately been with a party to see the
illumination of the statues in the Vatican. A
striking result is here obtained by means the most
simple. AU that is wanted for the treat is the
custode's fee for the flambeaux, which is a heavy
one, so it is better to make one of a large party if
you have an opportunity. The wax-lights are
enclosed in a semicircular shield of tin, acting at
once as a screen and a reflector ! this throws the
hall around into deep shadow, while a powerful
focus of light is brought to bear on the bust or

ROME. 251
statue Avhich is being exhibited. The thing Avhich
by day looked " so coldly SAveet, so deadly fair,"
seems now to start into life ; every vein and
muscle protrudes, the eye acquires depth, and the
mouth expression. I don't know Avhether the effect
is most admirable in the sterner forms or in those
of softer beauty. Perhaps the " Minerva Medica "
was now the finest of aU the marbles. But the
" Hercules and infant Bacchus," the " Menander,"
" Antinous," " Demosthenes," were all wonderful
in their vivid semblance of life. Canova's forms,
exquisite as they^ are, lost a little, and betrayed
their inferiority to the antique, under this search
ing test. I am afraid I shall never much care to
see the statues again by day. After aU, is Rome
anything beyond a treasure-house of other nations'
labours and inventions ? Her " fine arts " were
all Greek ; her " antiquities " at this day are Egyp
tian or Etruscan. Her very " toga," it seems, was
borrowed from Etruria ; and it is whispered that
" Purgatory," a graver matter, was first broached
in Egypt.
The Carnival has come and gone ; and Ave have
seen for several days the gravest people in the
world give themselves up to sports and disguises

252 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
compared to which a Christmas pantomime is sober
seriousness. The Corso was a brilliant scene
towards the hour when the steeds with none to
ride rush down its glittering vista : here in open
carriages and cars, on seat and box, or clustering
in windows and balconies, the Roman dames as
sert their claim to being the comeliest in Italy.
The mad diversion of " Senza Moccolo " on the
last night was the chief novelty. AU the world
who are abroad carry torches and flambeaux
which the passers-by exert themselves to extin
guish, growling these two words in derision when
they succeed. The scene is absurd. Strange that
here, in majestic Rome, the thing goes off admira
bly ; while at Naples, where every soul is a na
tural mimic or buffoon, the carnival is duU and
heavy. It is a marvel how the same people can keep
up the carnival, and then celebrate the holy week
year after year: Nothing can exceed in solemnity
the offices to which this latter is devoted. Despite
the crowds of sight-seers, who Avill treat everything
here as a theatrical exhibition, the aspect of the
city has for several days been grave and impres
sive. The comparative stillness of the vast multi-

ROME. 253
tudes assembling in churches and piazzas ; the
diurnal preachings ; the penitent repose of the
convents, where many noble ladies retire about
this time for a season of mortification — all this is
solenm, even outwardly, but much more so when
you reflect upon it.
I went early on the morning of Good Friday to
St. Peter's to hear Padre Ventura preach : I was
half an hour before the time ; and as I paced the
aisles and along the glorious transept I thought I
had never before seen the cathedral to such advan
tage. It was a clear morning, and the sun's level
ray darted through an arched oriel Avindow above,
and came full on the great mosaic of St. John.
All down the nave the light softened into a faint
mist, till it was lost among the piUars and recesses
of that enormous arcade. The massive golden
coffers above seemed less heavy, and the marbles,
too briUiant at noonday for a church, were mel
lowed doAvn in the haze of dimness.
AU the crucifixes were veiled, as if to point the
people's regards on this day from a shadow to the
substance, and the ever-burning lamps were extin
guished around the Apostles' shrine. I enquired
of a canonico who passed 'when the Padre was ex-

254 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
pected : " Adesso comincia," was the reply ; and
Ave entered the Cappella del Coro.
Padre Vantura, the Dominican, is a stout man,
something past middle age, with a full clear voice,
distinct dehvery, and a good deal of action. In a
discourse of an hour's length I do not know that
I lost a word. He took as his subject the brazen
serpent, from the text of St. John's Gospel ; and in
handling it ranged over many points of connection,
and brought many striking similitudes to bear in
illustration. I was edified by his fervid honesty.
He charged his hearers with corruptness of motive,
deadness of heart, and lack of divine charity :
avoAving that there is no true freedom but perfect
freedom, and that if we had the mind of Christ we
should take his yoke upon us and seek the sal
vation of our brethren more earnestly than we at
present seek our own. The amount of extempore
eloquence was very great : and it never swelled into
bombast or strayed into vagueness. Many as were
the points he touched upon, he was always clear
and ahvays hit the nail on the head : and reproofs
and consolations were alike welcomed by his hearers.
I did not think the grand festa, on Easter day,
so impressive, but was glad to be present when the

ROME. 255
aged pope, to Avhom Ave had been presented a short
time before, delivered the prayer " pro urbe et
orbe," and gave AAith uplifted hands the patriar
chal blessing. A hundred and fifty thousand
heads Avere uncovered in the piazza and its outlets,
reverent knees bended, and the vast multitude,
this gracious act completed, returned peaceably
to their homes.
St. Peter's and its colonnades were lit up in the
evening with a delicate array of lamps formed
with oiled paper ; this Avas the " silver : " but
when darkness fell, the second illumination, called
"the golden," burst out in burning cressets all
over the mass of building. The effect was very
good, as aU the lights in this quarter of the city
are quenched, and the enormous cupola and fa§ade
thus stand out in fiery relief against a compara
tively dark ground. The meridians of the dome
resembled the jeweUed arches in a royal crown,
and the single cross, glittering on high above every
other -yisible object, looked cheering and elevating.
The foUoAving night, St. Angelo's castle was the
theatre of some briUiant fireworks. The " giran
dola " or bouquet just at the end is well done : but
I thought one or tAVo devices exhibited on the

256 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
platform superior to it. Orvieto's matchless ca
thedral was sketched in fire. Then there was a
waterfall, or rather fire-fall. Perhaps the best of
all was the simplest and most obvious. St. An
gelo's presented a beleaguered fortress with its
huge turrets and battlements. Cannon flashed
from the ramparts, signal rockets blazed on high,
amid a running fusillade of smaU arms. Sud
denly all was hushed, darkness fell, and then by
the agency of a Bengal light the fortress appeared
on fire, when all ended in the tremendous explo
sion, bright as noonday, of the arsenal.
And thus we are leaAdng Rome ; filled with ad
miration of her beauty, awestruck by the remains
of her ancient grandeur, but astonished at her
Aveakness moral and physical. She is still majestic
" Roma," and yet she is changed — changed in the
very conditions of her being. Occupying much of
the ground covered by the ancient city, and more
of modem acquisition, she has lost the prestige of
victory, the inviolable walls within whose circuit
no conqueror's army might presume to enter, no
citizen might be interred. Her bishop is a recog
nised sovereign, though he cannot be "heredi-

ROME. 257
tary," Avith claims Avhich are heard and fdt
throughout thc " orbis terrarum," attached, hke
priceless jcAvels, to the hmited circlets of thc
triple crown. Her cardinals are princes, with
all the talent and more than the taste and erudi
tion of thc Scipios of old ; but the " amor patrias"
has dwindled down to time-serving devices, fitted
perhaps to uphold an artificial system, but inade
quate to meet the human A\'ants, the growing de
mands of a populous city, and Avidespread though
feeble states.
Among the middling and loAver classes, character
shifts between two extremes, but misses the healthy
level which was the strength of the republic: an
Itahan will be a cipher, or he will be first rate ;
he Avill Avaste his time and energies in cafes and
conversazioni, or he avUI redeem literature with
Cardinal Mai, and emulate the Greek models with
Canova. " Mediocrity " is the one thing they
dread ; but there is a truth in mediocrity which
they have overlooked : a humble lot encourages
content of mind and proffers domestic duties.
Yet, to avoid sympathising with such a people,
you must first forget what they once were; it is
the history of their origin, the long hne of their
s

258 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
early records, which explain their national bearing,
and paUiate if they do not not excuse, much of
their pride or indolence as a people, and much of
the arabition of their rulers.
The therae of the old Roraans Avas conquest, and
their motto was " Nil admirari." The wealth of
the East and the polite arts of Greece lay around
them, and they had pondered well that passage
in Cyrus's histor}^, Avhere Solon remarks to the
King of Lydia — " a little iron Avill one day take all
this gold." Their early rayths and legends, whether
we regard them as handed doAvn by tradition, or
as coined by Livy to please the people, equally
prove the popular character and bent. They rise,
according to this glowing annalist, under the
auspices of Mars, fearless of the sentence of
Homer who depicted him as a buUy. Their
founder is suckled by a she-wolf, and grasps the
sceptre of rule Avith the unhappy prestige of a
fratricide, which, nevertheless, forms no obstacle
to his deification in due time. As they gain
strength and succeed in fortifying their position
on the hills, they wax bolder and more warlike.
The Sabines must part vdth their wives and
daughters, and the Latian cities Avith their territory.

ROME. 259
Soon they take a higher and a sterner tone :
warrior-kings are good to head a moA'^ement, but
the pomp and luxury of a covirt cramp the
energies of the rising commonwealth. A flagrant
instance of royal debauchery occurs amid the
leisure intervals of a carap hfe : the honour of a
private family is stained, and a high-minded but
innocent Avoman, unable to brook her wrong, stabs
herself to the heart in the presence of her husband
and relatives ; the capital is convulsed, the army
excited ; Brutus, a character long forming for the
occasion, steps forth to harangue the citizens, and
the Etrurian dynasty in Rome is at an end.
Porsenna, King of Clusium, the hero of his nation
and his day, interposes to restore the Tarquins:
but the valour of Codes, the stern fortitude of
Scaevola, the romantic devotion of Clelia, backed
by a single-minded people and politic senate,
deter and balk his measures, and the seven-hilled
city is free, though shorn of half her strength.
The amity and countenance of many an Etruscan
ally is gone : but bold hearts aim at high destinies,
and love to play out the game of conquest single-
handed. After this, Rome advances on the platform of
s 2

260 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
the nations as the lion pierces the thickets of the
forest : before that footstep every other beast
retires, at that roar every other voice is quelled.
The choice is small : those who act on the defensive
are broken and humbled to the condition of
tributaries; those who, like Hannibal, lead the
attack, may succeed for a while, but provoke from
some Cato ^the sentence of " Ddenda est " on their
home and city, sure to be fulfilled at last. The
career of Rome under her consuls and her
emperors was one continued unrolling of the
scroll of Daniel's prophecy, filling up the text
with a hving comment, and showing how the beast,
" dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly,"
could " devour and break in pieces," and " stamp
the residue with its feet." Before the tread of her
legions and the stroke of her battering-ram all
went doAvn. The powers arrayed against her
served but to swell her triumphs. Pyrrhus'
chivalrous onset and disciplined phalanxes, Hanni
bal's generalship and avenging soul, Mithridates'
perseverance and resources, Jugurtha's craft, Syra
cusan science, Jewish fanaticism and despair — all
quailed before the genius and destinies of a people
Avhose name was unheard of 800 years before

ROME, 261
Christ, and Avho had been glad to claim for their
infancy the fostering rule of a Lucumo from the
city of Tarquinia,
It is a mistake to suppose that ancient Rome
Avas ever a lover of the " fine arts " for themselves :
she had neither the taste nor the " penchant " of
Greece in this respect ; she could not have them,
for their true foundations in her people's charac
ter and history Avere wanting. The fine arts,
indigenous in Greece and Etruria, found not in
Rome the cherishing instinct of a foster-mother:
they became her property and her slaves : she
hurled them into her treasury ; she bound them in
triumph to her chariot- wheels, but she never drank
into their spirit, nor bowed before their humanising
influence, until her greatness was on the wane, and
the reins of empire slipping from her hand.
Then, at length, amidst humihation and wrong,
under insult and oppression, Rome learned to feel
for the human race; and while the Hun made a
breach in her walls, and the Goth stripped her
palaces, the mistress of the world, cowering over a
blackened hearthstone, with the ashes on her head,
Avoke to kindlier feelings than those engendered by
dominion and luxury, and cherishing domestic ties
s .3

262 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY,
and affections, prized the raimic portraiture of
these, and began ere long to emulate the labours
of the pensive Greek.
The theme of Greece had never been conquest,
but something far holier and sweeter — liberty.
It was this mainspring of action Avhich enlarged
her conceptions and developed in her cities the
most perfect Avorks of art, whether we regard the
design or the execution, that the Avorld ever saw :
for Art is Nature's daughter, and Nature loves the
expansive glow of liberty, and its elastic impulses.
Greece in her mountain-glens and islands did not
lust after empire. When the banded princes sailed
to besiege Ilium, it was to avenge a solemn cause,
to keep a sacred vow : Liberty was her motto : she
reaped more of real glory at Marathon and Platsea
than afterwards at Issus and Arbela, and she knew
it. The fruit from such a tree Avas kindly and
generous, "Aufond des choses," Greece Avas kind, —
Rome was cruel : Greece embodied more of human-
heartedness in its patriotism, and found room for
the little detaUs of domestic affection, which a stern
son of Rome would slight as beneath his notice.
Their statues prove this ; each group or figure
illustrates some predominant human attribute or

ROME. 263
affection, and shoAVS that the artist Avrought " con
amore," The Apollo is a deliverer ; the Laocoon
depicts parental love and filial dependence enduring
amid the destroying Avrath of some offended power ;
the Venus is the personification of raodesty, —
Avornan's shield and prime ornament ; the group of
Menelaus and Patroclus shows fidelity and courage
standing in the breach ; the Djdng Gladiator reveals
and aAvakens manly tenderness : " Moriens dulces
reminiscitur Argos," is Virgil's tribute to this
affectionate people. The Romans, on the other
hand, had their gaUeries of busts as raoderns have
a family-tree for the pedigree, and a coat-of-arms in
proof of the nobility of the bearer. Farther than
this they Avent not: full-length figures undraped
were forbidden, for their minds were too coarse to
conceive any but a gross idea.
As strong an argument may be derived from
architecture, as exhibiting the character of the two
nations : here the Greek types delineate the lead
ing varieties in the two sexes, and prominent points
in the history of the species ; at least I never look
at them without thinking so. The Doric seems an
emblem of gigantic strength, fit to bear up the
architrave of such temples as those of Ptestum,
s 4

264 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
like fortitude and experience sustaining the cares
of government in a polity. The Ionic, with its
simple braid and fiUet, expresses woman's elegance
and lovehness. The Corinthian shows the ornate
garb of dignity in the state, and Avas probably
coeval with the custom of croAvning a victorious
soldier or deserving citizen with a green chaplet.
On the circle the Greeks took no thought in
architecture : they needed no arches for triumphs,
had no " orbis terrarum " for their empire : the
raysterious unity of the triangle pleased thera better,
and its form served to record histories and dedi
cations in a raised pediment. Here architecture
expanded, after swaddhng in Egypt ! and here it
grew to mature proportions of adult beauty ! The
Romans carae, to conquer the Uon's share ; they
reared the arch, they spoiled the column ; they
built irregular masses, always keeping in view the
" utile :" yet these vast masses are uoav mouldering
into dust, while the delicate Greek outline survives.
Their satirist said
" Graeculus esuriens in coelum, jusseris, ibit;"
but the line is double-edged, and cuts themselves
as weU as the object of their satire. True, they
starved their captive, and then bid the pliant slave
fetch models from Olympus ; and he did it in

ROME, 265
every department; — but he did it in vain for
Rome, Avhile thc city Avas supreme, and the earth
but a highroad for her legions. But Avhen
she declined and fdl, Avhen the road to further
violence and conquest Avas barred for ever, Avhen
the invader became the invaded, and the universal
offender was compelled to act on the defensive,
— then, energies which had always struggled for
supremacy, sought it in another direction : Rome,
no longer aUowed to conquer and appropriate
abroad, endeavoured to excel and cherish at home :
aspirations after the beautiful, which had been
awed and kept down by iron statesmen and greedy
warriors, kindled and gained ground. Frora age
to age they have graduaUy advanced : from rude
mosaics and frescoes by the early converts to the
stiff but correct outlines of the middle ages, from
the harsh and meagre forms of Cimabue to the full
and beautiful ones of Giotto ; from Giotto to Perugino
and Francia ; from these to Raffaelle and Domeni
chino : throughout, the struggle for exceUence has
been evinced ; and if Italians are proud and happy
now, it is not because they can ever hope to rule
the Avorld by arms or policy, under pope or em
peror, again, but because they are the acknowledged

266 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
undisputed captains of the fine arts. They have
Michael Angelo's and Brunelleschi' s domes, Rafaelle's
cartoons and oils, Donatello's and Canova's statues,
and they despise from the bottom of their hearts
the " barbarians," who can achieve nothing more
exquisite, attempt nothing more sublime, than a
railroad, a double-barrelled detonator, or a Stilton
cheese. At " dominion " they now smile, and will tdl
you that popes and princes have caressed Raffaelle,
and ennobled Canova ; that Francis L addressed a
begging autograph letter to Michael Angelo, and
Charles V. stooped to pick up Titian's brush.
As for the nation of " haughty shopkeepers,"
they may well laugh at us, according to the old
proverb, while our money is spent among them
alike by duke and don, peer and prelate; and
whUe our " scienziati " for the first season or two
in Rome regularly " go to school " to learn what
statuary and painting mean, and how columns can
be reared and fountains made to flow.
It is true that the present generation of Italians
has fallen behind in many respects ; but it is also
true that many an Italian appears listless and in
dolent nowadays for want of a Avorthy object being

ROME, 267
propounded to him ; he may have larger ideas than
others around him, and for that very reason be
unwilling to toil for trifles.
Just noAV they are heavily burdened here in
Rome : government is poor in exchequer, and weak
in political resources ; many of the state-prisons are
fuU: signs of discontent are thickening in the pro
vinces, and Austria's arm alone upholds visibly the
mitred ruler. The Church, moreover, externally is
too much of a metier ; this kills life and joy, and
must operate to quench inspiration ; they may possi
bly know more, but they believe less than of old, and
the exchange is a bad one. StiU, Italian merit in
all departments is very great. There are very few
paths in which they have not led the way, and ge
neraUy reached the climax of excellence, Avhich
other people of Europe have afterwards used as a
model. In works on theology, in scientific re
searches and their practical apphcation, in history,
in poetry, and the beUes lettres, in all which per-
tams to the fine arts or tends to develop them, they
have been the teachers of Western Europe ; and
in individual instances they still are. We prize
Hooker, and justly, in England : but every reader
of Thomas Aquinas knows how largely the author

268 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY,
of " Ecclesiastical Pohty " was indebted to him.
The idea, if not the composition, of some of the Eng
lishman's noblest passages may be found in the terse
" Quaestiones " of the meditative Italian, How well
Boccaccio wrote history ! In poetry, what names of
super-exceUence ! Dante had no original, and has
found no followers, save that Milton, unapproach
able alike, has nevertheless now and then taken a
feather from his wing, Petrarch's chaplet is bu
ried Avith him, Tasso is VirgU's true successor,
and his " Aminta " is more elegant than the
Eclogues, Perhaps Ariosto is the most genuine
son of the Muses among them all.
Then, in fugitive pieces, what exquisite gems lie
scattered over the pathway of their literature!
Dante's Sonnet addressed to Beatrice when he was
but thirteen ; Filicaja's Lament, ahnost unmatched
as yet in his own or any language ; Manzoni's
" II cinque maggio," far superior in real merit to
Byron's " Ode on Napoleon,"
I have read but one Italian novel carefully
through, — " I promessi Sposi," — it is the "Vicar of
Wakefield" of Italy, and whoever would become
acquainted Avith the people, must study it, Noav
this work is in some respects beyond praise ; yet

ROME, 269
his countrymen scarcely think it Avorthy of Man
zoni's powcrs ; an Italian gentleman observed to
rae, — " Itis good, but he covild haA'e done better,"
I scarce ever heard such a compliment to a writer's
genius. In the drama, Italians have one great
name, Alfieri, immensely inferior to Shakespeare,
as who is not ? but is he inferior to Schiller f — Are
there not in his " Oreste" and his " Saul" touches
of nature, which come home to the heart with
more power than the magnificent, but stilted
paragraphs of the German? How exquisite is
the pathos of the following scene, especially its
con'cluding stanza ! Orestes, in disguise, questions
his mother : —
Clitennestra. Oreste, amato Oreste,
Tutto saper di te vogl' io ; ne cosa
Niuna udir piu, fuor che di te.
Oreste. Lo amavi
Tu dunque molto ancora ?
Clitennestra. O giovinetto,
Non hai tu madre ?
For the same reason, because nature is beyond
art, I think Silvio Pellico's " Prigioni" preferable
tothe compositions of the Frenchman's pet, — Law
rence Sterne,
Lookino- to more substantive raatters, we should

270 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
thank Florence for our knowledge of architecture
and hydrostatics; Pisa and Genoa, for the con
fidence of marine enterprise; Bologna, for juris
prudence ; Padua, for medical and botanical
researches. AU Europe owes Italy a debt, though
all have not profited equally.
In the department of rausic, England has reaped
the richest harvest from this exuberant soil ; partly
owing to our wealth, but more, I think, to our
social habits of domestic life ; for it should never
be forgotten that it is the fireside circle, and not
clubs and cafes, which is truly social. Hence the
French, who exist for " soirees" and " reunions,"
are less musical as a people. Even in Italy you
will seldom hear the best music at " conversazioni ; "
certainly not the most pleasing, scarcely ever what
may be called a national air: these latter greet
you on the quays and piazzas, in the fishermen's
boats, or from some cottage on the Campagna. A
few among the Neapolitan " canzonetti" of this
description are pretty and plaintive ; but they do
not seem to me to touch so deep a chord as the
simple airs of Scotland, or the Swiss " Ranz des
V^ches." The landscape scenery is perhaps the greatest

KOME. 271
charm of Italj^, and you do not surfeit of this
as you easily may of objects of art. England
is unquestionably a finer country on the whole,
owing to its high cultivation ; but Italy has far
more of pictorial beauty ; melting tints, receding
distances, foregrounds of chiar'oscuro, such as
Poussin loved. Romantic it is not, because beavity
of the highest order is here, as it were, at home,
and home has content, but not romance. Strange
to say, there is more of roraance in a German
*' wald," a Scotch glen, or an English heath, than
in an Apennine or Umbrian landscape.
After Sicily, the scenes which have struck rae
most are the environs of Naples, and certain spots
on the Campagna of Rome. In excursions, the
great thing is to avoid making too long ones at a
time. It is dangerous in this country to get tired
out. An old peasant at Tivoli told rae that in
raost cases it is " stanchezza" (weariness) which
brings on the worst attacks of malaria, for your
muscles are then unbraced, and you cannot resist
a noxious infiuenee [Note (A.)], I have observed
the Romans are on their guard in this respect;
they will not journey far at one time, nor work
long without taking rest. Under the burning

272 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY,
noonday sun, ,you will see the driver fast asleep on
his ox-cart, while the team pursue their Avay over
the broken roads of the Campagna, The wisest,
however, disraount, unyoke the cattle, and lie doAvn
to sleep in the shadoAv of the cart.

PADUA.
End of May.
Here is the city of clocks and botanical gardens,
Avith the wondrous church of St. Antonio, which
boasts a dozen domes and half a dozen turretted
spires. Seventeen thousand rare plants are now
in the garden ! In the chapel of Sta. Maria Annu7i-
ziata we have just seen Giotto's frescoes covering
two entire wainscots ; these are in some respects
superior to those in the vaulted roof at Assisi.
One which represents the Resurrection is especially
beautiful, and a Madonna suckling the child in a
panel near the altar.
We took a new line of country from Rome
hither, passing through Orvieto and Bologna, and
then diverging from the usual track for the sake

PADUA. 273
of a peep at the old town of Ravenna. The whole
of this route is deeply interesting. At Viterbo
there is a peerless fountain, which you should step
out and see by moonlight. The road from hence
to Orvieto is magnificent ; the soil prodigiously
rich, and yielding lavish crops despite of its poor
cultivation : were this district in Tuscany instead
of being in the Papal States, it would be brought
to produce double what it does at present. I noted
two sorts of gumcistus, purple and white, growing
wUd ; and a rare geranium.
Orvieto is as weU worth a visit as our city of
York, and I can't say more. The Gothic cathedral
is exquisite: Mr. GaUy Knight should pass a
month here ; the drawings would fill a handsome
folio, and I think here are points of architecture
which can be matched nowhere else.
Outside the church, the pUasters are carved in
bas-reliefs by the two Pisani, Giovanni and Nicolo,
Within, you are lost in admiration, and it requires
an effort to methodise your impressions and mark
somewhat in detaU the glorious objects around you.
The windows are all delicate-cut "lancet;" stained
glass filhng the upper portion, and the lower
compartment consisting of a plate of oriental ala-
T

274 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
baster which transmits golden light : I never saw
any thing resembling this elsewhere. Works of art
abound : near the altar is Scalza's faraous " Pieta,"
and the Annunciation by Mochi, in Avhich Mary is
as rugged and stern as Boadicea, a singular fancy
of the sculptor's. A chapel contains, in frescoes of
the largest size, Luca Signorelli' s " History of Anti
christ ;" also his painting of the Last Resurrection.
The first of these forms a stupendous series, where
one's admiration is dlAdded between the artist's
diligent study of Scripture, and his bold genius
shown in its illustration. Antichrist seems to embody
all that is crafty, mighty, and godless. The scene
in Avliich he is preaching to the multitudes, the evil
spirit prompting him in the ear, is a masterly
sketch. In the painting of the Resurrection,
sublirae and beautiful groups are as frequent as
horrible and despairing ones : a matter in which
he has shoAvn more edifying tact than Michael
Angelo; for, Avhy multiply the representation of
evil and horror? One group Avith one figure
especially is here, more noble and pleasing than
any thing I can reraeraber of RaffaeUe's. I went
doAvn the Pozzo di San Patrizio : 500 steps up
and down this well, dug to ensure supplies of

PADUA. 275
water to the garrison ; for Orvieto, long a strong
hold of the popes, is buUt on a singular basaltic
rock, Avhose situation and height preclude the pos
sibUity of a spring on its OAvn level. The guide
could not teU why they dedicated it to the patron
saint of Erin. An Irish business, truly.
In Chiusi we visited four museums ; they are
rich in antiques, but not equal to Cav. Campagna's
coUection at Rome. I was most struck with sorae
bronze " specchj," for which, by the bye, they ask
enormous prices even on the spot. At Signor
Casuccini's there were some noble terra cottas ;
one of them portrays a touching scene, the death
of a beloved wife : the attitude of the spouses, her
hand laid on his shoulder, and the angel of death
separating them, is rendered with an effect of
pathos which I am not quite sure that I have seen
equalled in a painting. In the " Vigna grande "
sepulchre are sorae very curious frescoes, illustrat
ing divers Etruscan customs.
Coining through Florence, I was fortunate enough
to obtain from one of the bookseUers on the Lung'
Arno, who lost, by the bye, 50,000 francs by the
late flood, a copy of Fossombroni's tract on the
subject of the Chiana and this river : this copy had
T 2

276 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
been several days under water, of which it bears
cAddent marks, forming a singular record of the
truth of its contents. After this, we slept a night
at Covigliajo, among the Apennine summits : here
Ave found the full advantage of following in the
wake of an empress ; Nicholas's better half had
passed through a little before. Some years since
this was a wretched place Avith the worst accom
modation ; but the Czarina brought every thing
Avith her, even to tables, a tea-service, and carpets.
AU this " supeUex" she bequeathed to the host
after her night's rest ; so we were lodged in clover.
Of all the towns in Italy, Bologna is one of the
nicest and cleanest, and the rich plain in which it
stands reminds one of Kent. It teems with objects
of art, and Avith the remains of former wealth and
grandeur ; but like aU cities whose day is gone by,
there is a tinge of sadness mingling with its most
glowing scenes, and, above aU, your footstep sounds
lonely and strange in the halls and saloons of the
old palaces.
Next to the Asinelli tower, above 300 feet high,
and the leaning Garisenda, the most prominent
object is San Luca's Church, to Avhich y^ou mount
by a covered gallery above a mile in length.

PADUA. 277
climbing the cliff, and arriving at a stupendous
Apennine view from its summit.
In the " Belle Arti" are some of the best pic
tures of Italy : here you may study the three
Caracci in all their styles. Ludovico Caracci's
" Madonna and ChUd," knoAvn by the half-moon
and the veil thrown over the Virgin's head, I
thought an exquisite painting.
Domenichino's picture of the " Persecutions of
the Church" has a group of two sisters embracing,
which to my mind surpasses any thing else he has
done. The famous " Santa Cecilia," by Raffaelle,
a httle disappointed us, perhaps from having heard
so much about it : St. Paul is a noble figure, but
the general outhne and colouring of the group
seemed hard.
In the Piazza where San Petronio's Church stands,
the Bolognese have a fountain of Avhich they are
justly proud ; the work of their famed citizen
Giovanni. The dcAdce is a Neptune with nyraphs
and tritons ; nothuig can be bolder or more original
than these sculptures. I have seen nothing equal
to them. The " Sirens," at Messina, come nearest.
San Petronio itself is a prodigious edifice, and
the windows of its nave display stained glass
T 3

278 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
equal to that in Perugia. This building is un
finished, as the fagade shows, by its indented surface
still waiting for a marble coating — an omament
it may now probably never get, though a box
Avithin Avith the inscription " Offerta per la facciata
di questa insigne basUica," occasionally receives a
few " bajocchi." I saw a working-man planted
opposite to this box for sorae seconds in mute
astonishment; he was doubtless marveUing at the
sanguine expectations announced on its hd. The
Bolognese, indeed, are not much given to parting
with their ready cash.
"Quattro scudi! chi da?" saluted my ears
as I crossed the piazza ; " un belhssimo quadro
per quattro scudi — solamente quattro scudi ! "
So said the auctioneer, exposing at the same time
a hideous daub of some eight feet by six, repre
senting the " miracolo" of the saint bringing
back the horse's hoof from the forge newly
shod, and fitting it on to the bleeding leg, from
which he had cut it off for the sake of expe
dition. A crowd of some twenty persons stood
round, patiently regarding the picture, but no one
opened their lips : some were smoking, some winking
at each other. One Avag at length suggested that

PADUA. 279
the price Avas marvellous low, but " still he had
better knock it down for that, and proceed to other
treasures." The auctioneer hereupon took to
quizzing a long- backed dog the speaker had with
him, and so Avittily, that the other was glad to
sheer off. The " bellissimo quadro " was then de
serted awhUe, and its guardian began refreshing
himself with oranges from a stall. I dare say this
specimen of the saint's farriery may have a run of
a raonth, though I suppose not a very profitable one.
From Bologna Ave diverged forty miles out of
the main road to visit Ravenna. Here we spent
two days among churches and basilicas, affording
the earliest instances existing of the Byzantine-
Gothic : I felt in looking at them the want of some
thing Avith which to compare them ; they are very
different from those in Rome and elsewhere. The
richest of all is San Vitale : its form within is oc
tagonal, Avith clusters of pillars at the angles ; and
the general idea was taken, it is said, from St. So
phia's Church at Constantinople, which must, how
ever, be a far larger building. The mosaics which
vault the choir are very ancient and exceedingly
beautiful, Moses is here, tending the sheep on
Mount Horeb ; and Abraham, entertaining the
T 4

280 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY,
heavenly visitants, while Sarah laughs behind the
door. There is something in the simple por
traying of Scripture narrative by the early Chris
tian artists very impressive : it has none of the
dash and mannerism of modern times, but it is far
more real in the effect produced,
San Apollinare Nuovo has twenty-four columns of
Greek marble brought from Constantinople, This
church Theodoric built for his Arian bishops. Mosaics
run all along the frieze of the nave : towards the
porch you may see Classis with the sea and ships,
a curious record; and Theodoric's palace, as it
then was : nothing is left of this latter now but a
bit of dead wall.
San Apollinare in Classe lies Avithout the gates,
towards the Pineta, Classis was of old the station
of the Roman fleet ; but now the alluvial matter
has encroached for some miles upon the bay, and
many an acre of dark peat and marshy ground
coated Avith bulrush, dams up the harbour where
once the galleys rode. This church dates from
534 of our era, and their bishops from a, d, 74 :
the present archbishop. Cardinal Falconieri, is their
126th prelate ; a line approaching in number that
of the popes of Rome, Here is Otho's stone, with

PADUA, 281
an inscription recording the penance he did after
murdering Crescentius, The tribune is coated
with mosaics of the sixth century, beautifully fresh
at this day, Moses and Elijah are here, and three
sheep, meant for Peter, James, and John. Also,
S. Apollinaris in his episcopal robes, preaching to
a flock of snoAvy sheep in a green meadow : all in
the mosaic. Over the cross are the " Salus Mun
di," the A and Q, and the symbolical <;^9of.
How these old emblems lay hold on a man's spirit !
Is not this quaint, Byzantine style of architec
ture, after aU, as church-like as the gorgeous
mediaeval forms of the Gothic ? Are not these old
churches of Ravenna more solemn and suitable
than many magnificent structures of later date in
Italy? Dante's Tomb is a poor thing in itself and iU-
placed. But here rest the ashes of "II gran'
padre Alighier'." And here they ought ever to
rest rather than in Florence, for here the broken
hearted man found kindness and hospitality.
We drove to the " immemorial " pine-grove,
which stretches for twenty-five miles along the
shores of the Adriatic. The beauty of this forest
is due to two features seldom found united ; a

282 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
bright green copsewood of oak and other shrubs
covering the soil, and far overhead the towering
pines spreading a continuous roof of verdure,
through whose gaps and crevices the sunlight
glances doAvn and strikes on red stems and
branches. Here we found the pine-kernel esta
bhshment of the Papal States, no despicable source
of emoluraent. The scene is a singular one with
out doors and within : vast meadows are strewn
Avith the newly gathered fruit, spread out to dry ;
this is the first process; elsewhere the kernels,
sheUed out by thousands of bushels, are piled in
heaps : the nut is almost as delicious as an almond.
Some scores of both sexes are domiciled in the
factory, where they have separate estabhshments ;
fine, AvUd, healthy-looking creatures, delighted
Avith their occupation in the best cliraate of Italy.
The forest is traversed by green rides hke those
in an English nobleman's preserve. I heard there
is fine shooting here of duck and wild boar.
Galla Placidia' s Mausoleum is magnificent, but
heavy. TJieodoric's, without the gates, is a solid
rotunda, whose elhptical roof, thirty feet in dia-
rneter, and some tAvo hundred tons in Aveight, is
of one block of marble. Where they cut it, or

PADUA. 283
how they raised it, is matter of marvel. The
inner floor cannot be exarained, as it is flooded
several inches deep.
Ferrara followed on Ravenna, and we stopped
to see Tasso's Dungeon, Avhere he was confined for
seven long years. A more horrible record is in
the gloomy castle, where a former duke put his
Avife and son to death. These cells are fearful
things : the light did not reach Hugo's, till it had
filtered through thirteen gratings of iron bars.
Without lies the dark moat. What a father of
his people was this duke ! His OAvn flesh and
blood, if indeed guilty, he might have iraprisoned
for life, but where Avas the authority for putting
them to death ? Even on constructive " treason,"
why secretly ? Why was Parisina executed in
the dungeon ? Did this man ever read the eighth
chapter of St. John's Gospel ?
At the end of the dungeon-passage protrudes
the edge of a huge tower, reaching from the bat
tlements to the depths of a fosse below the moat.
This is now waUed up. When first opened, hu
raan bones were found in heaps, confirming a fear
ful tale Avhich had been whispered before. Through
its upper orifice this same duke was wont to hurl

284 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
headlong, in the course of a confidential walk on
his battlements, those whom he had reasons for
disliking. What an upright judge ! Thank God !
those days at least are over.

VENICE.

" There is a glorious city in the sea.
The sea is in the broad, the narrow streets.
Ebbing and flowing ; and the salt sea-weed
Clings to the marble of her palaces."
End of May.
Every one quotes Rogers on Venice, and every one
must, till descriptive lines as good shaU be penned
on the " city in the sea." He does not notice the
crab and the rat, probably as not deeming them
poetical : the former is on aU the piles, and the
latter running across the watery threshold of the
stately palaces. The city is now entered by a
railway line crossing the lagoons : this so far mars
the romance of the thing ; but, once in, all is novel,
wondrous, witch-like. The effect of the grand
canal is unique: a noble city flooded would pre-

ATENICE. 285
sent an aspect of ruin ; here it is a scene of calm
repose. The width of the canal doubles, trebles that
of alraost any street in Christendora : exquisite
palace-fronts line its sides, each with its seraicir
cular flight of stone steps plunging down into the
wave, and its ring of striped posts to protect the
gondolas of the household. Gothic windows rise
tier above tier, with tracery -work in stone, too rich
for aught but the pencil to describe; shadowy
bhnds and curtains of gauze, through which the
light plays upon gilded furniture within : here, a
conservatory, Avith its bright geraniums and bal
sams ; there, a breakfast table set out under the
"Venetian" on the cool balcony. Anon, a half
ruined and quite deserted mansion, rich with the
tints laid on by that shrewd colourist Tirae, but
erapty of its pristine mirth and splendour. As you
advance, the fair cupola of Sa. Maria della Salute
swells upon the sight, and then the glittering
Palace of the Doges, with the spires and domes of
St. Mark, is at your prow, and the enorraous
Campanile, where the golden angel on the sumrait
flaps his wings, as if just alighting to greet the
stately city. Meanwhile, no streets are visible ; or
rather, the canal is the street : instead of the jarring

286 jpURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
sound of wheels on a dusty pavement, noiseless
gondolas skim around you in their black paint and
black cloth canopy, the latter, the fruit of a govern
ment order long ago, when it was found that the
Venetian nobles were ruining themselves in trap
pings of velvet and cloth of gold. The gondola
has a Avdl-stuffed cushion for two, one oar at least
behind the canopy, and one before, a peaked stem,
a beak of steel at the prow, the proportions of a
canoe, and the speed of a dolphin. During
day, few are abroad, save such as carry visitors
pressed for time to vIcav the Titians : but as evening
draws on, the surface of the water becomes an
agitated sea ; hundreds of gondolas are flying in
every direction, and the boats of the Podesta, six-
oared and eight-oared, cleave their way through the
lighter craft, as the arraed pike dashes araong the
rainnows. Row out past the gardens, cross that
sandy neck of " dunes " beyond the lagoon, and
you reach the Lido, Avhere is a delicious ramble
along the edge of the breaking wave for several
miles. In your Avay, you avUI note features recaU
ing Naples, though there all is stir and noise,
while here is the region of calm repose : yonder is
a raan quietly seated on one of the sea-piles ; his

VENICE, 287
legs are knee-deep in the Avater, and he is inhaling
the fragrant Aveed, musing, perhaps, all the time,
on the Foscari and the Contarini of other days.
The Piazza of San Marc is alike majestic and
beautiful at noon or at nightfall : perhaps for
certain chiaroscuro effects, as that of the huge ochre-
coloured Campanile relieved by a dark sky in which
the suramer lightning is brewing, a late hour at eve
is preferable. But, either way, when you contem
plate the Basilica and the Palace of the Doges, you
will make up your mind not to atterapt the descrip
tion of a scene so little conceivable. They talk of
" spealdng portraits," but Avhat canvass ever told a
tale so profoundly eloquent, so historically grand,
as the fortunes of Venice recorded in her glorious
Liazza ? Rorae affects you like a by-gone vision ; but
when you stand in the Piazza of St, Mark, the vision
is present. The stately trophies, the gorgeous build
ings, the brilliant bazaars, the singular costumes, —
all bespeak the middle age, and the crowning city,
whose merchants, like those of Tyre, were princes.
Those three masts in front of the Basilica are
trophies from Crete and Cyprus and the Morea.
Yonder, over the azure clock, thetwo bronze giants
are about to strike the hour on the great bell, — 1,

288 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY,
2, 3, 4 : out come the Moorish figures at the gilt
door on the left, wheel round the Madonna, and
enter at the little door on the right, which closes
after them. They no longer strike to chronicle
the epochs of Venetian glory ;, but images do not
grieve, else these ancient servitors would be too
heavy at heart to lift their hammers. One of those
pillars bears the Winged Lion of St. Mark, on the
other stands St. Theodor, the former patron, Avith
his crocodile. OA^er St. Marc's portal are the four
bronze horses of Lysippus, once coated Avith gold ;
you see they have come back from the Louvre, and
are as proud as ever, tossing their beautiful heads
and lifting each a hoof, as who should say — " No
thing was ever cast so faultless as we."
Crowds of pigeons are wheeling round the Piazza,
enjoying the freedom ensured them by some noble
lady, who left by Avill a dower for that end. But
the swallows are less fortunate. What is that
whirling down frora the Campanile's balustrade ? it
is a SAvallow in a poke : some wags above have been
launching in inid-air pieces of card with a hole
punched in the centre. The birds dash at them,
gain a white collar, and are presently captured by
the boys below.

VENICE. 289
In Venice the best way is to engage your gon
dola by the week, and a guide by the day ; no city,
with the exception of Rorae, contains raore that is
worthy to be visited.
We have wandered over the Doge's Palace, and
loitered up the Giants' Staircase, often turning
round to gaze on Sansovino's beautiful Eve, Avhich
faces it ; and have been " ciceroned " through the
State Dungeons, and over the Bridge of Sighs, and
haA'e strayed along the Rialto, and handled the
stump of the Bucentaur's mast in the recesses of the
arsenal. For one who has never seen them before, the
paintings here possess an absorbing interest. In
the " Belle Arti " you avUI find Titian's " Assump
tion," and his " Presentation of the Virgin."
Among many wonderful productions, these two are
perhaps his best ; the apparent motion upwards
communicated to the figure of the Madonna in the
former is a triumph of the art. The " Presentation "
is, however, a more pleasing picture, as I think
everybody wUl agree.
This subject is surely more simple, more gracious,
more reaUy instructive than the endless tribe of
" Assumptions of the Virgin," with which Roman
u

290 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
Catholic painters beguile the eyes and hearts of the
members of that church. Here a real incident is
portrayed, in the heaven-taught era of chUdhood,
in the life of one whose riper age was fraught vsdth
the unspeakable blessing.
The " Miracle of the Slave," by Tintoretto ; the
" Supper," by Paul Veronese (Calieri), and the
" Virgine col Putto " (with the date of 1487), by
Giovanni Bellino, are very extraordinary works.
Tintoretto has given me new ideas of what may
be done in colouring ; his " Bacchus and Ariadne,"
in the Doge's Palace, is one of the cleverest pic
tures I ever saw ; and the " Repose in Egypt," at
the Scuola di S. Rocco, introduces as sweet a land
scape as ever was designed.
In the Palazzo Manfrini are Titian's portrait of
Ariosto ; and his " Golden Age : " these are remark
able even here. The Ariosto is as well painted and
as effective as the Cenci at Rome. It has the
same peculiar power of rivetting the attention, and
setting the fancy to work; a power which is, I
think, confined to veritable portraits, and is rarely
met Avith even in these. Doge Foscari's raonument
stands in the Church of the Frari. I thought this
beautiful and appropriate : the females of his family

VENICE. 291
are sculptured round the bier. In this church
Canova is buried.
We have passed a delightful afternoon at the
Armenian College, where many strangers resort,
and Avhere aU should go who love to hear concern
ing a patriarchal faith and the simple custoras of
a blameless life from the lips of some who at
once teach and practise.
I do not know Avhy I should here deny myself
the pleasure of mentioning by name one of the
ordained professors in the society, — P. Gregorio
Dr. Alepson. A conversation of two hours' dura
tion, renewed on a subsequent day, left me with
a very pleasing impression of this gentleman's
manner of hfe and of his hopes and objects.
Though content and happy to live thus at San
Lazzaro, I found him passionately attached to his
OAvn country ; a country which he assured me far
surpasses Italy in natural beauty.
On the whole, the impression left by this superb
city is one of sadness. Her days are done, but it
cannot be added that her fame is begun: that
chapter is closed. Lombardy is now an Austrian
province ; and the rule, though doubtless wise
under the circumstances of Italy, is simply that of
u 2

292 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
mechanism, which of course never feels. I just
now saw some of their recruiting officers, with
Venetian soldiers newly pressed, weeping in the
gondola. I thought of those beautiful lines in
the " Madre Itahana : " —
" Lo settimo — e il suo figlio ! — diman' vergognato,
Al cenno insolente d' estrano soldato
Coir aquila in fronte vedrallo partir ! "
The last of the Foscari, after long begging his
bread on the quays and canals, is noAV applying for
the place of porter at a private palace ! Alas !
what a wreck is this i

MILAN.
June.
Here is Lorabardy's capital ; with the matchless
Gothic cathedral, S. Ambrosio's basUica, the Cena
colo, the Brera gallery, and the Biblloteca, — besides
five hundred other "lions," which we shall not
tarry for.
Milan is, indeed, a noble city, Avorthy to queen
it even over such fair toAvns as Verona, Vicenza,
and Brescia, Avhich all lay on the road from Padua

MILAN. 293
hither. In Verona are the tombs of the Scaligeri,
"grande decus," and the Capulets' house. From
the latter juts forth the identical balcony out of
which Juhet communed with her Romeo : —
" But soft, what light through yonder window breaks !
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun !"
VTiat a wizard was WiU Shakspeare ! We were
as eager to see this rude balcony of stone as if it
had been a shrine, and we, saints on a pilgrimage.
Yesterday, we scaled the roof of the Duorao,
and walked round the gallery which circles under
its loftiest tower. This roof, when you are on it,
is a sloping park of marble, white as porcelain, and
studded with pinnacles and turrets, whose Gothic
niches contain every oner an exquisite statue.
Others of colossal size are ranged along the battle
ments ; there are already above eight thousand in
all, but fuUy three thousand more additional pin
nacles are needed before the entire structure can be
pronounced complete. This, the Italians say, will
demand three centuries ; I suppose, to furnish the
needful funds. In reply, I asked our informant how
long he counted upon the world's lasting. The
cathedral is pure and church-like within, its vast
Gothic arches and vaults being more reverend,
TI 3

294 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
though less gorgeous than the nave of St. Peter's.
The richest object is the tomb of San Carlo Borro
meo. Here the jewelled " pala " surpasses even
that of San Marc in Venice, though the latter
exhibits aU that Byzantium could furnish. Trans
parent plates of rock crystal of the largest size and
rarest beauty enclose the bier on which the saint's
mortal body lies; through these it is plainly visible,
as also the costly offerings suspended over it : one
of which is a cross of the finest emeralds in the
known world, presented by Maria Theresa.
S. Ambrosio's Church is every bit as rich : the
high altar is faced with plates of solid gold, and
the sides and back with silver. The relievos on
the latter portray the main events in the life of
this remarkable man. At San Carlo there is a
similar series.
Leonardo da Vinci's " Cena," is in the refectory
of Sta. Maria delle Grazie. Little can now be made
out of this once raatchless production : the head of
the Saviour is the most distinct, but that has
apparently been retouched. If great authorities
are right on the point, the entire work would have
endured to this day had the artist wrought in
fresco instead of in oils. Yet Leonardo's idea was

MILAN, 295
doubtless to provide for durability, as well as for
richness of effect : he probably took into account
the refuge afforded by a sanctuary, little dreaming
of the panel-door made by the monks afterwards.
The only consolation noAV is to turn from a peeled
and faded original to the noble engraving executed
by Morghen,
The Brera gallery is good, though of course
vastly inferior to some in Venice. Guercino's
" Dismissal of Hagar," — " Paul rebuking Peter,"
by Gnido, and a "jNativity," by CamiUo Procaccino,
pleased us the most,
Hagar's countenance, with the tear in her eye
and the grieved look of half-incredulous reproach
which she casts at the patriarch, is admirably
conceived : it is become the fashion to undervalue
this, but I know not why.
The Biblioteca Ambrosiana is cautiously ex
hibited. The rarest manuscripts are not shown
at aU: and the others appear through a veil of
plate-glass. This city is a very fine one, [Note (A), J

0 4

296 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.

LUCERNE, Lucerne, June 12.
Last night we arrived here, having crossed the
sumrait of Mount St. Gothard the day before.
The pass was stormy, and the cold severe ; walls
of snow being piled on both sides.
Descending, we came through the Urnerloch,
and looked on the rainbow of the Reuss, where
the torrent dashes under the devil' s-bridge. The
rock scenery here was stupendous. This Lake of
Lucerne is " allerschonste " at the Uri end ; but Ave
have not forgotten Como, equal in beauty to any
lake I ever saw. We have another reminiscence
of it besides its loveliness. Returning from
BeUaggio we got into a scrape, and were very near
becoming food for fishes. We had a little narrow
" contrabanda," chosen for the sake of its speed,
and when we arrived at the commencement of the
three mile reach of precipitous rocks, where it is
impossible to land, seventeen miles lay betw^een us
and Como. It was eight p. M. The storm awoke
suddenly, as is the way in these parts. The lightning

LUCERNE. 297
flashed almost Avithout intervals. Rain descended
in spouts, and the thunder beUoAved among the hills.
Our boatmen dreaded a " temporale," which they
declared must capsize us, if it came, by turning
the vessel keel uppermost, for it coraes Avith a
Avhirhvind gust, and ploughs up the water where
it strikes. For fuUy twenty minutes we crept thus along
the lake's edge like frightened wildfowl, the storm
raging Avithout intermission. During the mur
kiest part of it a trout of twelve lbs. thrcAV hiraself
corapletely out of the water close to our boat ; this
is the worst sign possible. Nevertheless, by dint
of hard puUing we passed the reach, made a sandy
cove, aud found shelter for two hours in the house
of a hospitable silk-Avorker,
Here occurred one of the few opportunities
we enjoyed in Italy of observing, Avithout guise or
previous preparation, the people's domestic life.
For the Italians are shy of us as a nation, on ac
count of our supposed wealth ; and often incur the
reputation of being inhospitable, while they are, in
fact, not acting from niggardly motives at all, but
from the Avish to hide from " grandeur's disdainful
smile" their simple household arrangements and
« u 5

298 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY,
" curta supeUex," On this occasion, though abso
lute strangers, we were kindly, even tenderly wel
comed, in the bosom of as AveU-ordered and gra
ciously mannered a family as I have seen any
where. It consisted of a father and mother, with
one married daughter and her children, and three
other unmarried girls verging on adult woman
hood. After doing their best to establish us in
comfortable seats, they pressed upon us such re
freshments as they had ready, and even iuAdted
us to join the household meal in another room.
Conversation turned on divers topics, and we were
struck with the good breeding and tact evinced by
both parents and daughters.
Re-embarking, we did not reach Como until two
in the raorning. People may say what they like,
but these lakes are highly dangerous. After this
we had a taste of wilder and more romantic
scenery on Lugano.
But this is already matter of retrospect. And
now here is the Switzer's noblest water, the glassy
lake of the four cantons : far away in the back
ground towers St. Gothard — " wo die ew'gen Seen
sind : " nearer are sunny hamlets, and green slopes
belted with copsewood, and the quaint spires of

LUCERNE. 299
Lucerne mirrored in tho Avave — but Italy, fair
Italy, can never be forgotten —
" Her face it is the fairest that e'er the sun shone on ! "
Its memory lingers even now like the fascina
tion of a dream, and clairas the last farcAvell.
Farewell ! thou beautiful Italy ! favoured land,
highly-gifted people — " Longum, longumque vale ! "

NOTES.

Note (a).

It has been pointed out to me that the "Wourali poison, brought
over by Mr. "Waterton, has now for many years been waiting to
be tried in a similar case. I Avas not aware of this, or else had
forgotten it ; but I earnestly trust such experiment will never
be made in England. Some other remedy for this tremendous
evil may yet be brought to light by the mercy of God.
The foUowing was transcribed in the summer of 1840, by a
physician resident in London, from a document in the hands of
the Austrian embassy. It appeared at that time in some of our
English journals, but I do not know what degree of notice it
excited : —
" A schoolmaster, named Lalie, residing on that boundary of
Hungary towards Turkey Avhere the military colonies are
located, having the established reputation of possessing a cure
for hydrophobia, the Minister of "War, to whose department the
government of this territory belongs, instituted an inquiry.
Two hydrophobic patients were placed under the care of the
military medical officers until they despaired of them; they were
then intrusted to the care of the schoolmaster, and were cured.
" A liberal gratification being given to this person, he is to
receive adequate rewards if, after two years' exercise of his

302 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
remedy under medical surveillance, his discovery is proved to
be of sterling value.
" The root of which M. Lalie has recognised the efficacy is
the gentiana cruciata. It is an abundant natural product.
" Treatment in the eaeliest Stage of the Disease. —
"When the first symptoms arise the mouth must be examined, and
beneath the tongue the venae raninas or sublingual veins will be
found turgescent. This turgescence is at first confined to the
neighbourhood of the fraenum, and it appears under the form of
black spots, resembling the heads of flies ; but later, the disease
having developed itself, the swelling affects the whole veins.
At this period the following is the treatment to be adopted : —
The tongue to be grasped with a wooden fork and inverted, and
the sublingual veins to' be opened with a lancet. The tongue
being then liberated, the bleeding must be allowed to continue
until it ceases of itself. Then is to be given the first dose of
the remedy : —
" Three quarters of an ounce (1-| loth) ofthe gentiana cruciata
are to be given as a maximum dose ; the root being first pounded,
and then macerated in water, so as to form a thin paste ; this
must be repeated every morning for nine days. At the same
time the wound is to be treated in the following way : — "When
fresh it is to be washed with spirit of rosemary, and then a
poultice is to be applied, composed of two portions of rye flour
and one of juniper berries, mixed with the strongest spirit of
wine, to form into a paste. If the wound is closed, it must be
opened and scarified.
" Treatment in advanced Stages of the Disease 
"When the disease has already reached its most violent paroxysms,
the patient being properly secured, one ounce of the root is to be
administered, and to do this, a strait jacket being put on the
patient, two strong men must be employed to overcome his re
sistance ; his mouth must be opened with two wooden wedges,
the nasal air passage being hermetically closed until he has
swallowed.

NOTES. 303
" If after three hours the patient's paroxysms continue to
recur, an entire root must be introduced into the mouth, and
there secured until bitten away and dissolved. The sublingual
veins are to be opened at the first lucid interval, and after the
bleeding a little broth may be administered. After this, the
patients in general take Avater without opposition, and fall into
a gentle slumber for eight or ten hours, and are cured. During
sleep mucus is secreted in the mouth of the consistency of the
white of an egg, of a slightly yelloAV colour ; it is very adhesive,
and is only ejected with difficulty. * * * It is important the
patients should be made to throw up this phlegm. This secretion
characterises the first three days of the malady, and great care
must be taken to remove it, principally before the remedy is ad
ministered. * * *
" "When the bleeding has not been sufficient, it may be re
sorted to again after five days, in violent attacks, and the decoc
tion given when slight relapse has shown itself after nine days ;
and an aperient after three days' interval is to be resorted to.''
* * * The above is a greatly abridged transcript of a very cir
cumstantial document. I must repeat, however incompetent the
remedial resources may appear, they may prove effective. The
most powerful remedies have not been discovered by savans, and
the most valuable of our specifics is due to an Indian, who in a
paroxysm of ague chanced to slake his thirst in a stagnant pool,
in which lay the branches of the cinchona tree, another bitter,
though differing so much frora the gentians. I remain, Sir,
your obedient servant,
HENRY BELINAYE.
41. King Street, Argyll Place, June, 1840.
Note {b).
Since perusing Fossombroni's tract on the subject of the
" Draining of the Chiana Valley," in connection with his appli
cation of the " colmata " system to the same tract of country,

304 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY,
I have felt so much interested in the local experiments and
philosophical proofs there brought forward, that I cannot think
the reader will object to rather a long note on the subject ; I
extract it almost entirely from the heads of paragraphs in the
said tract.
There is good reason to believe that the river Arno an
ciently ran into the Tiber by a branch called the Clanis,
traversing what is noAV the "Val di Chiana : when this commu
nication with the Tiber was lost, the district deprived of it
came into a miserable condition.
It would seem that from the thirteenth to the nineteenth
century the above order has been reversed : the Clanis has
changed the direction of its course, and has furnished a tributary
to the Arno, In the lapse of ages this change has produced
serious results. In the year 1789, Count Fossombroni laid
before the Grand Duke a digested plan for operating on an
entire province by the " colmata " system. He chose the Clanis
for his instrument, a stream which had for a long while been
doing much injury to the Arno, by introducing into that river
heavy pebbles, and a mass of alluvial matter, thus choking its
channel, and raising the level of its bed ; these evils had existed
for nearly four centuries, and it appears that during that interval
as many as thirty-one destructive floods had prevailed at diffe
rent times. Fossombroni's " colmata '' at once realised two
great benefits ; it filled up the marsh with aUuvial soil as the
waters of the torrent subsided, and it afterwards carried on a
filtered stream into the Arno. This, however, being an effect
artificially produced, it was soon found that it needed to be
regulated with the utmost caution. The influx into the Arno
amounted to perhaps five times the volume of water which ran
in before ; yet no floods ensued. So great an additional velocity
had been communicated to the river, that its surface was not
swollen by the additional body of water. This was in accord
ance with principles which Torricelli had before established by
actual experiment ; that great man found that you may even

NOTES. 305
lower the level while introducing more water, if only the com
mon velocity be sufficiently increased ; and, vice versa, that
while drawing off some portion of a river's contents, if the
velocity be thereby greatly diminished, the river's surface may
sweU and flood its banks. Torricelli had also proved that, in
order to drain the incumbent streams and pools from off a
champaign country, it is not sufficient to give a slope to the
channel of the canal, but that the " Campagna " itself must
be made to assume the form of an inclined plane : thus,
the region in question now slopes sensibly from south to north.
Fossombroni, therefore, was obliged to regulate the speed of the
tributary according to an exact gradation ; and this, while car
rying on his " colmata " operations on a grand scale. Constant
supervision was needed. He found that if the speed commu
nicated to the Arno were allowed to pass a certain point, large
pebbles and boulders would be lifted from the bed of the river
and carried too far down the stream. This has actually occurred
in that part of the channel which faces Florence, and the bottom
is there too much raised. The engineer was fain to put bar
riers and dykes a little higher up than the point of influx of the
torrents, in order to limit the speed of the Arno.
After arranging the whole system, Fossombroni said, and
rightly, " you must now keep up this which I have set going :
do not abandon the ' colmata,' do not remove the dykes, or
mischief wiU follow : remember, this condition of things is not
natural, but artificial." The event, as I have observed in the
text, has proved how well he judged.
It is evident that the " colmata," if it had been applied ages
ago, would have preserved some noble bays which are now lost
to Italy ; for what has been called " the retiring of the sea," is,
in fact, a formation of stony banks and shallows, due to con
tinual deposits from the different torrents flowing towards the

306 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY,

Note (c).
I crave not to be misunderstood in what I have said here
touching the number of consecrated buildings to be found in
Rome ; nor, again, where I have used the expression " a priest-.
ridden city." This last has reference, not to the nature of the
particular measures adopted by the Pope's government, but to
the impolicy, the absurdity, of vesting all the offices of state in
the hands of prelates and cardinals.
As to the vast number of churches in Rome, I certainly hold
it to be an unhealthy symptom. True, Italy was from the first
full of bishops, because full of cities ; for wherever the emperor
recognised a city, there the servants of Christ estabUshed God's
altar, that prayers might be offered up. But this, a giving of
meat in due season, was surely very different from mustering a
crowd of gorgeous tabernacles at the palace gates of the Pope.

Note {d).
" Friar Tuck's hermitage."
I beg mine host's pardon, but really his roseate hue and
plump dimensions contrasted so with our jaded appearance, that,
hearing no one address him by any name, I suppUed the hiatus
in my journal with the appeUative which seemed most appro
priate. Moreover, that he had so fattened on the fare which he set
before us, I no more believe, than some one else did the story
of the parched peas. Note (e),
A friend suggests that it were better to derive "pithecusa"
from indrjKOQ than from ttiQoq. I can only say, that nobody in

NOTES, 307
Ischia, gentle or simple, believes the story that " apes " were
ever in the island, — excepting certain specimens of the chattering
tribe, who still come in troops from Naples,
For adhering to iriOoe meantime there is abundant reason :
Ischia has always been famous for its clay-pits, and the manu
facture of the pitcher seems immemorial. Indeed a form of it
commonly in use is as old as Egypt.
Ovid is the authority for 7ri0>jKos {Metam. lib. xiv.) ; but was
he not quizzing the Ischiote features ?

Note (/),
1 quote an extract from the " Etudes," but it is by me
mory, " Newton avers that the earth was thrown forth complete at
one cast. Moses has recorded that the first man was formed in
complete manhood. So, the earth brought forth the creatures
in fuU stature, and the waters 'great whales,' &c. Yet our
geologists are for ever dreaming of age and youth, of epochs,
germs, and births. They assign 10,000 years to the ' form
ation ' of a chalk cUff, &c.
" But Etna must have had forges formed of lavas which had
not flowed as yet, before it could vomit fire," &c.
I cannot vouch for this being accurately quoted ; whether
they be St, Pierre's exact words, I know not ; I know they ex
press my opinions. On the subject of " a chalk cliff," for
instance, it appears to me that our geologists beg the question.

Note (g).
If it should be found that " malaria " stiU continues gaining
ground in the neighbourhood of Rome, as there is reason to fear
will be the case, why not try a simple remedy on a large scale ?
"With the help of the Albano Lake, the river Anio, and
X 2

308 JOURNAL KEPT IN ITALY.
Father Tiber, the Campagna might be conveniently laid under
water, say twenty square miles at a time, and the same result
obtained as in the valley of the Chiana. If any feel inclined
to smile at this, let them remember that far more difficult and
expensive measures have been proposed before now. It has
even been gravely debated whether it would not be well to pave
the entire Campagna ! It need hardly be observed that Fos
sombroni's method, if adopted, would repay all expenses a
hundredfold, by converting an unfruitful waste into rich alluvial
soil (see Note b), besides fully obviating the present daily
increasing evil of a pestilential " malaria."

Note (Ji).
The states of Italy desire freedom ; but are they fit for it ?
Have they, indeed, profited by the history of past events ? Are
their people in this sense arrived at years of discretion ? Could
they safely choose for themselves, or any one of them devise a
form of government comparable to that under which they are
living ? Take, for instance, Tuscany, now a grand-dukedom.
Here consolidation is strength, and dismemberment would en
tail weakness and dissolution. Yet Siena would fain be inde
pendent ; even Florence sighs after the days of the republic.
Perhaps something might be done (hitherto unattempted) to
better the condition of such towns as Pisa and Siena ; but
assuredly not by separation. The prosperity of Leghorn is due
to its being a sea-port, and to the English residents within its
walls. In Lombardy there is no lack of fair and thriving cities :
Vicenza, Verona, Brescia, Padua — to say nothing of its capital,
Milan : there is, indeed, a certain sluggishness in them all, and
the energies of the people might be far more widely developed
than they are ; but this is a mercantile, rather than a political
question ; and probably more would be gained for any one of
them by discovering a new process of winding silk or of

NOTES. 309
pressing oil, than by obtaining, as of old, each a petty ruler of
its own. The chief resources of Venice at this day are its
manufactories of glass and its fabric of delicate gold chains.
If any part of Italy is to gain by a change in outward
government, it must be the Papal States ; and yet, assuredly,
whenever the experiment of bettering things is tried here, it
will be attended with extreme peril. It is true that the people
in these states are governed according to ideas incompatible
with human progress or the business of daily life, and that
their polity is maintained in existence by other surrounding
powers : but this has long been so ; and Rome has probably
varied less, taking it aU in all, than any other capital in Europe
during some centuries past. But the day of its attempted im
provement may be the day of its utter dissolution ; for questions
grave and practical, which have long lain dormant, will then be
mooted, and of this none can foresee the issue.

THE END.

London ;
SroiTiswooDE and Shaw,
New-Street-Square.

YALE UNIVERSITY

a39002 002i402163b