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diff --git a/18049.txt b/18049.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..28a9238 --- /dev/null +++ b/18049.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8476 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Diary of an Ennuyee, by Anna Brownell Jameson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Diary of an Ennuyee + +Author: Anna Brownell Jameson + +Release Date: March 26, 2006 [EBook #18049] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DIARY OF AN ENNUYEE *** + + + + +Produced by Carlo Traverso, Diane Monico, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net. (This file was produced from images +generously made available by the Bibliotheque nationale +de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr.) + + + + + + + + + +THE DIARY + +OF + +AN ENNUYEE. + +_A NEW EDITION_. + +BY MRS. JAMESON, + +AUTHOR OF "VISITS AND SKETCHES AT HOME AND ABROAD," +ETC. ETC. + + Sad, solemn, soure, and full of fancies fraile, + She woxe: yet wist she neither how nor why: + She wist not, silly Mayd, what she did aile, + Yet wist she was not well at ease, perdie; + Yet thought it was not Love, but some Melancholie. + + SPENSER. + + +PARIS, + +BAUDRY'S EUROPEAN LIBRARY, + +SOLD ALSO BY AMYOT, RUE DE LA PAIX; TRUCHY, BOULEVARD DES ITALIENS; +THEOPHILE BARROIS, JUN., RUE RICHELIEU; LIBRAIRIE DES ETRANGERS, +RUE NEUVE-SAINT-AUGUSTIN; AND HEIDELOFF AND CAMPE, +RUE VIVIENNE. + +1836. + + + * * * * * + + +DIARY OF AN ENNUYEE.[A] + + * * * * * + +_Calais, June 21._--What young lady, travelling for the first time on +the Continent, does not write a "Diary?" No sooner have we slept on +the shores of France--no sooner are we seated in the gay salon at +Dessin's, than we call, like Biddy Fudge, for "French pens and French +ink," and forth steps from its case the morocco-bound diary, regularly +ruled and paged, with its patent Bramah lock and key, wherein we are +to record and preserve all the striking, profound, and original +observations--the classical reminiscences--the thread-bare raptures--the +poetical effusions--in short, all the never-sufficiently-to-be-exhausted +topics of sentiment and enthusiasm, which must necessarily suggest +themselves while posting from Paris to Naples. + +Verbiage, emptiness, and affectation! + +Yes--but what must I do, then, with my volume in green morocco? + +Very true, I did not think of that. + +We have all read the DIARY OF AN INVALID, the best of all +diaries since old Evelyn's.-- + +Well, then,--Here beginneth the DIARY OF A BLUE DEVIL. + +What inconsistent beings are we!--How strange that in such a moment as +this, I can jest in mockery of myself! but I will write on. Some keep +a diary, because it is the fashion--a reason why _I_ should not; some +because it is _blue_, but I am not _blue_, only a _blue devil_; some +for their amusement,--_amusement_!! alas! alas! and some that they may +remember,--and I that I may forget, O! would it were possible. + +When, to-day, for the first time in my life, I saw the shores of +England fade away in the distance--did the conviction that I should +never behold them more, bring with it one additional pang of regret, +or one consoling thought? neither the one nor the other. I leave +behind me the scenes, the objects, so long associated with pain; but +from pain itself I cannot fly: it has become a part of myself. I know +not yet whether I ought to rejoice and be thankful for this +opportunity of travelling, while my mind is thus torn and upset; or +rather regret that I must visit scenes of interest, of splendour, of +novelty--scenes over which, years ago, I used to ponder with many a +sigh, and many a vain longing, now that I am lost to all the pleasure +they could once have excited: for what is all the world to me +now?--But I will not weakly yield: though time and I have not been +long acquainted, do I not know what miracles he, "the all-powerful +healer," can perform? Who knows but this dark cloud may pass away? +Continual motion, continual activity, continual novelty, the absolute +necessity for self-command, may do something for me. I cannot quite +forget; but if I can cease to remember for a few minutes, or even, it +may be, for a few hours? O how idle to talk of "_indulging_ grief:" +talk of indulging the rack, the rheumatism! who ever indulged grief +that truly felt it? to _endure_ is hard enough. + + It is o'er! with its pains and its pleasures, + The dream of affection is o'er! + The feelings I lavish'd so fondly + Will never return to me more. + + With a faith, O! too blindly believing-- + A truth, no unkindness could move; + My prodigal heart hath expended + At once, an existence of love. + + And now, like the spendthrift forsaken, + By those whom his bounty had blest, + All empty, and cold, and despairing, + It shrinks in my desolate breast. + + But a spirit is burning within me, + Unquench'd, and unquenchable yet; + It shall teach me to bear uncomplaining, + The grief I can never forget. + +_Rouen, June 25._--I do not pity Joan of Arc: that heroic woman only +paid the price which all must pay for celebrity in some shape or +other: the sword or the faggot, the scaffold or the field, public +hatred or private heart-break; what matter? The noble Bedford could +not rise above the age in which he lived: but _that_ was the age of +gallantry and chivalry, as well as superstition: and could Charles, +the lover of Agnes Sorel, with all the knights and nobles of France, +look on while their champion, and a woman, was devoted to chains and +death, without one effort to save her? + +It has often been said that her fate disgraced the military fame of +the English; it is a far fouler blot on the chivalry of France. + + * * * * * + +_St. Germains, June 27._--I cannot bear this place, another hour in it +will kill me; this sultry evening--this sickening sunshine--this +quiet, unbroken, boundless landscape--these motionless woods--the +Seine stealing, creeping through the level plains--the dull grandeur +of the old chateau--the languid repose of the whole scene--instead of +soothing, torture me. I am left without resource, a prey to myself +and to my memory--to reflection, which embitters the source of +suffering, and thought, which brings distraction. Horses on to Paris! +Vite! Vite! + +_Paris, 28._--What said the witty Frenchwoman?--_Paris est le lieu du +monde ou l'on peut le mieux se passer de bonheur;_--in that case it +will suit me admirably. + +_29._--We walked and drove about all day: I was amused. I marvel at my +own versatility when I think how soon my quick spirits were excited by +this gay, gaudy, noisy, idle place. The different appearance of the +streets of London and Paris is the first thing to strike a stranger. +In the gayest and most crowded streets of London the people move +steadily and rapidly along, with a grave collected air, as if all had +some business in view; _here_, as a little girl observed the other +day, all the people walk about "like ladies and gentlemen going a +visiting:" the women well-dressed and smiling, and with a certain +jaunty air, trip along with their peculiar mincing step, and appear as +if their sole object was but to show themselves; the men ill-dressed, +slovenly, and in general ill-looking, lounge indolently, and stare as +if they had no other purpose in life but to look about them.[B] + +_July 12._--"Quel est a Paris le supreme talent? celui d'amuser: et +quel est le supreme bonheur? l'amusement." + +Then _le supreme bonheur_ may be found every evening from nine to ten, +in a walk along the Boulevards, or a ramble through the Champs +Elysees, and from ten to twelve in a salon at Tortoni's. + +What an extraordinary scene was that I witnessed to-night! how truly +_French_! Spite of myself and all my melancholy musings, and all my +philosophic allowances for the difference of national character, I was +irresistibly compelled to smile at some of the farcical groups we +encountered. In the most crowded parts of the Champs Elysees this +evening (Sunday), there sat an old lady with a wrinkled yellow face +and sharp features, dressed in flounced gown of dirty white muslin, a +pink sash and a Leghorn hat and feathers. In one hand she held a small +tray for the contribution of amateurs, and in the other an Italian +bravura, which she sung or rather screamed out with a thousand +indescribable shruggings, contortions, and grimaces, and in a voice to +which a cracked tea-kettle, or a "brazen candlestick turned," had +seemed the music of the spheres. A little farther on we found two +elderly gentlemen playing at see-saw; one an immense corpulent man of +fifteen stone at least, the other a thin dwarfish animal with gray +mustachios, who held before him what I thought was a child, but on +approaching, it proved to be a large stone strapped before him, to +render his weight a counterpoise to that of his huge companion. We +passed on, and returning about half an hour afterwards down the same +walk, we found the same venerable pair pursuing their edifying +amusement with as much enthusiasm as before. + + * * * * * + +Before the revolution, sacrilege became one of the most frequent +crimes. I was told of a man who, having stolen from a church the +silver box containing the consecrated wafers, returned the wafers next +day in a letter to the Cure of the Parish, _having used one of them to +seal his envelop_. + + * * * * * + +July 27.--A conversation with S** always leaves me sad. Can it then be +possible that he is right? No--O no! my understanding rejects the idea +with indignation, my whole heart recoils from it; yet if it should be +so! what then: have I been till now the dupe and the victim of +factitious feelings? virtue, honour, feeling, generosity, you are then +but words, signifying nothing? Yet if this vain philosophy lead to +happiness, would not S** be happy? it is evident he is _not_. When he +said that the object existed not in this world which could lead him +twenty yards out of his way, did this sound like happiness? I remember +that while he spoke, instead of feeling either persuaded or convinced +by his captivating eloquence, I was perplexed and distressed; I +_suffered_ a painful compassion, and tears were in my eyes. I, who so +often have pitied myself, pitied him at that moment a thousand times +more; I thought, I would not buy tranquillity at such a price as he +has paid for it. Yet _if_ he should be right? that _if_, which every +now and then suggests itself, is terrible; it shakes me in the utmost +recesses of my heart. + +S**, in spite of myself, and in spite of all that with most perverted +pains he has made himself (so different from what he once was), can +charm and interest, pain and perplex me:--not so D**, another disciple +of the same school: he inspires me with the strongest antipathy I ever +felt for a human being. Insignificant and disagreeable is his +appearance, he looks as if all the bile under heaven had found its way +into his complexion, and all the infernal irony of a Mephistopheles +into his turned-up nose and insolent curled lip. He is, he _says_ he +is, an atheist, a materialist, a sensualist: the pains he takes to +deprave and degrade his nature, render him so disgusting, that I could +not even speak in his presence; I dreaded lest he should enter into +conversation with me. I might have spared myself the fear. He piques +himself on his utter contempt for, and disregard of, women; and, after +all, is not himself worthy these words I bestow on him. + + * * * * * + +_Aug. 25._--Here begins, I hope, a new aera. I have had a long and +dangerous illness; the crisis perhaps of what I have been suffering +for months. Contrary to my own wishes, and to the expectations of +others, I _live_: and trusting in God that I have been preserved for +some wise and good purpose, am therefore thankful: even supposing I +should be reserved for new trials, I cannot surely in this world +suffer more than I have suffered: it is not possible that the same +causes can be again combined to afflict me. + +How truly can I say, few and evil have my days been! may I not say as +truly, I have not weakly yielded, I have not "gone about to cause my +heart to despair," but have striven, and not in vain? I took the +remedies they gave me, and was grateful; I resigned myself to _live_, +when had I but willed it, I might have died; and when to die and be at +rest, seemed to my sick heart the only covetable boon. + +_Sept. 3._--A terrible anniversary at Paris--still ill and very weak. +Edmonde came, _pour me desennuyer_. He has soul enough to bear a good +deal of wearing down; but whether the fine qualities he possesses will +turn to good or evil, is hard to tell: it is evident his character has +not yet settled: it vibrates still as nature inclines him to good, and +all the circumstances around him to evil. We talked as usual of women, +of gallantry, of the French and English character, of national +prejudices, of Shakspeare and Racine (never failing subjects of +discussion), and he read aloud Delille's Catacombes de Rome, with +great feeling, animation, and dramatic effect. + +_La mode_ at Paris is a spell of wondrous power: it is most like what +we should call in England a rage, a mania, a torrent sweeping down the +bounds between good and evil, sense and nonsense, upon whose surface +straws and egg-shells float into notoriety, while the gold and the +marble are buried and hidden till its force be spent. The rage for +cashmeres and little dogs has lately given way to a rage for Le +Solitaire, a romance written, I believe, by a certain Vicomte +d'Arlincourt. Le Solitaire rules the imagination, the taste, the dress +of half Paris: if you go to the theatre, it is to see the "Solitaire," +either as tragedy, opera, or melodrame; the men dress their hair and +throw their cloaks about them _a la Solitaire_; bonnets and caps, +flounces and ribbons, are all _a la Solitaire_; the print shops are +full of scenes from Le Solitaire; it is on every toilette, on every +work-table;--ladies carry it about in their reticules to show each +other that they are _a la mode_; and the men--what can they do but +humble their understandings and be _extasies_, when beautiful eyes +sparkle in its defence and glisten in its praise, and ruby lips +pronounce it divine, delicious; "quelle sublimite dans les +descriptions, quelle force dans les caracteres! quelle ame! feu! +chaleur! verve! originalite! passion!" etc. + +"Vous n'avez pas lu le Solitaire?" said Madame M. yesterday. "Eh mon +dieu! il est donc possible! vous? mais, ma chere, vous etes perdue de +reputation, et pour jamais!" + +To retrieve my lost reputation, I sat down to read Le Solitaire, and +as I read my amazement grew, and I did in "gaping wonderment abound," +to think that fashion, like the insane root of old, had power to drive +a whole city mad with nonsense; for such a tissue of abominable +absurdities, bombast and blasphemy, bad taste and bad language, was +never surely indited by any madman, in or out of Bedlam: not Maturin +himself, that king of fustian, + + "----ever wrote or borrowed + Any thing half so horrid!" + +and this is the book which has turned the brains of half Paris, which +has gone through fifteen editions in a few weeks, which not to admire +is "_pitoyable_," and not to have read "_quelque chose d'inouie_." + +The objects at Paris which have most struck me, have been those least +vaunted. + +The view of the city from the Pont des Arts, to-night, enchanted me. +As every body who goes to Rome views the Coliseum by moonlight, so +nobody should leave Paris without seeing the effect from the Pont des +Arts, on a fine moonlight night:-- + + "Earth hath not any thing to show more fair." + +It is singular I should have felt its influence at such a moment: it +appears to me that those who, from feeling too strongly, have learnt +to consider too deeply, become less sensible to the works of art, and +more alive to nature. Are there not times when we turn with +indifference from the finest picture or statue--the most improving +book--the most amusing poem; and when the very commonest, and +every-day beauties of nature, a soft evening, a lovely landscape, the +moon riding in her glory through a clouded sky, without forcing or +asking attention, sink into our hearts? They do not console,--they +sometimes add poignancy to pain; but still they have a power, and do +not speak in vain: they become a part of us; and never are we so +inclined to claim kindred with nature, as when sorrow has lent us her +mournful experience. At the time I felt this (and how many have felt +it as deeply, and expressed it better!) I did not _think_ it, still +less could I have _said it_; but I have pleasure in recording the past +impression. "On rend mieux compte de ce qu'on a senti que de ce qu'on +sent." + +_September 8._--Paris is crowded with English; and I do not wonder at +it; it is, on the whole, a pleasant place to live in. I like Paris, +though I shall quit it without regret as soon as I have strength to +travel. Here the social arts are carried to perfection--above all, the +art of conversation: every one talks much and talks well. In this +multiplicity of words it must happen of course that a certain quantum +of ideas is intermixed: and somehow or other, by dint of listening, +talking, and looking about them, people _do_ learn, and information to +a certain point is general. Those who have knowledge are not shy of +imparting it, and those who are ignorant take care not to seem so; but +are sometimes agreeable, often amusing, and seldom _betes_. Nowhere +have I seen unformed sheepish boys, nowhere the surliness, +awkwardness, ungraciousness, and uneasy proud bashfulness, I have seen +in the best companies in England. Our French friend Lucien has, at +fifteen, the air and conversation of a finished gentleman; and our +English friend C---- is at eighteen, the veriest log of a lumpish +school-boy that ever entered a room. What I have seen of society, I +like: the delicious climate too, the rich skies, the clear elastic +atmosphere, the _out of doors_ life the people lead, are all (in +summer at least) delightful. There may be less _comfort_ here; but +nobody feels the want of it; and there is certainly more +amusement--and amusement is here truly "le supreme bonheur." +Happiness, according to the French meaning of the word, lies more on +the surface of life: it is a sort of happiness which is cheap and ever +at hand. This is the place to live in for the merry poor man, or the +melancholy rich one: for those who have too much money, and those who +have too little; for those who only wish, like the Irishman "to live +all the days of their life,"--_prendre en legere monnaie la somme des +plaisirs_: but to the thinking, the feeling, the domestic man, who +only exists, enjoys, suffers through his affections-- + + "Who is retired as noontide dew, + Or fountain in a noonday grove--" + +to such a one, Paris must be nothing better than a vast frippery shop, +an ever-varying galantee show, an eternal vanity fair, a vortex of +folly, a pandemonium of vice. + +_September 18._--Our imperials are packed, our passports signed, and +we set off to-morrow for Geneva by Dijon and the Jura. I leave nothing +behind me to regret, I see nothing before me to fear, and have no hope +but in change; and now all that remains to be said of Paris, and all +its wonders and all its vanities, all its glories and all its +gaieties, are they not recorded in the ponderous chronicles of most +veracious tourists, and what can I add thereto? + +_Geneva, Saturday Night, 11 o'clock._--Can it be the "blue rushing of +the arrowy Rhone" I hear from my window? Shall I hear it to-morrow, +when I wake? Have I seen, have I felt the reality of what I have so +often imagined? and much, _much_ more? How little do I feel the +contretemps and privations which affect others--and feel them _only_ +because they affect others! To me they are nothing: I have in a few +hours stored my mind with images of beauty and grandeur which will +last through my whole existence. + + * * * * * + +Yet I know I am not singular; others have felt the same: others, who, +capable of "drinking in the soul of things," have viewed nature less +with their eyes than their hearts. Now I feel the value of my own +enthusiasm; now am I repaid in part for many pains and sorrows and +errors it has cost me. Though the natural expression of that +enthusiasm be now repressed and restrained, and my spirits subdued by +long illness, what but enthusiasm could elevate my mind to a level +with the sublime objects round me, and excite me to pour out my whole +heart in admiration as I do now! How deeply they have penetrated into +my imagination!--Beautiful nature! If I could but infuse into you a +portion of my own existence as you have become a part of mine--If I +could but bid you reflect back my soul, as it reflects back all your +magnificence, I would make you my only friend, and wish no other; +content "to love earth only for its earthly sake." + +I am so tired to-night, I can say nothing of the Jura, nor of the +superb ascent of the mountain, to me so novel, so astonishing a scene; +nor of the cheerful brilliance of the morning sun, illuminating the +high cliffs, and throwing the deep woody vallies into the darkest +shadow; nor of the far distant plains of France seen between the hills, +and melting away into a soft vapoury light; nor of Morey, and its +delicious strawberries and honey-comb; nor of that never-to-be-forgotten +moment, when turning the corner of the road, as it wound round a cliff +near the summit, we beheld the lake and city of Geneva spread at our +feet, with its magnificent back-ground of the Italian Alps, peak beyond +peak, snow-crowned! and Mont Blanc towering over all! No description +had prepared me for this prospect; and the first impression was +rapturous surprise; but by degrees the vastness and the huge gigantic +features of the scene pressed like a weight upon "my amazed sprite," +and the feeling of its immense extent fatigued my imagination till my +spirits gave way in tears. Then came remembrances of those I ought to +forget, blending with all I saw a deeper power--raising up emotions, +long buried though not dead, to fright me with their resurrection. I +was so glad to arrive here, and shall be _so_ glad to sleep--even the +dull sleep which laudanum brings me. + +_Oct. 1._--When next I submit (having the power to avoid it) to be +crammed into a carriage and carried from place to place, whether I +would or not, and be set down at the stated _points de vue_, while a +detestable laquais points out what I am to admire, I shall deserve to +endure again what I endured to-day. As there was no possibility of +relief, I resigned myself to my fate, and was even amused by the +absurdity of my own situation. We went to see the junction of the +Arve and the Rhone: or rather to see the Arve pollute the rich, blue +transparent Rhone, with its turbid waters. The day was heavy, and the +clouds rolled in prodigious masses along the dark sides of the +mountains, frequently hiding them from our view, and substituting for +their graceful outlines and ever-varying contrast of tint and shade, +an impenetrable veil of dark gray vapour. + +_3rd._--We took a boat and rowed on the lake for about two hours. Our +boatman, a fine handsome athletic figure, was very talkative and +intelligent. He had been in the service of Lord Byron, and was with +him in that storm between La Meillerie and St. Gingough, which is +described in the third canto of Childe Harold. He pointed out among +the beautiful villas, which adorn the banks on either side, that in +which the empress Josephine had resided for six months, not long +before her death. When he spoke of her, he rested upon his oars to +descant upon her virtues, her generosity, her affability, her goodness +to the poor, and his countenance became quite animated with +enthusiasm. Here, in France, wherever the name of Josephine is +mentioned, there seems to exist but one feeling, one opinion of her +beneficence and _amabilite_ of character. Our boatman had also rowed +Marie Louise across the lake, on her way to Paris: he gave us no very +captivating picture of her. He described her as "_grande, blonde, bien +faite et extremement fiere_:" and told us how she tormented her ladies +in waiting; "_comme elle tracassait ses dames d'honneur_." The day +being rainy and gloomy, her attendants begged of her to defer the +passage for a short time, till the fogs had cleared away, and +discovered all the beauty of the surrounding shores. She replied +haughtily and angrily, "Je veux faire ce que je veux--allez toujours." + +M. le Baron M----n, whom we knew at Paris, told me several delightful +anecdotes of Josephine: he was attached to her household, and high in +her confidence. Napoleon sent him on the very morning of his second +nuptials, with a message and billet to the ex-empress. On hearing that +the ceremony was performed which had passed her sceptre into the hands +of the proud, cold-hearted Austrian, the feelings of the _woman_ +overcame every other. She burst into tears, and wringing her hands, +exclaimed "Ah! au moins, qu'il soit heureux!" Napoleon resigned this +estimable and amiable creature to narrow views of selfish policy, and +with her his good genius fled: he deserved it, and verily he hath had +his reward. + +We drove after dinner to Copet; and the Duchesse de Broglie being +absent, had an opportunity of seeing the chateau. All things "were +there of her"--of her, whose genuine worth excused, whose +all-commanding talents threw into shade, those failings which belonged +to the weakness of her sex, and her warm feelings and imagination. The +servant girl who showed us the apartments, had been fifteen years in +Madame de Stael's service. All the servants had remained long in the +family, "elle etait si bonne et si charmante maitresse!" A picture of +Madame de Stael when young, gave me the idea of a fine countenance and +figure, though the features were irregular. In the bust, the +expression is not so prepossessing:--_there_ the colour and brilliance +of her splendid dark eyes, the finest feature of her face, are of +course quite lost. The bust of M. Rocca[C] was standing in the Baron +de Stael's dressing-room: I was more struck with it than any thing I +saw, not only as a chef-d'oeuvre, but from the perfect and regular +beauty of the head, and the charm of the expression. It was just such +a mouth as we might suppose to have uttered his well-known reply--"_Je +l'aimerai tellement qu'elle finira par m'aimer._" Madame de Stael had +a son by this marriage, who had just been brought home by his brother, +the Baron, from a school in the neighbourhood. He is about seven years +old. If we may believe the servant, Madame de Stael did not +acknowledge this son till just before her death; and she described the +wonder of the boy on being brought home to the chateau, and desired to +call _Monsieur le Baron_ "Mon frere" and "Auguste." This part of +Madame de Stael's conduct seems incomprehensible; but her death is +recent, the circumstances little known, and it is difficult to judge +her motives. As a _woman_, as a _wife_, she might not have been able +to brave "the world's dread laugh"--but as a _mother_?---- + +We have also seen Ferney--a place which did not interest me much, for +I have no sympathies with Voltaire:--and some other beautiful scenes +in the neighbourhood. + +The Panorama exhibited in London just before I left it, is wonderfully +correct, with one pardonable exception: the artist did not venture to +make the waters of the lake of the intense ultramarine tinged with +violet as I now see them before me; + + "So darkly, deeply, beautifully blue;" + +it would have shocked English eyes as an exaggeration, or rather +impossibility. + + THE PANORAMA OF LAUSANNE. + + Now blest for ever be that heaven-sprung art + Which can transport us in its magic power + From all the turmoil of the busy crowd, + From the gay haunts where pleasure is ador'd, + 'Mid the hot sick'ning glare of pomp and light; + And fashion worshipp'd by a gaudy throng + Of heartless idlers--from the jarring world + And all its passions, follies, cares, and crimes-- + And bids us gaze, even in the city's heart, + On such a scene as this! O fairest spot! + If but the pictured semblance, the dead image + Of thy majestic beauty, hath a power + To wake such deep delight; if that blue lake, + Over whose lifeless breast no breezes play, + Those mimic mountains robed in purple light, + Yon painted verdure that but _seems_ to glow, + Those forms unbreathing, and those motionless woods, + A beauteous mockery all--can ravish thus, + What would it be, could we now gaze indeed + Upon thy _living_ landscape? could we breathe + Thy mountain air, and listen to thy waves, + As they run rippling past our feet, and see + That lake lit up by dancing sunbeams--and + Those light leaves quivering in the summer air; + Or linger some sweet eve just on this spot + Where now we _seem_ to stand, and watch the stars + Flash into splendour, one by one, as night + Steals over yon snow-peaks, and twilight fades + Behind the steeps of Jura! here, O _here_! + 'Mid scenes where Genius, Worth and Wisdom dwelt,[D] + Which fancy peopled with a glowing train + Of most divine creations--Here to stray + With _one_ most cherished, and in loving eyes + Read a sweet comment on the wonders round-- + Would this indeed be bliss? would not the soul + Be lost in its own depths? and the full heart + Languish with sense of beauty unexprest, + And faint beneath its own excess of life? + +_Saturday._--Quitted Geneva, and slept at St. Maurice. I was ill +during the last few days of our stay, and therefore left Geneva with +the less regret. I suffer now so constantly, that a day tolerably free +from pain seems a blessing for which I can scarce be sufficiently +thankful. Such was yesterday. + +Our road lay along the south bank of the lake, through Evian, Thonon, +St. Gingough: and on the opposite shores we had in view successively, +Lausanne, Vevai, Clarens, and Chillon. A rain storm pursued, or almost +surrounded us the whole morning; but we had the good fortune to escape +it. We travelled faster than it could pursue, and it seemed to retire +before us as we approached. The effect was surprisingly beautiful; for +while the two extremities of the lake were discoloured and enveloped +in gloom, that part opposite to us was as blue and transparent as +heaven itself, and almost as bright. Over Vevai, as we viewed it from +La Meillerie, rested one end of a glorious rainbow: the other +extremity appeared to touch the bosom of the lake, and shone vividly +against the dark mountains above Chillon. La Meillerie--Vevai! what +magic in those names! and O what a power has genius to hallow with its +lovely creations, scenes already so lavishly adorned by Nature! it was +not, however, of St. Preux I thought, as I passed under the rock of +the Meillerie. Ah! how much of happiness, of enjoyment, have I lost, +in being forced to struggle against my feelings, instead of abandoning +myself to them! but surely I have done right. Let me repeat it again +and again to myself, and let that thought, if possible, strengthen and +console me. + +_Monday._--I have resolved to attempt no description of scenery; but +my pen is fascinated. I _must_ note a few of the objects which struck +me to-day and yesterday, that I may at will combine them hereafter to +my mind's eye, and recall the glorious pictures I beheld, as we +travelled through the Vallais to Brig: the swollen and turbid (no +longer "blue and arrowy") Rhone, rushing and roaring along; the +gigantic mountains in all their endless variety of fantastic forms, +which enclosed us round,--their summits now robed in curling clouds, +and then, as the winds swept them aside, glittering in the sunshine; +the little villages perched like eagles' nests on the cliffs, far, far +above our heads; the deep rocky channels through which the torrents +had madly broken a way, tearing through every obstacle till they +reached the Rhone, and marking their course with devastation; the +scene of direful ruin at Martigny; the cataracts gushing, bounding +from the living rock and plunging into some unseen abyss below; even +the shrubs and the fruit trees which in the wider parts of the valley +bordered the road side; the vines, the rich scarlet barberries, the +apples and pears which we might have gathered by extending our +hands;--all and each, when I recall them, will rise up a vivid picture +before my own fancy;--but never could be truly represented to the mind +of another--at least through the medium of words. + +And yet, with all its wonders and beauties, this day's journey has not +enchanted me like Saturday's. The scenery _then_ had a different +species of beauty, a deeper interest--when the dark blue sky was above +our heads, and the transparent lake shone another heaven at our feet, +and the recollection of great and glorious names, and visions of +poetic fancy, and ideal forms more lovely than ever trod this earth, +hovered around us:--and then those thoughts which would +intrude--remembrances of the far-off absent, who are or have been +loved, mingled with the whole, and shed an imaginary splendour or a +tender interest, over scenes which required no extraneous powers to +enhance their native loveliness.--no charm borrowed from imagination +to embellish the all-beautiful reality. + +_Duomo d'Ossola._--What shall I say of the marvellous, the miraculous +Simplon? Nothing: every body has said already every thing that _can_ +be said and _exclaimed_. + +In our descent, as the valley widened, and the stern terrific features +of the scene assumed a gentler character, we came to the beautiful +village of Davedro, with its cottages and vineyards spread over a +green slope, between the mountains and the torrent below. This lovely +nook struck me the more from its contrast with the region of snows, +clouds, and barren rocks to which our eyes had been for several hours +accustomed. In such a spot as Davedro I fancied I should wish to +_live_, could I in life assemble round me all that my craving heart +and boundless spirit desire;--_or die_, when life had exhausted all +excitement, and the subdued and weary soul had learned to be content +with repose:--but not not till _then_. + +We are now in Italy; but have not yet heard the soft sounds of the +Italian language. However, we read with great satisfaction the Italian +denomination of our Inn, "La grande Alberga della Villa"--called out +"Cameriere!" instead of "Garcon!"--plucked ripe grapes as they hung +from the treillages above our heads--gathered green figs from the +trees, bursting and luscious--panted with the intense heat--intense +and overpowering from its contrast with the cold of the Alpine regions +we had just left--and fancied we began to feel + + "----cette vie enivrante, + Que le solei du sud inspire a tous les sens." + + * * * * * + +_11 at night._--Fatigue and excitement have lately proved too much for +me: but I will not sink. I will yet bear up; and when a day thus +passed amid scenes like those of a romance, amid all that would once +have charmed my imagination, and enchanted my senses, brings no real +pleasure, but is ended, as _now_ it ends, in tears, in bitterness of +heart, in languor, in sickness, and in pain--ah! let me remember the +lesson of resignation I have lately learned; and by elevating my +thoughts to a better world, turn to look upon the miserable affections +which have agitated me _here_ as----[E] + +Could I but become as insensible, as regardless of the painful past as +I am of the all lovely present! Why was I proud of my victory over +passion? alas! what avails it that I have shaken the viper from my +hand, if I have no miraculous antidote against the venom which has +mingled with my life-blood, and clogged the pulses of my heart! But +the antidote of Paul--even faith--may it not be mine if I duly seek +it? + + * * * * * + +_Arona, on the banks of the Lago Maggiore._--Rousseau mentions +somewhere, that it was once his intention to place the scene of the +Heloise in the Borromean Islands. What a French idea! How strangely +incongruous had the pastoral simplicity of his lovers appeared in such +a scene! It must have changed, if not the whole plan, at least the +whole colouring of the tale. Imagine _la divine_ JULIE tripping up and +down the artificial terraces of the Isola Bella, among flower pots and +statues, and colonnades and grottos; and St. Preux sighing towards +her, from some trim fantastic wilderness in the Isola Madre! + +The day was heavenly, and I shall never forget the sunset, as we +viewed it reflected in the lake, which appeared at one moment an +expanse of living fire. This is the first we have seen of those +effulgent sunsets with which Italy will make us familiar. + +_Milan._--Our journey yesterday, through the flat fertile plains of +Lombardy, was not very interesting; and the want of novelty and +excitement made it fatiguing, in spite of the matchless roads and the +celerity with which we travelled. + +Whatever we may think of Napoleon in England, it is impossible to +travel on the Continent, and more particularly through Lombardy, +without being struck with the magnificence and vastness of his public +works--either designed or executed. He is more regretted here than in +France; or rather he has not been so soon banished from men's minds. +In Italy he followed the rational policy of depressing the nobles, and +providing occupation and amusement for the lower classes. I spoke +to-day with an intelligent artisan, who pointed out to us a hall built +near the public walk by Napoleon, for the people to dance and assemble +in, when the weather was unfavourable. The man concluded some very +animated and sensible remarks on the late events, by adding +expressively, that though many had been benefited by the change, there +was to him and all others of his class as much difference between the +late reign and the present, as between _l'or et le fer_. + +The silver shrine of St. Carlo Borromeo, with all its dazzling waste +of magnificence, struck me with a feeling of melancholy and +indignation. The gems and gold which lend such a horrible splendour to +corruption; the skeleton head, grinning ghastly under its invaluable +coronet; the skeleton hand supporting a crozier glittering with +diamonds, appeared so frightful, so senseless a mockery of the +excellent, simple-minded, and benevolent being they were intended to +honour, that I could but wonder, and escape from the sight as quickly +as possible. The Duomo is on the whole more remarkable for the +splendour of the material, than the good taste with which it is +employed: the statues which adorn it inside and out, are sufficient of +themselves to form a very respectable congregation: they are four +thousand in number. + +_9th, Tuesday._--We gave the morning to the churches, and the evening +to the Ambrosian library. The day was, on the whole, more fatiguing +than edifying or amusing. I remarked whatever was remarkable, admired +all that is usually admired, but brought away few impressions of +novelty or pleasure. The objects which principally struck my +capricious and fastidious fancy, were precisely those which passed +unnoticed by every one else, and are not worth recording. In the first +church we visited, I saw a young girl respectably and even elegantly +dressed, in the beautiful costume of the Milanese, who was kneeling on +the pavement before a crucifix, weeping bitterly, and at the same time +fanning herself most vehemently with a large green fan. Another church +(St. Alessandro, I think) was oddly decorated for a Christian temple. +A statue of Venus stood on one side of the porch, a statue of Hercules +on the other. The two divinities, whose attributes could not be +mistaken, had been _converted_ from heathenism into two very +respectable saints. I forget their _christian names_. Nor is this the +most amusing metamorphosis I have seen here. The transformation of two +heathen divinities into saints, is matched by the apotheosis of two +modern sovereigns into pagan deities. On the frieze of the _salle_, +adjoining the amphitheatre, there is a head of Napoleon, which, by the +addition of a beard, has been converted into a Jupiter; and on the +opposite side, a head of Josephine, which, being already beautiful and +dignified, has required no alteration, except in name, to become a +creditable Minerva. + +_10th._--At the Brera, now called the "Palace of the Arts and +Sciences," we spent some delightful hours. There is a numerous +collection of pictures by Titian, Guido, Albano, Schidone, the three +Carraccis, Tintoretto, Giorgione, etc. Some old paintings in fresco, +by Luini and others of his age, were especially pointed out to us, +which had been cut from the walls of churches now destroyed. They are +preserved here, I presume, as curiosities, and specimens of the +progress of the arts, for they possess no other merit--none, at least, +that I could discover. Here is the "Marriage of the Virgin," by +Raffaelle, of which I had often heard. It disappointed me at the first +glance, but charmed me at the second, and enchanted me at the third. +The unobtrusive grace and simplicity of Raffaelle do not immediately +strike an eye so unpractised, and a taste so unformed as mine still +is: for though I have seen the best pictures in England, we have there +no opportunity of becoming acquainted with the two divinest masters of +the Italian art, Raffaelle and Correggio. There are not, I conceive, +half a dozen of either in all the collections together, and those we +do possess, are far from being among their best efforts. But Raffaelle +must not make me forget the Hagar in the Brera: the affecting--the +inimitable Hagar! what agony, what upbraiding, what love, what +helpless desolation of heart in that countenance! I may well remember +the deep pathos of this picture; for the face of Hagar has haunted me +sleeping and waking ever since I beheld it. Marvellous power of art! +that mere inanimate forms, and colours compounded of gross materials, +should thus live--thus speak--thus stand a soul-felt presence before +us, and from the senseless board or canvas, breathe into our hearts a +feeling, beyond what the most impassioned eloquence could ever +inspire--beyond what mere words can ever render. + +Last night and the preceding we spent at the Scala. The opera was +stupid, and Madame Bellochi, who is the present primadonna, appeared +to me harsh and ungraceful, when compared to Fodor. The new ballet +however, amply indemnified us for the disappointment. Our Italian +friends condoled with us on being a few days too late to see _La +Vestale_, which had been performed for sixty nights, and is one of +Vigano's masterpieces. I thought the _Didone Abbandonata_ left us +nothing to regret. The immense size of the stage, the splendid +scenery, the classical propriety and magnificence of the dresses, the +fine music, and the exquisite acting (for there is very little +dancing), all conspired to render it enchanting. The celebrated cavern +scene in the fourth book of Virgil, is rather too closely copied in a +most inimitable pas de deux; so closely, indeed, that I was +considerably alarmed _pour les bienseances_; but little Ascanius, who +is asleep in a corner (Heaven knows how he came there), wakes at the +critical moment, and the impending catastrophe is averted. Such a +scene, however beautiful, would not, I think, be endured on the +English stage. I observed that when it began, the curtains in front of +the boxes were withdrawn, the whole audience, who seemed to be +expecting it, was hushed; the deepest silence, the most delighted +attention prevailed during its performance; and the moment it was +over, a third of the spectators departed. I am told this is always the +case; and that in almost every ballet d'action, the public are +gratified by a scene, or scenes, of a similar tendency. + +The second time I saw the _Didone_, my attention, in spite of the +fascination of the scene, was attracted towards a box near us, which +was occupied by a noble English family just arrived at Milan. In the +front of the box sat a beautiful girl apparently not fifteen, with +laughing lips and dimpled cheeks, the very personification of +blooming, innocent, _English_ loveliness. I watched her (I could not +help it, when my interest was once awakened) through the whole scene. +I marked her increased agitation: I saw her cheeks flush, her eyes +glisten, her bosom flutter, as if with sighs I could not overhear, +till at length, overpowered with emotion, she turned away her head, +and covered her eyes with her hand. Mothers!--English mothers! who +bring your daughters abroad to finish their education--do you well to +expose them to scenes like these, and _force_ the young bud of early +feeling in such a precious hot-bed as this? Can a finer finger on the +piano,--a finer taste in painting, or any possible improvement in +foreign arts and foreign graces, compensate for one taint on that +moral purity, which has ever been (and may it ever be!) the boast, +the charm of Englishwomen? But what have I to do with all this?--I +came here to be amused and to forget;--not to moralize or to +criticise. + +Vigano, who is lately dead, composed the _Didone Abbandonata_ as well +as _La Vestale_, Otello, Nina, and others. All his ballets are +celebrated for their classical beauty and interest. This man, though +but a dancing-master, must have had the soul of a painter, a musician, +and a poet in one. He must have been a perfect master of design, +grouping, contrast, picturesque, and scenic effect. He must have had +the most exquisite feeling for musical expression, to adapt it so +admirably to his purposes; and those gestures and movements with which +he has so gracefully combined it, and which address themselves but too +powerfully to the senses and the imagination--what are they, but the +very "poetry of motion," _la poesie mise en action_, rendering words a +superfluous and feeble medium in comparison? + +I saw at the Mint yesterday the medal struck in honour of Vigano, +bearing his head on one side, and on the other, Prometheus chained; to +commemorate his famous ballet of that name. One of these medals, +struck in gold, was presented to him in the name of the government:--a +singular distinction for a dancing-master;--but Vigano was a +dancing-master of _genius_; and this is the land, where genius in +every shape is deified. + +The enchanting music of the Prometteo by Beethoven, is well known in +England, but to produce the ballet on our stage, as it was exhibited +here, would be impossible. The entire tribe of our dancers and +figurantes, with their jumpings, twirlings, quiverings, and +pirouettings, must be first annihilated; and Vigano, or Didelot, or +Noverre rise again to inform the whole corps de ballet with another +soul and the whole audience with another spirit:--for + + --"Poiche paga il volgo sciocco, e giusto + Scioccamente '_ballar_' per dargli gusto." + + +The Theatre of the Scala, notwithstanding the vastness of my +expectations, did not disappoint me. I heard it criticised as being +dark and gloomy; for only the stage is illuminated: but when I +remember how often I have left our English theatres with dazzled eyes +and aching head,--distracted by the multiplicity of objects and faces, +and "blasted with excess of light,"--I feel reconciled to this +peculiarity; more especially as it heightens beyond measure the +splendour of the stage effect. + +We have the Countess Bubna's box while we are here. She scarcely ever +goes herself, being obliged to hold a sort of military drawing-room +almost every evening. Her husband, General Bubna, has the command of +the Austrian forces in the north of Italy: and though the Archduke +Reinier is nominal viceroy, all real power seems lodged in Bubna's +bands. He it was who suppressed the insurrection in Piedmont during +the last struggle for liberty: 'twas his vocation--more the pity. +Eight hundred of the Milanese, at the head of them Count Melzi, were +connected with the Carbonari and the Piedmontese insurgents. On Count +Bubna's return from his expedition, a list of these malcontents being +sent to him by the police, he refused even to look at it, and merely +saying that it was the business of the police to _surveiller_ those +persons, but _he_ must be allowed to be ignorant of their names, +publicly tore the paper. The same night he visited the theatre, +accompanied by Count Melzi, was received with acclamations, and has +since been deservedly popular. + +Bubna is a heavy gross-looking man, a victim to the gout, and with +nothing martial or captivating in his exterior. He has talents, +however, and those not only of a military cast. He was generally +employed to arrange the affairs of the Emperor of Austria with +Napoleon. His loyalty to his own sovereign, and the soldier-like +frankness and integrity of his character, gained him the esteem of the +French emperor; who, when any difficulties occurred in their +arrangements, used to say impatiently--"Envoyez-moi donc Bubna!" + +The count is of an illustrious family of Alsace, which removed to +Bohemia when that province was ceded to France. He had nearly ruined +himself by gambling, when the emperor (so it is said) advised him, or, +in other words, commanded him to marry the daughter of one Arnvelt or +Arnfeldt, a baptized Jew, who had been servant to a Jewish banker at +Vienna; and on his death left a million of florins to each of his +daughters. He was a man of the lowest extraction, and without any +education; but having sense enough to feel its advantages, he gave a +most brilliant one to his daughters. The Countess Bubna is an elegant, +an accomplished, and has the character of being also an amiable woman. +She is here a person of the very first consequence, the wife of the +archduke alone taking precedence of her. A propos of the viceroy, when +on the Corso to-day with the Countess Bubna, we met him with the +_vice-queen_, as she is styled, here, walking in public. The archduke +has not (as the countess observed) _la plus jolie tournure du monde_: +his appearance is heavy, awkward, and slovenly, with more than the +usual Austrian stupidity of countenance: a complete _testa tedesca_. +His beautiful wife, the Princess Maria of Savoy, to whom he has been +married only a few months, held his arm; and as she moved a little in +front, seemed to drag him after her like a mere appendage to her +state. I gazed after them, amused by the contrast: he looking like a +dull, stiff, old bachelor, the very figure of Moody in the Country +Girl;--she, an elegant, sprightly, captivating creature; decision in +her step, laughter on her lips, and pride, intelligence, and mischief +in her brilliant eyes. + + * * * * * + +We visited yesterday the military college, founded by the viceroy, +Eugene Beauharnois, for the children of soldiers who had fallen in +battle. The original design is now altered; and it has become a mere +public school, to which any boys may be admitted, paying a certain sum +a year. We went over the whole building, and afterwards saw the +scholars, two hundred and eighty in number, sit down to dinner. Every +thing appeared nice, clean, and admirably ordered. At the Mint, which +interested me extremely, we found them coining silver crowns for the +Levant trade, with the head of Maria Theresa, and the date 1780. We +were also shown the beautifully engraved die for the medal which the +university of Padua presented to Belzoni. + +The evening was spent at the Teatro Re, where we saw a bad sentimental +comedy (una Commedia di Carattere) exceedingly well acted. One actor I +thought almost equal to Dowton, in his own style;--we had afterwards +some fine music. Some of the Milanese airs, which the itinerant +musicians give us, have considerable beauty and character. There is +less monotony, I think, in their general style than in the Venetian +music; and perhaps less sentiment, less softness. When left alone +to-night, to do penance on the sofa, for my late walks, and recruit +for our journey to-morrow,--I tried to adapt English verses to one or +two very pretty airs which Annoni brought me to-day, without the +Italian words; but it is a most difficult and invidious task. Even +Moore, with his unequalled command over the lyric harmonies of our +language, cannot perfectly satisfy ears accustomed to the + + "Linked sweetness long drawn out" + +of the Italian vowels, combined with musical sounds: fancy such +dissonant syllables as _ex_, _pray_, _what_, _breaks_, _strength_, +uttered in minim time, hissing and grating through half a bar, instead +of the dulcet _anima mia_, _Catina amabile_--_Caro mio tesoro_, etc. + + STANZAS FOR MUSIC. + + All that it hoped + My heart believed, + And when most trusting, + Was most deceived. + + A shadow hath fallen + O'er my young years; + And hopes when brightest, + Were quench'd in tears. + + I make no plaint-- + I breathe no sigh-- + My lips can smile, + And mine eyes are dry. + + I ask no pity, + I hope no cure-- + The heart, tho' broken, + Can live, and endure! + +We left Milan two days ago, and arrived early the same day at Brescia; +there is, I believe, very little to see there, and of that little, I +saw nothing,--being too ill and too low for the slightest exertion. +The only pleasurable feeling I can remember was excited by our +approach to the Alps, after traversing the flat, fertile, +uninteresting plains of Lombardy. The peculiar sensation of elevation +and delight, inspired by mountain scenery, can only be understood by +those who have felt it: at least I never had formed an idea of it till +I found myself ascending the Jura. + +But Brescia ought to be immortalized in the history of our travels: +for there, stalking down the Corso--_le nez en l'air_--we met our +acquaintance L----, from whom we had parted last on the pave of +Piccadilly. I remember that in London I used to think him not +remarkable for wisdom,--and his travels have infinitely improved +him--in folly. He boasted to us triumphantly that he had run over +sixteen thousand miles in sixteen months: that he had bowed at the +levee of the Emperor Alexander,--been slapped on the shoulder by the +Archduke Constantine,--shaken hands with a Lapland witch,--and been +presented in full volunteer uniform at every court between Stockholm +and Milan. Yet is he not one particle wiser than if he had spent the +same time in walking up and down the Strand. He has contrived, +however, to pick up on his tour, strange odds and ends of foreign +follies, which stick upon the coarse-grained materials of his own John +Bull character like tinfoil upon sackcloth: so that I see little +difference between what he was, and what he is, except that from a +_simple goose_,--he has become a compound one. With all this, L---- is +not unbearable--not _yet_ at least. He amuses others as a butt--and me +as a specimen of a new genus of fools: for his folly is not like any +thing one usually meets with. It is not, _par exemple_, the folly of +stupidity, for he talks much; nor of dullness, for he laughs much; nor +of ignorance, for he has seen much; nor of wrong-headedness, for he +can be guided right; nor of bad-heartedness, for he is good-natured; +nor of thoughtlessness, for he is prudent; nor of extravagance, for he +can calculate even to the value of half a lira: but it is an essence +of folly, peculiar to himself, and like Monsieur Jacques's melancholy, +"compounded of many simples, extracted from various objects, and the +sundry contemplation of his travels." So much, for the present, of our +friend L----. + +We left Brescia early yesterday morning, and after passing Desenzano, +came in sight of the Lago di Garda. I had from early associations a +delightful impression of the beauty of this lake, and it did not +disappoint me. It is far superior, I think, to the Lago Maggiore, +because the scenery is more _resserre_, lies in a smaller compass, so +that the eye takes in the separate features more easily. The mountains +to the north are dark, broken, and wild in their forms, and their +bases seemed to extend to the water edge: the hills to the south are +smiling, beautiful, and cultivated, studded with white flat-roofed +buildings, which glitter one above another in the sunshine. Our drive +along the promontory of Sirmione, to visit the ruins of the Villa of +Catullus, was delightful. The fresh breeze which ruffled the dark blue +lake, revived my spirits, and chased away my head-ache. I was inclined +to be enchanted with all I saw; and when our guide took us into an old +cellar choked with rubbish, and assured us gravely that it was the +very spot in which Catullus had written his Odes to Lesbia. I did not +laugh in his face; for, after all, it would be as easy to prove that +_it is_, as that it is _not_. The old town and castle of Sirmio are +singularly picturesque, whether viewed from above or below, and the +grove of olives which crowned the steep extremity of the promontory, +interested us, being the first we had seen in Italy: on the whole I +fully enjoyed the early part of this day. + +At Peschiera, which is strongly fortified, we crossed the Mincio.-- + + O fountain Arethuse, and thou honoured flood, + Smooth-flowing Mincius crowned with vocal reeds. + +Its waters were exquisitely transparent; but it was difficult to +remember its poetical pretensions, in sight of those odious barracks +and batteries. The reeds mentioned by Virgil and Milton still flourish +upon its banks, and I forgave them for spoiling in some degree the +beauty of the shore, when I thought of Adelaide of Burgundy, who +concealed herself among them for three days, when she fled from the +dungeon of Peschiera to the arms of her lover. I was glad I had read +her story in Gibbon, since it enabled me to add to classical and +poetical associations, an interest at once romantic and real. + +The rest to-morrow--for I can write no more. + +_At Verona, Oct. 20._--I had just written the above when I was +startled by a mournful strain from a chorus of voices, raised at +intervals, and approaching gradually nearer. I walked to the window, +and saw a long funeral procession just entering the church, which is +opposite to the door of our inn. I immediately threw over me a veil +and shawl, followed it, and stood by while the service was chaunted +over the dead. The scene, as viewed by the light of about two hundred +tapers, which were carried by the assistants, was as new to me as it +was solemn and striking; but it was succeeded by a strange and forlorn +contrast. The moment the service was over, the tapers were suddenly +extinguished; the priests and the relatives all disappeared in an +inconceivably short time, and before I was quite aware of what was +going forward: the coffin, stripped of its embroidered pall and +garlands of flowers, appeared a mere chest of deal boards, roughly +nailed together; and was left standing on tressels, bare, neglected, +and forsaken in the middle of the church. I approached it almost +fearfully, and with a deeper emotion than I believed such a thing +could now excite within me. And here, thought I, rests the human +being, who has lived and loved, suffered and enjoyed, and, if I may +judge by the splendour of his funeral rites, has been honoured, +served, flattered while living:--and now not one remains to shed a +last tear over the dead, but a single stranger, a wanderer from a land +he perhaps knew not: to whom his very name is unknown! And while thus +I moralized, two sextons appeared; and one of them seizing the +miserable and deserted coffin, rudely and unceremoniously flung it on +his shoulders, and vanished through a vaulted door; and I returned to +my room, to write this, and to think how much better, how much more +_humanely_, we manage these things in our own England. + +_Oct. 21._--Verona is a clean and quiet place, containing some fine +edifices by Palladio and his pupils. The principal object of interest +is the ancient amphitheatre; the most perfect I believe in Italy. The +inner circle, with all its ranges of seats, is entire. We ascended to +the top, and looked down into the Piazza d'arme, where several +battalions of Austrian soldiers were exercising; their arms glittering +splendidly in the morning sun. As I have now been long enough in Italy +to sympathize in the national hatred of the Austrians, I turned from +the sight, resolved not to be pleased. The arena of the amphitheatre +is smaller, and less oval in form than I had expected: and in the +centre, there is a little paltry gaudy wooden theatre for puppets and +tumblers,--forming a grotesque contrast to the massive and majestic +architecture around it: but even tumblers and puppets, as Rospo +observed, are better than wild beasts and ferocious gladiators. + +There are also at Verona a triumphal arch to the Emperor Gallienus; +the architecture and inscription almost as perfect as if erected +yesterday;--and a most singular bridge of three irregular arches, +built, I believe, by the Scaligieri family, who were once princes of +Verona. + +It is well known that the story of Romeo and Juliet is here regarded +as a traditionary and indisputable fact, and the tomb of Juliet is +shown in a garden near the town. So much has been written and said on +this subject, I can add only one observation. To the reality of the +story it has been objected that the oldest narrator, Masuccio, relates +it as having happened at Sienna: but might he not have heard the +tradition at Verona, and transferred the scene to Sienna, since he +represented it as related by a Siennese?--Della Corte, whose history +of Verona I have just laid down, mentions it as a real historical +event; and Louis da Porta, in his beautiful novel, la Giulietta, +expressly asserts that he has written it down from tradition. If +Shakespeare, as it is said, never saw the novel of Da Porta, how came +he by the names of Romeo and Juliet, the Montagues and the Capulets: +if he _did_ meet with it, how came he to depart so essentially from +the story, particularly in the catastrophe? I must get some books, if +possible, to clear up these difficulties. + +23d, _at Padua._--We spent yesterday morning pleasantly at Vicenza. +Palladio's edifices in general disappointed me; partly because I am +not architect enough to judge of their merits, partly because, of most +of them the situation is bad, and the materials paltry: but the +Olympic theatre, although its solid perspective be a mere trick of the +art, surprised and pleased me. It has an air of antique and classic +elegance in its decorations, which is very striking. I have heard it +criticised as a specimen of bad taste and trickery: but why should its +solid scenery be considered more a _trick_, and in bad taste, than a +curtain of painted canvas? In both a deception is practised and +intended. We saw many things in Vicenza and its neighbourhood, which I +have not time nor spirits, to dwell upon. + +We arrived here (at Padua) last night, and to-day I am again ill: +unable to see or even to wish to see any thing. My eyes are so full of +tears that I can scarcely write. I must lay down my pencil, lest I +break through my resolution, and be tempted to record feelings I +afterwards tremble to see written down.--O bitter and too lasting +remembrance! I must sleep it away--even the heavy and drug-bought +sleep to which I am now reduced, is better than such waking moments as +these. + + * * * * * + +_Venice, October 25th._--I feel while I gaze round me, as if I had +seen Venice in my dreams--as if it were itself the vision of a dream. +We have been here two days; and I have not yet recovered from my first +surprise. All is yet enchantment: all is novel, extraordinary, +affecting from the many associations and remembrances excited in the +mind. Pleasure and wonder are tinged with a melancholy interest; and +while the imagination is excited, the spirits are depressed. + +The morning we left Padua was bright, lovely, and cloudless. Our drive +along the shores of the Brenta crowned with innumerable villas and gay +gardens was delightful; and the moment of our arrival at Fusina, where +we left our carriages to embark in gondolas, was the most auspicious +that could possibly have been chosen. It was about four o'clock: the +sun was just declining towards the west: the whole surface of the +_lagune_, smooth as a mirror, appeared as if paved with fire;--and +Venice, with her towers and domes, indistinctly glittering in the +distance, rose before us like a gorgeous exhalation from the bosom of +the ocean. It is farther from the shore than I expected. As we +approached, the splendour faded: but the interest and wonder grew. I +can conceive nothing more beautiful, more singular, more astonishing, +than the first appearance of Venice, and sad indeed will be the hour +when she sinks (as the poet prophesies) "into the slime of her own +canals." + +The moment we had disembarked our luggage at the inn, we hired +gondolas and rowed to the Piazza di San Marco. Had I seen the church +of St. Mark any where else, I should have exclaimed against the bad +taste which every where prevails in it: but Venice is the proper +region of the fantastic, and the church of St. Mark--with its four +hundred pillars of every different order, colour, and material, its +oriental cupolas, and glittering vanes, and gilding and +mosaics--assimilates with all around it: and the kind of pleasure it +gives is suitable to the place and the people. + +After dinner I had a chair placed on the balcony of our inn, and sat +for some time contemplating a scene altogether new and delightful. The +arch of the Rialto just gleamed through the deepening twilight; long +lines of palaces, at first partially illuminated, faded away at length +into gloomy and formless masses of architecture; the gondolas glided +to and fro, their glancing lights reflected on the water. There was a +stillness all around me, solemn and strange in the heart of a great +city. No rattling carriages shook the streets, no trampling of horses +echoed along the pavement: the silence was broken only by the +melancholy cry of the gondoliers, and the dash of their oars; by the +low murmur of human voices, by the chime of the vesper bells, borne +over the water, and the sounds of music raised at intervals along the +canals. The poetry, the romance of the scene stole upon me unawares. I +fell into a reverie, in which visionary forms and recollections gave +way to dearer and sadder realities, and my mind seemed no longer in my +own power. I called upon the lost, the absent, to share the present +with me,--I called upon past feelings to enhance that moment's +delight. I did wrong--and memory avenged herself as usual. I quitted +my seat on the balcony, with despair at my heart, and drawing to the +table, took out my books and work. So passed our first evening at +Venice. + +Yesterday we visited the Accademia where there are some fine pictures. +The famous assumption by Titian is here, and first made me _feel_ what +connoisseurs mean when they talk of the carnations and draperies of +Titian. We were shown two designs for monuments to the memory of +Titian, modelled by Canova. Neither of them has been erected; but the +most beautiful, with a little alteration, and the substitution of a +lady's bust for Titian's venerable head, has been dedicated, I +believe, to the memory of the Archduchess Christina of Austria. I +remember also an exquisite Canaletti, quite different in style and +subject from any picture of this master I ever saw. + +We then rowed to the ducal palace. The council chamber (I thought of +Othello as I entered it) is now converted into a library. The walls +are decorated with the history of Pope Alexander the Third, and +Frederic Barbarossa, painted by the Tintoretti, father and son, Paul +Veronese and Palma. Above them, in compartments, hang the portraits of +the Doges; among which Marino Faliero is _not_; but his name only, +inscribed on a kind of black pall. The Ganymede is a most exquisite +little group, attributed to the age of Praxiteles; and not without +reason even to the hand of that sculptor. + +To-day we visited several churches--rich, on the outside, with all the +luxury of architecture,--withinside, gorgeous with painting, +sculpture, and many-coloured marbles. The prodigality with which the +most splendid and costly materials are lavished here is perfectly +amazing: pillars of lapis-lazuli, columns of Egyptian porphyry, and +pavements of mosaic, altars of alabaster ascended by steps incrusted +with agate and jasper:--but to particularize would be in vain. I will +only mention three or four which I wish to recollect: the Church of +the Madonna della Salute, so called because erected to the Virgin in +gratitude for the deliverance of the city from a pestilence, which she +miraculously drove into the Adriatic. It is remarkable for its +splendid pictures, most of them by Luca Giordano; and the superb high +altar. I think it was the Church of the Gesuata which astonished us +most. The whole of the inside walls and columns are encrusted with +Carrara marble inlaid with verd-antique, in a kind of damask pattern; +over the pulpit it fell like drapery, so easy, so graceful, so +exquisitely imitated, that I was obliged to touch it to assure myself +of the material. Then by way of contrast followed the Church of San +Giorgio Maggiore,--one of Palladio's masterpieces. After the dazzling +and gorgeous buildings we had left, its beautiful simplicity and +correct taste struck me at first with an impression of poverty and +coldness. At the Church of St. John and St. Paul is the famous +martyrdom, or rather assassination, of St. Peter Martyr, by Titian, +one of the most magical pictures in the world. Its tragic horror is +redeemed by its sublimity. Here too is a most admirable series of +bas-reliefs in white marble, representing the history of our Saviour, +the work of a modern sculptor. Here too the Doges are buried; and +close to the Church is the equestrian statue of one of the Falieri +family: near which Marino Faliero met the conspirators. + +At the Frati is the grave of Titian: a small square slab covers him, +with this inscription:-- + + "Qui giace il gran Tiziano Vecelli. + Emulator dei Zeusi e degli Apelli." + +there is no monument:--and there needs none. + +It was, I think, in the Church of St. John and St. Paul, that I saw a +singular and beautiful altar of black touch-stone, used when mass is +said for the soul of an executed criminal. + +This is all I can remember of to-day. I am fatigued, and my head +aches;--my imagination is yet dazzled:--my eyes are tired of admiring, +my mind is tired of thinking, and my heart with feeling.----Now for +repose. + +27.--To-day we visited the Manfrini Palace, the Casa Pisani, the +Palazzo Barberigo, and concluded the morning in the colonnade of St. +Mark, and the public gardens. The day has been far less fatiguing than +yesterday: for though we have seen an equal variety of objects, they +forced the attention less, and gratified the imagination more. + +At the Manfrini Palace there is the most valuable and splendid +collection of pictures I have yet seen in Italy or elsewhere. I have +no intention of turning my little Diary into a mere catalogue of names +which I can find in every guide-book; but I cannot pass over +Giorgione's beautiful group of himself, and his wife and child, which +Lord Byron calls "love at full length and life, not love ideal," and +it is indeed exquisite. A female with a guitar by the same master is +almost equal to it. There are two Lucretias--one by Guido and one by +Giordano: though both are beautiful, particularly the former, there +was, I thought, an impropriety in the conception of both pictures: the +figure was too voluptuous--too exposed, and did not give me the idea +of the matronly Lucretia, who so carefully arranged her drapery before +she fell. I remember, too, a St. Cecilia by Carlo Dolci, of most +heavenly beauty,--two Correggios--Iphigenia in Aulis, by Padovanino: +in this picture the figure of Agamemnon is a complete failure, but the +lifeless beauty of Iphigenia, a wonderful effort of art: and a hundred +others at least, all masterpieces. + +The Barberigo Palace was the school of Titian. We were shown the room +in which he painted, and the picture he left unfinished when he died +at the age of 99. It is a David--as vigorous in the touch and style as +any of his first pictures. + + * * * * * + +It is now some days since I had time to write; or rather the intervals +of excitement and occupation found me too much exhausted to take up my +pencil. Our stay at Venice has been rendered most agreeable by the +kindness of Mr. H----, the British Consul, and his amiable and +charming wife, and in their society we have spent much of the last few +days. + +One of our pleasantest excursions was to the Armenian convent of St. +Lazaro, where we were received by Fra Pasquale, an accomplished and +intelligent monk, and a particular friend of Mr. H----. After we had +visited every part of the convent, the printing press--the +library--the laboratory--which contains several fine mathematical +instruments of English make; and admired the beautiful little tame +gazelle which bounded through the corridors, we were politely +refreshed with most delicious sweetmeats and coffee; and took leave of +Fra Pasquale with regret. + +There is no opera at present, but we have visited both the other +theatres. At the San Luca, they gave us "Elizabeth, the Exile of +Siberia," tolerably acted: but there was one trait introduced very +characteristic of the place and people: Elizabeth in a tremendous snow +storm, is pursued by robbers; and finding a crucifix, erected by the +road side, embraces it for protection. The crucifix flies away with +her in a clap of thunder, and sets her down safely at a distance from +her persecutors. The audience appeared equally enchanted and edified +by this scene: some of the women near me crossed themselves, and put +their handkerchiefs to their eyes: the men rose from their seats, +clapped with enthusiasm, and shouted "Bravo! Miracolo!" + +At the San Benedetto we were gratified by a deep tragedy entitled +"Gabrielle Innocente," so exquisitely absurd, and so grotesquely +acted, that the best comedy could scarcely have afforded us more +amusement,--certainly not more _merriment_. In the course of the +evening, coffee and ices were served in our box, as is the custom +here. + +With Mrs. H---- this evening I had a long and pleasant conversation; +she is really one of the most delightful and unaffected women I ever +met with: and as there is nothing in my melancholy visage and +shrinking reserve to tempt any person to converse with me, I must also +set her down as one of the most good-natured. She talked much of Lord +Byron, with whom, during his residence here she was on intimate terms. +She spoke of him, not conceitedly as one vain of the acquaintance of a +great character; nor with affected reserve, as if afraid of committing +herself--but with openness, animation, and cordial kindness, as one +whom she liked, and had reason to like. She says the style of Lord +Byron's conversation is very much that of Don Juan: just in the same +manner are the familiar, the brilliant, the sublime, the affecting, +the witty, the ludicrous, and the licentious, mingled and contrasted. +Several little anecdotes which she related I need not write down; I +can scarcely forget them, and it would not be quite fair as they were +told _en confiance_. I am no anecdote hunter, picking up articles for +"my pocket book." + + * * * * * + +A little while ago Captain F. lent me D'Israeli's Essays on the +Literary Character, which had once belonged to Lord Byron; and +contained marginal notes in his hand-writing. One or two of them are +so curiously characteristic that I copy them here. + +The first note is on a passage in which D'Israeli, in allusion to Lord +Byron, traces his fondness for oriental scenery to his having read +Rycaut at an early age. On this Lord Byron observes, that he read +_every book_ relating to the east before he was ten years old, +including De Tott and Cantemir as well as Rycaut: at that age, he says +that he _detested_ all poetry, and adds, "when I was in Turkey, I was +oftener tempted to turn mussulman than poet: and have often regretted +since that _I did not_." + +At page 99 D'Israeli says, + +"The great poetical genius of our times has openly alienated himself +from the land of his brothers" (over the word _brothers_ Lord Byron +has written _Cains_.) "He becomes immortal in the _language_ of a +_people_ whom he would _contemn_, he accepts with ingratitude the fame +he loves more than life, and he is only truly great on that _spot_ of +_earth_, whose genius, when he is no more, will contemplate his shade +in sorrow and in anger." + +Lord Byron has underlined several words in this passage, and writes +thus in the margin: + +"What was rumoured of me in that language, if _true_, I was unfit for +England; and if _false_, England was unfit for me. But 'there is a +world elsewhere.' I have never for an instant regretted that +country,--but often that I ever returned to it. It is not my fault +that I am obliged to write in English. If I understood any present +language, Italian, for instance, equally well, I would write in +it:--but it will require ten years, at least, to form a style. No +tongue so easy to acquire a little of, and so difficult to master +thoroughly, as Italian." + +The next note is amusing; at page 342 is mentioned the anecdote of +Petrarch, who when returning to his native town, was informed that the +proprietor of the house in which he was born had _often_ wished to +make alterations in it, but that the town's-people had risen to insist +that the house consecrated by his birth should remain unchanged;--"a +triumph," adds D'Israeli, "more affecting to Petrarch than even his +coronation at Rome." + +Lord Byron has written in the margin--"It would have pained _me_ more +that the proprietor should _often_ have wished to make alterations, +than it would give me pleasure that the rest of Arezzo rose against +his right (for _right_ he had:) the depreciation of the lowest of +mankind is more painful, than the applause of the highest is pleasing. +The sting of the scorpion is more in _torture_ than the possession of +any thing short of Venus would be in rapture." + + * * * * * + +The public gardens are the work of the French, and occupy the +extremity of one of the islands. They contain the only trees I have +seen at Venice:--a few rows of dwarfish unhappy-looking shrubs, +parched by the sea breezes, and are little frequented. We found here a +solitary gentleman, who was sauntering up and down with his hands in +his pockets, and a look at once stupid and disconsolate. Sometimes he +paused, looked vacantly over the waters, whistled, yawned, and turned +away to resume his solemn walk. On a trifling remark addressed to him +by one of our party, he entered into conversation, with all the +eagerness of a man, whose tongue had long been kept in most unnatural +bondage. He congratulated himself on having met with some one who +would speak English; adding contemptuously, that "he understood none +of the outlandish tongues the people spoke hereabouts:" he inquired +what was to be seen here, for though he had been four days in Venice, +he had spent every day precisely in the same manner; viz. walking up +and down the public gardens. We told him Venice was famous for fine +buildings and pictures; he knew nothing of _them_ things. And that it +contained also, "some fine statues and antiques"--he cared nothing +about them neither--he should set off for Florence the next morning, +and begged to know what was to be seen there? Mr. R----told him, with +enthusiasm, "the most splendid gallery of pictures and statues in the +world!" He looked very blank and disappointed. "Nothing else?" then he +should certainly not waste his time at Florence, he should go direct +to Rome; he had put down the name of that _town_ in his pocket-book, +for he understood it was a very _convenient_ place: he should +therefore stay there a week; thence he should go to Naples, a place he +had also heard of, where he should stay another week: then he should +go to Algiers, where he should stay _three weeks_, and thence to +Tunis, where he expected to be very comfortable, and should probably +make a long stay; thence he should return home, having seen every +thing worth seeing. He scarcely seemed to know how or by what route he +had got to Venice--but he assured us he had come "fast enough;"--he +remembered no place he had passed through except Paris. At Paris he +told us there was a female lodging in the same hotel with himself, who +by his description appears to have been a single lady of rank and +fashion, travelling with her own carriages and a suite of servants. He +had never seen her; but learning through the domestics that she was +travelling the same route, he sat down and wrote her a long letter, +beginning "Dear Madam," and proposing they should join company, "for +the sake of good fellowship, and the _bit of chat_ they might have on +their way." Of course she took no notice of this strange billet, "from +which," added he with ludicrous simplicity, "I supposed she would +rather travel alone." + +Truly, "Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time." After this +specimen, sketched from life, who will say there are such things as +caricatures? + + * * * * * + +We visited to-day the Giant's Staircase and the Bridge of Sighs, and +took a last farewell of St. Mark--we were surprised to see the church +hung with black--the festoons of flowers all removed--masses going +forward at several altars, and crowds of people looking particularly +solemn and devout. It is the "Giorno dei morte," the day by the Roman +Catholics consecrated to the dead. I observed many persons, both men +and women, who wept while they prayed, with every appearance of the +most profound grief. Leaving St. Mark, I crossed the square. On the +three lofty standards in front of the church formerly floated the +ensigns of the three states subjects to Venice,--the Morea, Cyprus, +and Candia: the bare poles remain, but the ensigns of empire are gone. +One of the standards was extended on the ground, and being of immense +length, I hesitated for a moment whether I should make a circuit, but +at last stepped over it. I looked back with remorse, for it was like +trampling over the fallen. + +We then returned to our inn to prepare for our departure. How I regret +to leave Venice! not the less because I cannot help it. + +_Rovigo, Nov. 3._ We left Venice in a hurry yesterday, slept at Padua, +and travelled this morning through a most lovely country, among the +Enganean hills to Rovigo, where we are very uncomfortably lodged at +the Albergo di San Marco. + +I have not yet recovered my regret at leaving Venice so unexpectedly; +though as a residence, I could scarce endure it; the sleepy canals, +the gliding gondolas in their "dusk livery of woe"--the absence of all +verdure, all variety--of all _nature_, in short; the silence, +disturbed only by the incessant chiming of bells--and, worse than all, +the spectacle of a great city "expiring," as Lord Byron says, "before +our eyes," would give me the horrors: but as a visitor, my curiosity +was not half gratified, and I should have liked to have stayed a few +days longer--perhaps after all, I have reason to rejoice that instead +of bringing away from Venice a disagreeable impression of satiety, +disgust and melancholy, I have quitted it with feelings of admiration, +of deep regret, and undiminished interest. + +Farewell, then, Venice! I could not have believed it possible that it +would have brought tears to my eyes to leave a place merely for its +own sake, and unendeared by the presence of any one I loved. + +As Rovigo affords no other amusement I shall scribble a little longer. + +Nothing can be more arbitrary than the Austrian government at Venice. +As a summary method of preventing robberies during the winter months, +when many of the gondoliers and fishermen are out of employ, the +police have orders to arrest, without ceremony, every person who has +no permanent trade or profession, and keep them in confinement and to +hard labour till the return of spring. + +The commerce of Venice has so much and so rapidly declined, that Mr. +H---- told us when first he was appointed to the consulship, a hundred +and fifty English vessels cleared the port, and this year only five. +It should seem that Austria, from a cruel and selfish policy, is +sacrificing Venice to the prosperity of Trieste: but why do I call +that a cruel policy, which on recollection I might rather term +poetical and retributive justice? + +The grandeur of Venice arose first from its trade in salt. I remember +reading in history, that when the king of Hungary opened certain +productive salt mines in his dominions, the Venetians sent him a +peremptory order to shut them up; and such was the power of the +Republic at that time, that he was forced to obey this insolent +command, to the great injury and impoverishment of his states. The +tables are now turned; the oppressor has become the oppressed. + +The principal revenue derived from Venice is from the tax on houses, +there being no _land tax_. So rapid was the decay of the place, that +in two years seventy houses and palaces were pulled down; the +government forbade this by a special law, and now taxes are paid for +many houses whose proprietors are too poor to live in them. + +There is no _society_, properly so called, at Venice; three old women +of rank receive company now and then, and it is any thing rather than +select. + +Mr. F. told us at Venice, that on entering the states subject to +Austria, he had his Johnson's Dictionary taken from him, and could +never recover it; so jealous is the government of English principles +and English literature, that _all_ English books are prohibited until +examined by the police. + +The whole country from Milan to Padua was like a vast garden, nothing +could exceed its fertility and beauty. It was the latter end of the +vintage; and we frequently met huge tub-like waggons loaded with +purple grapes, reeling home from the vineyards, and driven by men +whose legs were stained with treading in the wine-press--now and then, +rich clusters were shaken to the ground, as I have seen wisps of straw +fall from a hay-cart in England, and were regarded with equal +indifference. Sometimes we saw in the vineyards by the road-side, +groups of labourers seated among the branches of the trees, and +plucking grapes from the vines, which were trailed gracefully from +tree to tree and from branch to branch, and drooped with their +luxurious burthen of fruit. The scene would have been as perfectly +delightful, as it was new and beautiful, but for the squalid looks of +the peasantry; more especially of the women. The principal productions +of the country seem to be wine and silk. There were vast groves of +mulberry-trees between Verona and Padua; and we visited some of the +silk-mills, in which the united strength of men invariably performed +those operations which in England are accomplished by steam or water. +I saw in a huge horizontal wheel, about a dozen of these poor +creatures labouring so hard, that my very heart ached to see them, and +I begged that the machine might be stopped that I might speak to +them:--but when it _Was_ stopped, and I beheld their half savage, half +stupified, I had almost said _brutified_ countenances, I could not +utter a single word--but gave them something, and turned away. + +"Compassion is wasted upon such creatures," said R----; "do you not +see that their minds are degraded down to their condition? they do not +pity themselves:"--but therefore did I pity them the more. + + * * * * * + +_Bologna, Nov. 5._--I fear I shall retain a disagreeable impression of +Bologna, for here I am again ill. I have seen little of what the town +contains of beautiful and curious: and that little, under unpleasant +and painful circumstances. + +Yesterday we passed through Ferrara; only stopping to change horses +and dine. We snatched a moment to visit the hospital of St. Anna and +the prison of Tasso--the glory and disgrace of Ferrara. Over the iron +gate is written "Ingresso alia prigione di Torquato Tasso." The cell +itself is miserably gloomy and wretched, and not above twelve feet +square. How amply has posterity avenged the cause of the poet on his +tyrant!--and as we emerge from his obscure dungeon and descend the +steps of the hospital of St. Anna, with what fervent hatred, +indignation, and scorn, do we gaze upon the towers of the ugly red +brick palace, or rather fortress, which deforms the great square, and +where Alphonso feasted while Tasso wept! The inscription on the door +of the cell, calling on strangers to venerate the spot where Tasso, +"Infermo piu di tristezza che delirio," was confined seven years and +one month--was placed there by the French, and its accuracy may be +doubted; as far as I can recollect. The grass growing in the wide +streets of Ferrara is no poetical exaggeration; I saw it rank and long +even on the thresholds of the deserted houses, whose sashless windows, +and flapping doors, and roofless walls, looked strangely desolate. + +I will say nothing of Bologna;--for the few days I have spent here +have been to me days of acute suffering, in more ways than I wish to +remember, and therefore dare not dwell upon. + +_At Covigliajo in the Apennines._--O for the pencil of Salvator, or +the pen of a Radcliffe! But could either, or could both united, give +to my mind the scenes of to-day, in all their splendid combinations of +beauty and brightness, gloom and grandeur? A picture may present to +the eye a small portion of the boundless whole--one aspect of the +every-varying face of nature; and words, how weak are they!--they are +but the elements out of which the quick imagination frames and +composes lovely landscapes, according to its power or its peculiar +character; and in which the unimaginative man finds only a mere chaos +of verbiage, without form, and void. + +The scenery of the Apennines is altogether different in character from +that of the Alps: it is less bold, less lofty, less abrupt and +terrific--but more beautiful, more luxuriant, and infinitely more +varied. At one time, the road wound among precipices and crags, +crowned with dismantled fortresses and ruined castles--skirted with +dark pine forests--and opening into wild recesses of gloom, and +immeasurable depths like those of Tartarus profound; then came such +glimpses of paradise! such soft sunny valleys and peaceful +hamlets--and vine-clad eminences and rich pastures, with here and +there a convent half hidden by groves of cypress and cedars. As we +ascended we arrived at a height from which, looking back, we could see +the whole of Lombardy spread at our feet; a vast, glittering, +indistinct landscape, bounded on the north by the summits of the Alps, +just apparent above the horizon, like a range of small silvery clouds; +and on the east a long unbroken line of bluish light marked the far +distant Adriatic; as the day declined, and we continued our ascent +(occasionally assisted by a yoke of oxen where the acclivity was very +precipitate), the mountains closed around us, the scenery became more +wildly romantic, barren, and bleak. At length, after passing the +crater of a volcano, visible through the gloom by its dull red light, +we arrived at the Inn of Covigliajo, an uncouth dreary edifice, +situated in a lonely and desolate spot, some miles from any other +habitation. This is the very inn, infamous for a series of the most +horrible assassinations, committed here some years ago. Travellers +arrived, departed, disappeared, and were never heard of more; by what +agency, or in what manner disposed of, could not be discovered. It was +supposed for some time that a horde of banditti were harboured among +the mountains, and the police were for a long time in active search +for them, while the real miscreants remained unsuspected for their +seeming insignificance and helplessness; these were the mistress of +the inn, the cameriere, and the curate of the nearest village, about +two leagues off. They secretly murdered every traveller who was +supposed to carry property--buried or burned their clothes, packages, +and vehicles, retaining nothing but their watches, jewels, and money. +The whole story, with all its horrors, the manner of discovery, and +the fate of these wretches, is told, I think, by Forsyth, who can +hardly be suspected of romance or exaggeration. I have him not with me +to refer to; but I well remember the mysterious and shuddering dread +with which I read the anecdote. I am glad no one else seems to +recollect it. The inn at present contains many more than it can +possibly accommodate. We have secured the best rooms, or rather the +_only_ rooms--and besides ourselves and other foreigners, there are +numbers of native travellers: some of whom arrived on horseback, and +others with the Vetturini. A kind of gallery or corridor separates the +sleeping rooms, and is divided by a curtain into two parts: the +smaller is appropriated to us, as a saloon: the other half, as I +contemplate it at this moment through a rent in the curtain, presents +a singular and truly Italian spectacle--a huge black iron lamp, +suspended by a chain from the rafters, throws a flaring and shifting +light around. Some trusses of hay have been shaken down upon the +floor, to supply the place of beds, chairs, and tables; and there, +reclining in various attitudes, I see a number of dark looking +figures, some eating and drinking, some sleeping; some playing at +cards, some telling stories with all the Italian variety of +gesticulation and intonation; some silently looking on, or listening. +Two or three common looking fellows began to smoke their segars, but +when it was suggested that this might incommode the ladies on the +other side of the curtain, they with genuine politeness ceased +directly. Through this motley and picturesque assemblage I have to +make my way to my bed-room in a few minutes--I will take another look +at them, and then--andiamo! + +_Florence, Nov. 8._--"La bellisema e famosissima figlia di Roma," as +Dante calls her in some relenting moment. Last night we slept in a +blood-stained hovel--and to-night we are lodged in a palace. So much +for the vicissitudes of travelling. + +I am not subject to idle fears, and least of all to superstitious +fears--but last night, at Covigliajo, I could not sleep--I could not +even lie down for more than a few minutes together. The whispered +voices and hard breathing of the men who slept in the corridor, from +whom only a slight door divided me, disturbed and fevered my nerves; +horrible imaginings were all around me: and gladly did I throw open my +window at the first glimpse of the dawn, and gladly did I hear the +first well-known voice which summoned me to a hasty breakfast. How +reviving was the breath of the early morning, after leaving that +close, suffocating, ill-omened inn! how beautiful the blush of light +stealing downwards from the illumined summits to the valleys, tinting +the fleecy mists, as they rose from the earth, till all the landscape +was flooded with sunshine: and when at length we passed the mountains, +and began to descend into the rich vales of Tuscany--when from the +heights above Fesole we beheld the city of Florence, and above it the +young moon and the evening star suspended side by side; and floating +over the whole of the Val d'Arno, and the lovely hills which enclose +it, a mist, or rather a suffusion of the richest rose colour, which +gradually, as the day declined, faded, or rather deepened into purple; +then I first understood all the enchantment of an Italian +landscape.--O what a country is this! All that I see, I _feel_--all +that I _feel_, sinks so deep into my heart and my memory! the deeper +because I suffer--and because I never think of expressing, or sharing, +one emotion with those around me, but lock it up in my own bosom; or +at least in my little book--as I do now. + +_Nov. 10._--We visited the gallery for the first time yesterday +morning; and I came away with my eyes and imagination so dazzled with +excellence, and so distracted with variety, that I retained no +distinct recollection of any particular object except the Venus; which +of course was the first and great attraction. This morning was much +more delightful; my powers of discrimination returned, and my power of +enjoyment was not diminished. New perceptions of beauty and excellence +seemed to open upon my mind; and faculties long dormant, were roused +to pleasurable activity. + +I came away untired, unsated; and with a delightful and distinct +impression of all I had seen. I leave to catalogues to particularise; +and am content to admire and to remember. + +I am glad I was not disappointed in the Venus which I half expected. +Neither was I surprised: but I felt while I gazed a sense of unalloyed +and unmingled pleasure, and forgot the cant of criticism. It has the +same effect to the eye, that perfect harmony has upon the ear: and I +think I can understand why no copy, cast, or model, however accurate, +however exquisite, can convey the impression of tenderness and +sweetness, the divine and peculiar charm of the original. + +After dinner we walked in the grounds of the Cascine,--a dairy farm +belonging to the grand Duke, just without the gates of Florence. The +promenade lies along the bank of the river, and is sheltered and +beautiful. We saw few native Italians, but great numbers of English +walking and riding. The day was as warm, as sunny, as brilliant as the +first days of September in England. + +To-night, after resting a little, I went out to view the effect of the +city and surrounding scenery, by moonlight. It is not alone the +brilliant purity of the skies and atmosphere, nor the peculiar +character of the scenery which strikes a stranger; but here art +harmonizes with nature: the style of the buildings, their flat +projecting roofs, white walls, balconies, colonnades and statues, are +all set off to advantage by the radiance of an Italian moon. + +I walked across the first bridge, from which I had a fine view of the +Ponte della Trinita, with its graceful arches and light balustrade, +touched with the sparkling moonbeams and relieved by dark shadow: then +I strolled along the quay in front of the Corsini palace, and beyond +the colonnade of the Uffizi, to the last of the four bridges; on the +middle of which I stood and looked back upon the city--(how justly +styled the Fair!)--with all its buildings, its domes, its steeples, +its bridges, and woody hills and glittering convents, and marble +villas, peeping from embowering olives and cypresses; and far off the +snowy peaks of the Apennines, shining against the dark purple sky: the +whole blended together in one delicious scene of shadowy splendour. +After contemplating it with a kind of melancholy delight, long enough +to get it by heart, I returned homewards. Men were standing on the +wall along the Arno, in various picturesque attitudes, fishing, after +the Italian fashion, with singular nets suspended to long poles; and +as I saw their dark figures between me and the moonlight, and elevated +above my eye, they looked like colossal statues. I then strayed into +the Piazza del Gran Duca. Here the rich moonlight, streaming through +the arcade of the gallery, fell directly upon the fine Perseus of +Benvenuto Cellini; and illuminating the green bronze, touched it with +a spectral and supernatural beauty. Thence I walked round the +equestrian statue of Cosmo, and so home over the Ponte Alla Carrajo. + +_Nov. 11._--I spent about two hours in the gallery, and for the first +time saw the Niobe. This statue has been for a long time a favourite +of my imagination, and I approached it, treading softly and slowly, +and with a feeling of reverence; for I had an impression that the +original Niobe would, like the original Venus, surpass all the casts +and copies I had seen both in beauty and expression: but apparently +expression is more easily caught than delicacy and grace, and the +grandeur and pathos of the attitude and grouping easily copied--for I +think the best casts of the Niobe are accurate counterparts of the +original; and at the first glance I was capriciously disappointed, +because the statue did not _surpass_ my expectations. It should be +contemplated from a distance. It is supposed that the whole group once +ornamented the pediment of a temple--probably the temple of Diana or +Latona. I once saw a beautiful drawing by Mr. Cockerell, of the manner +in which he supposed the whole group was distributed. Many of the +figures are rough and unfinished at the back, as if they had been +placed on a height, and viewed only in front. + +In the same room with the Niobe is a head which struck me more--the +_Alexandre mourant_. The title seemed to me misapplied; for there is +something indignant and upbraiding, as well as mournful, in the +expression of this magnificent head. It is undoubtedly Alexander--but +Alexander reproaching the gods--or calling upon Heaven for new worlds +to conquer. + +I visited also the gallery of Bronzes: it contains, among other +master-pieces, the aerial Mercury of John of Bologna, of which we see +such a multiplicity of copies. There is a conceit in perching him upon +the bluff cheeks of a little Eolus: but what exquisite lightness in +the figure!--how it mounts, how it floats, disdaining the earth! On +leaving the gallery, I sauntered about; visited some churches, and +then returned home depressed and wearied: and in this melancholy +humour I had better close my book, lest I be tempted to write what I +could not bear to see written. + +_Sunday._--At the English ambassador's chapel. To attend public +worship among our own countrymen, and hear the praises of God in our +native accents, in a strange land, among a strange people; where a +different language, different manners, and a different religion +prevail, affects the mind, or at least ought to affect it;--and deeply +too: yet I cannot say that I felt devout this morning. The last day I +visited St. Mark's, when I knelt down beside the poor weeping girl and +her dove-basket, my heart was touched, and my prayers, I humbly trust, +were not unheard: to-day, in that hot close crowded room, among those +fine people flaunting in all the luxury of dress, I felt suffocated, +feverish, and my head ached--the clergyman too---- + + * * * * * + +Samuel Rogers paid us a long visit this morning. He does not look as +if the suns of Italy had _revivified_ him--but he is as _amiable_ and +amusing as ever. He talked long, _et avec beaucoup d'onction_, of +ortolans and figs; till methought it was the very poetry of epicurism; +and put me in mind of his own suppers-- + + "Where blushing fruits through scatter'd leaves invite, + Still clad in bloom and veiled in azure light. + The wine as rich in years as Horace sings;" + +and the rest of his description, worthy of a poetical Apicius. + +Rogers may be seen every day about eleven or twelve in the Tribune, +seated opposite to the Venus, which appears to be the exclusive object +of his adoration; and gazing, as if he hoped, like another Pygmalion, +to animate the statue; or rather perhaps that the statue might animate +_him_. A young Englishman of fashion, with as much talent as +espieglerie, placed an epistle in verse between the fingers of the +statue, addressed to Rogers; in which the goddess entreats him not to +come there _ogling_ every day;--for though "partial friends might deem +him still alive," she knew by his looks that he had come from the +other side of the Styx; and retained her _antique_ abhorrence of the +spectral dead, etc. etc. She concluded by beseeching him, if he could +not desist from haunting her with his _ghostly_ presence, at least to +spare her the added misfortune of being be-rhymed by his muse. + +Rogers, with equal good nature and good sense, neither noticed these +lines nor withdrew his friendship and intimacy from the writer. + + * * * * * + +Carlo Dolce is not one of my favourite masters. There is a cloying +sweetness in his style, a general want of power which wearies me: yet +I brought away from the Corsini Palace to-day an impression of a head +by Carlo Dolce (La Poesia), which I shall never forget. Now I recall +the picture, I am at a loss to tell where lies the charm which has +thus powerfully seized on my imagination. Here are no "eyes upturned +like one inspired"--no distortion--no rapt enthusiasm--no Muse full of +the God;--but it is a head so purely, so divinely intellectual, so +heavenly sweet, and yet so penetrating,--so full of sensibility, and +yet so unstained by earthly passion--so brilliant, and yet so +calm--that if Carlo Dolce had lived in our days, I should have thought +he intended it for the personified genius of Wordsworth's poetry. +There is such an individual reality about this beautiful head, that I +am inclined to believe the tradition, that it is the portrait of one +of Carlo Dolce's daughters who died young:--and yet + + "Did ever mortal mixture of earth's mould + Breathe such divine, enchanting ravishment?" + + * * * * * + +_Nov. 15._--Our stay at Florence promises to be far gayer than either +Milan or Venice, or even Paris; more diversified by society, as well +as affording a wider field of occupation and amusement. + +Sometimes in the long evenings, when fatigued and over-excited, I +recline apart on the sofa, or bury myself in the recesses of a +_fauteuil_; when I am aware that my mind is wandering away to +forbidden themes, I force my attention to what is going forward; and +often see and hear much that is entertaining, if not improving. People +are so accustomed to my pale face, languid indifference and, what +M---- calls, my _impracticable_ silence, that after the first glance +and introduction, I believe they are scarcely sensible of my presence: +so I sit, and look, and listen, secure and harboured in my apparent +dullness. The flashes of wit, the attempts at sentiment, the +affectation of enthusiasm, the absurdities of folly, and the blunders +of ignorance; the contrast of characters and the clash of opinions, +the scandalous anecdotes of the day, related with sprightly malice, +and listened to with equally malicious avidity,--all these, in my days +of health and happiness, had power to surprise, or amuse, or provoke +me. I could mingle _then_ in the conflict of minds; and hear my part +with smiles in the social circle; though the next moment, perhaps, I +might contemn myself and others: and the personal scandal, the +characteristic tale, the amusing folly, or the malignant wit, were +effaced from my mind-- + + ----"Like forms with chalk + Painted on rich men's floors for one feast night." + +Now it is different: I can smile yet, but my smile is in pity, rather +than in mockery. If suffering has subdued my mind to seriousness, and +perhaps enfeebled its powers, I may at least hope that it has not +soured or imbittered my temper:--if what could once _amuse_, no longer +amuses,--what could once _provoke_ has no longer power to irritate: +thus my loss may be improved into a gain--_car tout est bien, quand +tout est mal_. + +It is sorrow which makes our experience; it is sorrow which teaches us +to feel properly for ourselves and for others. We must feel deeply, +before we can think rightly. It is not in the tempest and storm of +passions we can reflect,--but afterwards when _the waters have gone +over our soul_; and like the precious gems and the rich merchandize +which the wild wave casts on the shore out of the wreck it has +made--such are the thoughts left by retiring passions. + +Reflection is the result of feeling; from that absorbing, +heart-rending compassion for oneself (the most painful sensation, +_almost_, of which our nature is capable), springs a deeper sympathy +for others; and from the sense of our own weakness, and our own +self-upbraiding, arises a disposition to be indulgent--to forbear--and +to forgive--so at least it ought to be. When once we have shed those +inexpressibly bitter tears, which fall unregarded, and which we forget +to wipe away, O how we shrink from inflicting pain! how we shudder at +unkindness!--and think all harshness even in thought, only another +name for cruelty! These are but common-place truths, I know, which +have often been a thousand times better expressed. Formerly I heard +them, read them, and thought I believed them: now I feel them; and +feeling, I utter them as if they were something new.--Alas! the +lessons of sorrow are as old as the world itself. + +To-day we have seen nothing new. In the morning I was ill: in the +afternoon we drove to the Cascina; and while the rest walked, I spread +my shawl upon the bank and basked like a lizard in the sunshine. It +was a most lovely day, a summer-day in England. In this paradise of a +country, the common air, and earth, and skies, seem happiness enough. +While I sat to-day, on my green bank--languid, indeed, but free from +pain--and looked round upon a scene which has lost its novelty, but +none of its beauty,--where Florence, with its glittering domes and its +back-ground of sunny hills, terminated my view on one side, and the +Apennines, tinted with rose colour and gold, bounded it on the other, +I felt not only pleasure, but a deep thankfulness that such pleasures +were yet left to me. + +Among the gay figures who passed and repassed before me, I remarked a +benevolent but rather heavy-looking old gentleman, with a shawl +hanging over his arm, and holding a parasol, with which he was +gallantly shading a little plain old woman from the November sun. +After them walked two young ladies, simply dressed; and then followed +a tall and very handsome young man, with a plain but elegant girl +hanging on his arm. This was the Grand Duke and his family; with the +Prince of Carignano, who has lately married one of his daughters. Two +servants in plain drab liveries, followed at a considerable distance. +People politely drew on one side as they approached; but no other +homage was paid to the sovereign, who thus takes his walk in public +almost every day. Lady Morgan is merry at the expense of the Grand +Duke's taste for brick and mortar: but monarchs, like other men, must +have their amusements; some invent uniforms, some stitch +embroidery;--and why should not this good-natured Grand Duke amuse +himself with his trowel if he likes it? As to the Prince of Carignano, +I give him up to her lash--_le traitre_--but perhaps he thought he was +doing right: and at all events there are not flatterers wanting, to +call his perfidy patriotism. + + * * * * * + +I am told that Florence retains its reputation of being the most +devout capital in Italy, and that here love, music, and devotion hold +divided empire, or rather are _tria juncta in uno_. The liberal +patronage and taste of Lord Burghersh, contribute perhaps to make +music so much a _passion_ as it is at present. Magnelli, the Grand +Duke's Maestra di Cappella, and director of the Conservatorio, is the +finest tenor in Italy. I have the pleasure of hearing him frequently, +and think the purity of his taste at least equal to the perfection of +his voice; rare praise for a singer in these "most brisk and +giddy-paced times." He gave us last night the beautiful recitative +which introduces Desdemona's song in Othello-- + + "Nessun maggior dolore, + Che ricordarsi del tempo felice + Nella miseria!" + +and the words, the music, and the divine pathos of the man's voice +combined, made me feel--as I thought I never could have felt again. + + TO ---- + + As sounds of sweetest music, heard at eve, + When summer dews weep over languid flowers, + When the still air conveys each touch, each tone, + However faint--and breathes it on the ear + With a distinct and thrilling power, that leaves + Its memory long within the raptur'd soul.-- + --Even _such_ thou art to me!--and thus I sit + And feel the harmony that round thee lives, + And breathes from every feature. Thus I sit-- + And when most quiet--cold--or silent--_then_ + Even then, I feel each word, each look, each tone! + There's not an accent of that tender voice, + There's not a day-beam of those sunbright eyes, + Nor passing smile, nor melancholy grace, + Nor thought half utter'd, feeling half betray'd + Nor glance of kindness,--no, nor gentlest touch + Of that dear hand, in amity extended, + That e'er was lost to me;--that treasur'd well, + And oft recall'd, dwells not upon my soul + Like sweetest music heard at summer's eve! + +Yesterday we visited the church of San Lorenzo, the Laurentian +library, and the Pietra Dura manufactory, and afterwards spent an hour +in the Tribune. + +In a little chapel in the San Lorenzo are Michel Angelo's famous +statues, the Morning, the Noon, the Evening, and the Night. I looked +at them with admiration rather than with pleasure; for there is +something in the severe and overpowering style of this master, which +affects me disagreeably, as beyond my feeling, and above my +comprehension. These statues are very ill disposed for effect: the +confined _cell_ (such it seemed) in which they are placed is so +strangely disproportioned to the awful and massive grandeur of their +forms. + +There is a picture by Michel Angelo, considered a chef-d'oeuvre, +which hangs in the Tribune, to the right of the Venus: now if all the +connaisseurs in the world, with Vasari at their head, were to harangue +for an hour together on the merits of this picture, I might submit in +silence, for I am no connoisseur; but that it is a disagreeable, a +hateful picture, is an opinion which fire could not melt out of me. In +spite of Messieurs les Connaisseurs, and Michel Angelo's fame, I would +die in it at the stake: for instance, here is the Blessed Virgin, not +the "Vergine Santa, d'ogni grazia piena," but a Virgin, whose +brick-dust coloured face, harsh unfeminine features, and muscular, +masculine arms, give me the idea of a washerwoman, (con rispetto +parlando!) an infant Saviour with the proportions of a giant: and what +shall we say of the nudity of the figures in the back-ground; +profaning the subject and shocking at once good taste and good sense? +A little farther on, the eye rests on the divine Madre di Dio of +Correggio: what beauty, what sweetness, what maternal love, and humble +adoration are blended in the look and attitude with which she bends +over her infant! Beyond it hangs the Madonna del Cardellino of +Raffaelle: what heavenly grace, what simplicity, what saint-like +purity, in the expression of that face, and that exquisite mouth! And +from these must I turn back, on pain of being thought an ignoramus, to +admire the coarse perpetration of Michel Angelo--because it is Michel +Angelo's? But I speak in ignorance.[F] + +To return to San Lorenzo. The chapel of the Medici, begun by Ferdinand +the First, where coarse brickwork and plaster mingle with marble and +gems, is still unfinished and likely to remain so: it did not interest +me. The fine bronze sarcophagus, which encloses the ashes of Lorenzo +the Magnificent, and of his brother Giuliano, assassinated by the +Pazzi, interested me far more. While I was standing carelessly in +front of the high altar, I happened to look down, and under my feet +were these words, "TO COSMO THE VENERABLE, THE FATHER OF HIS +COUNTRY." I moved away in haste, and before I had decided to my +own satisfaction upon Cosmo's claims to the gratitude and veneration +of posterity, we left the church. + +At the Laurentian library we were edified by the sight of some famous +old manuscripts, invaluable to classical scholars. To my unlearned +eyes the manuscript of Petrarch, containing portraits of himself and +Laura, was more interesting. Petrarch is hideous--but I was pleased +with the head of Laura, which in spite of the antique dryness and +stiffness of the painting, has a soft and delicate expression not +unlike one of Carlo Dolce's Madonnas. Here we saw Galileo's +forefinger, pointing up to the skies from a white marble pedestal; and +exciting more derision than respect. + +At the Pietra Dura, notwithstanding the beauty and durability of some +of the objects manufactured, the result seemed to me scarce worth the +incredible time, patience, and labour required in the work. _Par +exemple_, six months' hard labour spent upon a butterfly in the lid of +a snuff-box seems a most disproportionate waste of time. Thirty +workmen are employed here at the Grand Duke's expense; for this +manufacture, like that of the Gobelins at Paris, is exclusively +carried on for the sovereign. + +_Nov. 20._--I am struck in this place with grand beginnings and mean +endings. I have not yet seen a finished church, even the Duomo has no +facade. + +Yesterday we visited the Palazzo Mozzi to see Benvenuto's picture, +"The Night after the Battle of Jena." Then several churches--the Santa +Croce, which is hallowed ground: the Annonciata, celebrated for the +frescos of Andrea del Sarto; and the Carmine, which pleased me by the +light elegance of its architecture, and its fine alto-relievos in +white marble. In this church is the chapel of the Madonna del Carmele, +painted by Masuccio, and the most ancient frescos extant: they are +curious rather than beautiful, and going to decay. + +To-day we visited the school of the Fine Arts: it contains a very +fine and ample collection of casts after the antique; and some of the +works of modern artists and students are exhibited. Were I to judge +from the specimens I have seen here and elsewhere, I should say that a +cold, glaring, hard _tea-tray_ style prevails in painting, and a still +worse taste, if possible, in sculpture. No soul, no grandeur, no +simplicity; a meagre insipidity in the conception, a nicety of finish +in the detail; affectation instead of grace, distortion instead of +power, and prettiness instead of beauty. Yet the artists who execute +these works, and those who buy them, have free access to the marvels +of the gallery, and the treasures of the Pitti Palace. Are they sans +eyes, sans souls, sans taste, sans every thing, but money and +self-conceit? + +_Nov. 22._--Our mornings, however otherwise occupied, are generally +concluded by an hour in the gallery or at the Pitti Palace; the +evenings are spent in the Mercato Nuovo, in the workshops of artists, +or at the Cascina. + +To-day at the gallery I examined the Dutch school and the Salle des +Portraits, and ended as usual with the Tribune. The Salle des +Portraits contains a complete collection of the portraits of painters +down to the present day. In general their respective countenances are +expressive of their characters and style of painting. Poor Harlow's +picture, painted by himself, is here. + +The Dutch and Flemish painters (in spite of their exquisite pots and +pans, and cabbages and carrots, their birch-brooms, in which you can +count every twig, and their carpets, in which you can reckon every +thread) do not interest me; their landscapes too, however natural, are +mere Dutch nature (with some brilliant exceptions), fat cattle, +clipped trees, boors, and windmills. Of course I am not speaking of +Vandyke, nor of Rubens, he that "in the colours of the rainbow lived," +nor of Rembrandt, that king of clouds and shadows; but for mine own +part, I would give up all that Mieris, Netscher, Teniers, and Gerard +Douw ever produced, for one of Claude's Eden-like creations, or one of +Guido's lovely heads--or merely for the pleasure of looking at +Titian's Flora once a day, I would give a whole gallery of Dutchmen, +if I had them. + +In the daughter of Herodias, by Leonardo da Vinci, there is the same +eternal face he always paints, but with a peculiar expression--she +turns away her head with the air of a fine lady, whose senses are +shocked by the sight of blood and death, while her heart remains +untouched either by remorse or pity. + +His ghastly Medusa made me shudder while it fascinated me, as if in +those loathsome snakes, writhing and glittering round the expiring +head, and those abhorred and fiendish abominations crawling into life, +there still lurked the fabled spell which petrified the beholder. Poor +Medusa! was this the guerdon of thy love? and were those the tresses +which enslaved the ocean's lord? Methinks that in this wild +mythological fiction, in the terrific vengeance which Minerva takes +for her profaned temple, and in the undying snakes which for ever hiss +round the head of her victim--there is a deep moral, if woman would +lay it to her heart. + +In Guercino's Endymion, the very mouth is asleep: in his Sybil the +very eyes are prophetic, and glance into futurity. + +The boyish, but divine St. John, by Raffaelle, did not please me so +well as some of his portraits and Madonnas; his Leo the Tenth, for +instance, his Julius the Second, or even his Fornarina: and I may +observe here, that I admire Titian's taste much more than Raffaelle's, +_en fait de maitresse_. The Fornarina is a mere _femme du peuple_, a +coarse virago, compared to the refined, the exquisite La Manto, in the +Pitti Palace. I think the Flora must have been painted from the same +lovely model, as far as I can judge from compared recollections, for I +have no authority to refer to. The former is the most elegant, and the +latter the most poetical female portrait I ever saw. At Titian's Venus +in the Tribune, one hardly ventures to look up; it is the perfection +of earthly loveliness, as the Venus de' Medici is all ideal--all +celestial beauty. In the multiplied copies and engravings of this +picture I see every where the bashful sweetness of the countenance, +and the tender languid repose of the figure are made coarse, or +something worse: degraded, in short, into a character altogether +unlike the original. + +I say nothing of the Gallery of the Palazzo Pitti; which is not a +collection so much as a _selection_ of the most invaluable gems and +masterpieces of art. The imagination dazzled and bewildered by +excellence can scarcely make a choice--but I think the Madonna Della +Seggiola of Raffaelle, Allori's magnificent Judith, Guido's Cleopatra, +and Salvator's Catiline, dwell most upon my memory. + + * * * * * + +_Nov. 24._--After dinner, we drove to the beautiful gardens of the +Villa Strozzi, on the Monte Ulivetto, and the evening we spent at the +Cocomero, where we saw a detestable opera, capitally acted, and heard +the most vile, noisy, unmeaning music, sung to perfection. + +_Nov. 26._--Yesterday we spent some hours at Morghen's gallery, +looking over his engravings; and afterwards examined the bronze gates +of the Baptistery, which Michel Angelo used to call the gates of +Paradise. We then ascended the Campanile or Belfry Tower to see the +view from its summit. Florence lay at our feet, diminished to a model +of itself, with its walls and gates, its streets and bridges, palaces +and churches, all and each distinctly visible; and beyond, the Val +d'Arno with its amphitheatre of hills, its villas, and its +vineyards--classical Fesole, with its ruined castle, and Monte +Ulivetto, with its diadem of cypresses; luxuriant nature and graceful +art, blending into one glorious picture, which no smoky vapours, no +damp exhalations, blotted and discoloured; but all was serenely bright +and fair, gay with moving life, and rich with redundant fertility. + + "O dell' Etruria gran Citta Reina, + D'arti e di studj e di grand' or feconda; + Cui tra quanto il sol guarda, e 'l mar circonda, + Ogn' altra in pregio di belta s' inchina: + Monti superbi, la cui fronte alpina + Fa di se contra i venti argine e sponda: + Valli beate, per cui d'onda in onda + L'Arno con passo signoril cammina: + Bei soggiorni ove par ch' abbiansi eletto + Le grazie il seggio, e, come in suo confine, + Sia di natura il bel tutto ristretto, &c." + +Filicaja will be pardoned for his hyperboles by all who remember that +he was himself a Florentine. + + * * * * * + +28.--"Corinne" I find is a fashionable _vade mecum_ for sentimental +travellers in Italy; and that I too might be _a la mode_, I brought it +from Molini's to-day, with the intention of reading on the spot, those +admirable and affecting passages which relate to Florence; but when I +began to cut the leaves, a kind of terror seized me, and I threw it +down, resolved not to open it again. I know myself weak--I feel myself +unhappy; and to find my own feelings reflected from the pages of a +book, in language too deeply and eloquently true, is not good for me. +I want no helps to admiration, nor need I kindle my enthusiasm at the +torch of another's mind. I can suffer enough, feel enough, think +enough, without this. + +Not being well, I spent a long morning at home, and then strayed into +the church of the Santo Spirito, which is near our hotel. There is in +this church a fine copy of Michel Angelo's Pieta, which a monk, whom I +met in the church, insisted was the original. But I believe the +_originalissimo_ group is at Rome. There are also two fine pictures, a +marriage of the Virgin, in a very sweet Guido-like style, and the +woman taken in adultery. This church is the richest in paintings I +have seen here. I remarked a picture of the Virgin said to be +possessed of miraculous powers; and that part of it visible, is not +destitute of merit as a painting; but some of her grateful devotees, +having decorated her with a real blue silk gown, spangled with tinsel +stars, and two or three crowns, one above another, of gilt foil, the +effect is the oddest imaginable. As I was sitting upon a marble step, +philosophizing to myself, and wondering at what seemed to me such +senseless bad taste, such pitiable and ridiculous superstition, there +came up a poor woman leading by the hand a pale and delicate boy, +about four years old. She prostrated herself before the picture, while +the child knelt beside her, and prayed for some time with fervour; +she then lifted him up, and the mother and child kissed the picture +alternately with great devotion; then making him kneel down and clasp +his little hands, she began to teach him an Ave Maria, repeating it +word for word, slowly and distinctly, so that I got it by heart too. +Having finished their devotions, the mother put into the child's hands +a piece of money, which she directed him to drop into a box, +inscribed, "per i poveri vergognosi"--"for the bashful poor;" they +then went their way. I was an unperceived witness of this little +scene, which strongly affected me: the simple piety of this poor +woman, though mistaken in its object, appeared to me respectable; and +the Virgin, in her sky-blue brocade and her gilt tiara, no longer an +object to ridicule. I returned home rejoicing in kinder, gentler, +happier thoughts; for though I may wish these poor people a purer +worship, yet, as Wordsworth says somewhere, far better than I could +express it-- + + "Rather would I instantly decline + To the traditionary sympathies + Of a most rustic ignorance,-- + This rather would I do, than see and hear + The repetitions wearisome of sense + Where soul is dead, and feeling hath no place." + +The Ave Maria which I learnt, or rather _stole_ from my poor woman, +pleases me by its simplicity. + +AVE MARIA. + +Dio ti salvi, O Maria, piena di grazia! Il Signore e teco! tu sei +benedetta fra le donne, e benedetto e il frutto del tuo seno, GESU! +Santa Maria! madre di Dio! Prega per noi peccatori, adesso, e nell +'ora della nostra morte! e cosi sia.[G] + + * * * * * + +_Sunday._--Attended divine service at the English ambassador's, in the +morning, and in the evening, not being well enough to go to the +Cascine, I remained at home. I sat down at the window and read +Foscolo's beautiful poem, "I sepoleri:" the subject of my book, and +the sight of Alfieri's house meeting my eye whenever I looked up, +inspired the idea of visiting the Santa Croce again, and I ventured +out unattended. The streets, and particularly the Lung' Arno, were +crowded with gay people in their holiday costumes. Not even our Hyde +Park, on a summer Sunday, ever presented a more lively spectacle or a +better dressed mob. I was often tempted to turn back rather than +encounter this moving multitude; but at length I found my way to the +Santa Croce, which presented a very different scene. The service was +over; and a few persons were walking up and down the aisles, or +kneeling at different altars. In a chapel on the other side of the +cloisters, they were chanting the Via Crucis; and the blended voices +swelled and floated round, then died away, then rose again, and at +length sunk into silence. The evening was closing fast, the shadows of +the heavy pillars grew darker and darker, the tapers round the high +altar twinkled in the distance like dots of light, and the tombs of +Michel Angelo, of Galileo, of Machiavelli, and Alfieri, were projected +from the deep shadow in indistinct formless masses: but I needed not +to see them to image them before me; for with each and all my fancy +was familiar. I spent about an hour walking up and down--abandoned to +thoughts which were melancholy, but not bitter. All memory, all +feeling, all grief, all pain were swallowed up in the sublime +tranquillity which was within me and around me. How could I think of +myself, and of the sorrow which swells at my impatient heart, while +all of genius that could die, was sleeping round me; and the spirits +of the glorious dead--they who rose above their fellow men by the +might of intellect--whose aim was excellence, the noble end "that made +ambition virtue," were, or seemed to me, present?--and if those tombs +could have opened their ponderous and marble jaws, what histories of +sufferings and persecution, wrongs and wretchedness, might they not +reveal! Galileo-- + + "chi vide + Sotto l'etereo padiglion rotarsi + Piu mondi, e il sole iradiarli immoto." + +pining in the dungeons of the inquisition; Machiavelli, + + "quel grande, + Che temprando lo scettro a'regnatori, + Gil allor ne sfronda----" + +tortured and proscribed; Michel Angelo, persecuted by envy; and +Alfieri perpetually torn, as he describes himself, by two furies--"Ira +e Malinconia"-- + + "La mente e il cor in perpetua lite." + +But they fulfilled their destinies: inexorable Fate will be avenged +upon the favourites of Heaven and nature. I can remember but one +instance in which the greatly gifted spirit was not also the +conspicuously wretched mortal--our own divine Shakspeare--and of him +we know but little. + +In some books of travels I have met with, Boccaccio, Aretino, and +Guicciardini, are mentioned among the illustrious dead of the Santa +Croce. The second, if his biographers say true, was a wretch, whose +ashes ought to have been scattered in the air. He was buried I +believe at Venice--or no matter where. Boccaccio's tomb _is_, or +_was_, at Certaldo; and Guicciardini's--I forget the name of the +church honoured by his remains--but it is not the Santa Croce. + +The finest figure on the tomb of Michel Angelo is architecture. It +should be contemplated from the left, to be seen to advantage. The +effect of Alfieri's monument depends much on the position of the +spectator: when viewed in front, the figure of Italy is very heavy and +clumsy; and in no point of view has it the grace and delicacy which +Canova's statues generally possess. + +There is a most extraordinary picture in this church representing God +the Father supporting a dead Christ, by Cigoli, a painter little known +in England, though I have seen some admirable pictures of his in the +collections here: his style reminds me of Spagnoletto's. + + * * * * * + +Our departure is fixed for Wednesday next: and though I know that +change and motion are good for me, yet I dread the fatigue and +excitement of travelling; and I shall leave Florence with regret. For +a melancholy invalid like myself, there cannot be a more delightful +residence: it is gay without tumult--quiet, yet not dull. I have not +mingled in society; therefore cannot judge of the manners of the +people. I trust they are not exactly what Forsyth describes: with all +his taste he sometimes writes like a caustic old bachelor; and on the +Florentines he is peculiarly severe. + +We leave our friend L. behind for a few days, and our Venice +acquaintance V. will be our _compagnon de voyage_ to Rome. Of these +two young men, the first amuses me by his follies, the latter rather +fatigues _de trop de raison_. The first talks too much, the latter too +little: the first speaks, and speaks egregious nonsense; the latter +never says any thing beyond common-place: the former always makes +himself ridiculous, and the latter never makes himself particularly +agreeable: the first is (_con rispetto parlando_) a great fool, and +the latter would be pleasanter were he less wise. Between these two +_opposites_, I was standing this evening on the banks of the Arno, +contemplating a sunset of unequalled splendour. L. finding that +enthusiasm was his cue, played off various sentimental antics, peeped +through his fingers, threw his head on one side, exclaiming, +"Magnificent, by Jove! grand! grandissimo! It just reminds me of what +Shakspeare says: 'Fair Aurora'--I forget the rest." + +V. with his hands in his pockets, contemplated the superb +spectacle--the mountains, the valley, the city flooded with a crimson +glory, and the river flowing at our feet like molten gold--he gazed on +it all with a look of placid satisfaction, and then broke out--"Well! +this does one's heart good!" + +L. (I owe him this justice) is not the author of the famous blunder +which is now repeated in every circle. I am assured it was our +neighbour, Lord G. though I scarce believe it, who on being presented +with the Countess of Albany's card, exclaimed--"The Countess of +Albany! Ah!--true--I remember: wasn't she the widow of Charles the +Second, who married Ariosto?" There is in this celebrated _beveu_, a +glorious confusion of times and persons, beyond even my friend L.'s +capacity. + + * * * * * + +The whole party are gone to the Countess of Albany's to-night to take +leave: that being, as L. says, "the correct thing." Our notions of +correctness vary with country and climate. What Englishwoman at +Florence would not be _au desespoir_, to be shut from the Countess of +Albany's parties--though it is a known and indisputable fact, that she +was never married to Alfieri? A propos d'Alfieri--I have just been +reading a selection of his tragedies--his Filippo, the Pazzi, +Virginia, Mirra; and when I have finished Saul, I will read no more of +them for some time. There is a superabundance of harsh energy, and a +want of simplicity, tenderness, and repose throughout, which fatigues +me, until admiration becomes an effort instead of a pleasurable +feeling. Marochesi, a celebrated tragedian, who, Minutti says, +understood "_la vera filosofia della comica_," used to recite +Alfieri's tragedies with him or to him. Alfieri was himself a bad +actor and declaimer. I am surprised that the tragedy of Mirra should +be a great favourite on the stage here. A very young actress, who made +her debut in this character, enchanted the whole city by the admirable +manner in which she performed it; and the piece was played for +eighteen nights successively; a singular triumph for an actress, +though not uncommon for a singer. In spite of its many beauties and +the artful management of the story; it would, I think, be as +impossible to make an English audience endure the Mirra, as to find an +English actress who would exhibit herself in so revolting a part. + + * * * * * + +_Tuesday._--Our last day at Florence. I walked down to the San Lorenzo +this morning early, and made a sketch of the sarcophagus of Lorenzo +de' Medici. Afterwards we spent an hour in the gallery, and bid adieu +to the Venus-- + + "O bella Venere! + Che sola sei, + Piacer degli uomini + E degli dei!" + +When I went to take a last look of Titian's Flora, I found it removed +from its station, and an artist employed in copying it. I could have +envied the lady for whom this copy was intended; but comforted myself +with the conviction that no hireling dauber in water-colours could do +justice to the heavenly original, which only wants motion and speech +to live indeed. We then spent nearly two hours in the Pitti Palace; +and the court having lately removed to Pisa, we had an opportunity of +seeing Canova's Venus, which is placed in one of the Grand Duke's +private apartments. She stands in the centre of a small cabinet, +pannelled with mirrors, which reflect her at once in every possible +point of view. This statue was placed on the pedestal of the Venus de' +Medicis during her forced residence at Paris; and is justly considered +as the triumph of modern art: but though a most beautiful creature, +she is not a goddess. I looked in vain for that full divinity, that +ethereal _something_ which breathes round the Venus of the Tribune. In +another private room are two magnificent landscapes by Salvator Rosa. + +Every good catholic has a portrait of the Virgin hung at the head of +his bed; partly as an object of devotion, and partly to scare away the +powers of evil: and for this purpose the Grand Duke has suspended by +his bed-side one of the most beautiful of Raffaelle's Madonnas. Truly, +I admire the good taste of his piety, though it is rather selfish thus +to appropriate such a gem, when the merest daub would answer the same +purpose. It was only by secret bribery I obtained a peep at this +picture, as the room is not publicly shown. + +The lower classes at Florence are in general ill-looking; nor have I +seen one handsome woman since I came here. Their costume too is +singularly unbecoming; but there is an airy cheerfulness and vivacity +in their countenances, and a civility in their manners which is +pleasing to a stranger. I was surprised to see the women, even the +servant girls, decorated with necklaces of real pearl of considerable +beauty and value. On expressing my surprise at this to a shopkeeper's +wife, she informed me that these necklaces are handed down as a kind +of heir-loom from mother to daughter; and a young woman is considered +as dowered who possesses a handsome chain of pearl. If she has no hope +of one in reversion, she buys out of her little earnings a pearl at a +time, till she has completed a necklace. + +The style of swearing at Florence is peculiarly elegant and classical; +I hear the vagabonds in the street adjuring Venus and Bacchus; and my +shoemaker swore "by the aspect of Diana," that he would not take less +than ten pauls for what was worth about three;--yet was the knave +forsworn. + + * * * * * + + +JOURNEY TO ROME. + +SOFFRI E TACI. + + Ye empty shadows of unreal good! + Phantoms of joy!--too long--too far pursued, + Farewell! no longer will I idly mourn + O'er vanished hopes that never can return; + No longer pine o'er hoarded griefs--nor chide + The cold vain world, whose falsehood I have tried. + _Me_ never more can sweet affections move, + Nor smiles awake to confidence and love: + To _me_, no more can disappointment spring, + Nor wrong, nor scorn one bitter moment bring! + With a firm spirit--though a breaking heart, + Subdu'd to act through life my weary part, + Its closing scenes in patience I await, + And by a stern endurance, conquer fate. + +_December 8._--In beginning another volume, I feel almost inclined to +throw the last into the fire; as in writing it I have generally begun +the record of one day by tearing away the half of what was written the +day before: but though it contains much that I would rather forget, +and some things written under the impression of pain, and sick and +irritable feelings, I will not yet _ungratefully_ destroy it. I have +frequently owed to my little Diary not amusement only, but +consolation. It has gradually become not only the faithful depository +of my recollections, but the confidante of my feelings, and the sole +witness of my tears. I know not if this be wise: but if it be folly, I +have the comfort of knowing that a mere act of my will destroys for +ever the record of my weakness; and meantime a confidante whose mouth +is sealed with a patent lock and key, and whom I can put out of +existence in a single moment, is not dangerous; so, as Lord Byron +elegantly expresses it, "_Here goes_." + +We left Florence this morning; and saw the sun rise upon a country so +enchantingly beautiful, that I dare not trust myself to description; +but I felt it, and still feel it--almost in my heart. The blue +cloudless sky, the sun pouring his beams upon a land, which even in +this wintry season smiles when others languish--the soft varied +character of the scenery, comprising every species of natural +beauty--the green slope, the woody hill, the sheltered valley,--the +deep dales, into which we could just peep, as the carriage whirled us +too rapidly by--the rugged fantastic rocks, cultivated plains, and +sparkling rivers, and, beyond all, the chain of the Apennines with +light clouds floating across them, or resting in their recesses--all +this I saw, and felt, and shall not forget. + +I write this at Arezzo, the birth-place of Petrarch, of Redi, of +Pignotti, and of that Guido who discovered Counter-point. Whether +Arezzo is remarkable for any thing else, I am too sleepy to recollect: +and as we depart early to-morrow morning, it would only tantalize me +to remember. We arrived here late, by the light of a most resplendent +moon. If such is this country in winter, what must it be in summer? + +_9th, at Perugia._--All the beauties of natural scenery have been +combined with historical associations, to render our journey of to-day +most interesting; and with a mind more at ease, nothing has been +wanting to render this one of the most delightful days I have spent +abroad. + +At Cortona, Hannibal slept the night before the battle of Thrasymene. +Soon after leaving this town on our left, we came in view of the lake, +and the old tower on its banks. There is an ancient ruin on a high +eminence to the left, which our postilion called the "Forteressa di +Annibale il Carthago." Further on, the Gualandra hills seem to circle +round the lake; and here was the scene of the battle. The channel of +the Sanguinetto, which then ran red with the best blood of Rome and +Carthage, was dry when we crossed it-- + + "And hooting boys might dry-shod pass, + And gather pebbles from the naked ford." + +While we traversed the field of battle at a slow pace, V. who had his +Livy in his pocket, read aloud his minute description of the +engagement; and we could immediately point out the different places +mentioned by the historian. The whole valley and the hills around are +now covered with olive woods; and from an olive tree which grew close +to the edge of the lake, I snatched a branch as we passed by, and +shall preserve it--an emblem of peace, from the theatre of slaughter. +The whole landscape as we looked back upon it from a hill on this side +of the Casa del Rano, was exceedingly beautiful. The lake seemed to +slumber in the sunshine; and Passignano jutting into the water, with +its castellated buildings, the two little woody islands, and the +undulating hills enclosing the whole, as if to shut it from the world, +made it look like a scene fit only to be peopled by fancy's fairest +creations, if the remembrance of its blood-stained glories had not +started up, to rob it of half its beauty. Mrs. R---- compared it to +the lake of Geneva; but in my own mind, I would not admit the +comparison. The lake of Geneva stands alone in its beauty; for there +the sublimest and the softest features of nature are united: there the +wonderful, the wild, and the beautiful, blend in one mighty scene; and +love and heroism, poetry and genius, have combined to hallow its +shores. The lake of Perugia is far more circumscribed: the scenery +around it wants grandeur and extent; though so beautiful in itself, +that if no comparison had been made, no want would have been +suggested: and on the bloody field of Thrasymene I looked with +curiosity and interest unmingled with pleasure. I have long survived +my sympathy with the fighting heroes of antiquity. All this I thought +as we slowly walked up the hill, but I was silent as usual: as Jaques +says, "I can think of as many matters as other men, but I praise God, +and make no boast of it." We arrived here too late to see any thing of +the city. + +_Dec. 10th, at Terni._--The ridiculous _contre-temps_ we sometimes +meet with would be matter of amusement to me, if they did not affect +others. And in truth, as far as paying well, and scolding well, can +go, it is impossible to travel more magnificently, more _a la milor +Anglais_ than we do: but there is no controlling fate; and here, as +our evil destinies will have it, a company of strolling actors had +taken possession of the best quarters before our arrival; and our +accommodations are, I must confess, tolerably bad. + +When we left Perugia this morning, the city, throned upon its lofty +eminence, with its craggy rocks, its tremendous fortifications, and +its massy gateways, had an imposing effect. Forwards, we looked over a +valley, which so resembled a lake, the hills projecting above the +glittering white vapour having the appearance of islands scattered +over its surface, that at the first glance I was positively deceived; +and all my topographical knowledge, which I had conned on the map the +night before, completely put to the rout. As the day advanced, this +white mist sank gradually to the earth, like a veil dropped from the +form of a beautiful woman, and nature stood disclosed in all her +loveliness. + +Trevi, on its steep and craggy hill, detached from the chain of +mountains, looked beautiful as we gazed up at it, with its buildings +mingled with rocks and olives-- + +I had written thus far, when we were all obliged to decamp in haste to +our respective bed-rooms; as it is found necessary to convert our +salon into a dormitory. I know I shall be tired, and very tired +to-morrow,--therefore add a few words in pencil, before the +impressions now fresh on my mind are obscured. + +After Trevi came the Clitumnus with its little fairy temple; and we +left the carriage to view it from below, and drink of the classic +stream. The temple (now a chapel) is not much in itself, and was voted +in bad taste by some of our party. To me the tiny fane, the glassy +river, more pure and limpid than any fabled or famous fountain of old, +the beautiful hills, the sunshine, and the associations connected with +the whole scene, were enchanting; and I could not at the moment +descend to architectural criticism. + +The road to Spoleto was a succession of olive grounds, vineyards, and +rich woods. The vines with their skeleton boughs looked wintry and +miserable; but the olives, now in full fruit and foliage, intermixed +with the cypress, the ilex, the cork tree, and the pine, clothed the +landscape with a many-tinted robe of verdure. + +While sitting in the open carriage at Spoleto, waiting for horses, I +saw one of that magnificent breed of "milk white steers," for which +the banks of the Clitumnus have been famed from all antiquity, led +past me gaily decorated, to be baited on a plain without the city. As +the noble creature, serene and unresisting, paced along, followed by a +wild, ferocious-looking, and far more brutal rabble, I would have +given all I possessed to redeem him from his tormentors: but it was +in vain. As we left the city, we heard his tremendous roar of agony +and rage echo from the rocks. I stopped my ears, and was glad when we +were whirled out of hearing. The impression left upon my nerves by +this rencontre, makes me dislike to remember Spoleto: yet I believe it +is a beautiful and interesting place. Hannibal, as I recollect, +besieged this city, but was bravely repulsed. I could say much more of +the scenes and the feelings of to-day; but my pencil refuses to mark +another letter. + + * * * * * + +_Dec. 11th, at Civita Castellana._--I could not write a word to-night +in the salon, because I wished to listen to the conversation of two +intelligent travellers, who, arriving after us, were obliged to occupy +the same apartment. Our accommodations here are indeed deplorable +altogether. After studying the geography of my bed, and finding no +spot thereon, to which Sancho's couch of pack-saddles and pummels +would not be a bed of down in comparison, I ordered a fresh faggot on +my hearth: they brought me some ink in a gally-pot--_invisible_ +ink--for I cannot see what I am writing; and I sit down to scribble, +_pour me desennuyer_. + +This morning we set off to visit the Falls of Terni (la cascata di +Marmore) in two carriages and four: O such equipages!--such ratlike +steeds! such picturesque accoutrements! and such poetical looking +guides and postilions, ragged, cloaked, and whiskered!--but it was all +consistent: the wild figures harmonized with the wild landscape. We +passed a singular fortress on the top of a steep insulated rock, which +had formerly been inhabited by a band of robbers and their families, +who were with great difficulty, and after a regular siege, dislodged +by a party of soldiers, and the place dismantled. In its present +ruined state, it has a very picturesque effect; and though the +presence of the banditti would no doubt have added greatly to the +romance of the scene, on the present occasion we excused their +absence. + +We visited the falls both above and below, but unfortunately we +neither saw them from the best point of view, nor at the best season. +The body of waters is sometimes ten times greater, as I was +assured--but can scarce believe it possible. The words "Hell of +waters," used by Lord Byron, would not have occurred to me while +looking at this cataract, which impresses the astonished mind with an +overwhelming idea of power, might, magnificence, and impetuosity; but +blends at the same time all that is most tremendous in sound and +motion, with all that is most bright and lovely in forms, in colours, +and in scenery. + +As I stood close to the edge of the precipice, immediately under the +great fall, I felt my respiration gone: I turned giddy, almost faint, +and was obliged to lean against the rock for support. The mad plunge +of the waters, the deafening roar, the presence of a power which no +earthly force could resist or control, struck me with an awe almost +amounting to terror. A bright sunbow stood over the torrent, which, +seen from below, has the appearance of a luminous white arch bending +from rock to rock. The whole scene was--but how can I say what it was? +I have exhausted my stock of fine words; and must be content with +silent recollections, and the sense of admiration and wonder +unexpressed. + +Below the fall, an inundation which took place a year ago, undermined +and carried away part of the banks of the Nera, at the same time +laying open an ancient Roman bridge, which had been buried for ages. +The channel of the river and the depth of the soil must have been +greatly altered since this bridge was erected. + +When we returned to the inn at Terni, and while the horses were +putting to, I took up a volume of Eustace's tour, which some traveller +had accidentally left on the table; and turning to the description of +Terni, read part of it, but quickly threw down the book with +indignation, deeming all his verbiage the merest nonsense I had ever +met with: in fact, it _is_ nonsense to attempt to image in words an +individual scene like this. When we had made out our description as +accurately as possible, it would do as well for any other cataract in +the world: we can only combine rocks, wood, and water, in certain +proportions. A good picture may give a tolerable idea of a particular +scene or landscape: but no picture, no painter, not Ruysdael himself, +can give a just idea of a cataract. The lifeless, silent, unmoving +image is there: but where is the thundering roar, the terrible +velocity, the glory of refracted light, the eternity of sound, and +infinity of motion, in which essentially its effect consists? + +In the valley beneath the Falls of Terni, there is a beautiful retired +little villa, which was once occupied by the late Queen Caroline: and +in the gardens adjoining it, we gathered oranges from the trees +ourselves for the first time. After passing Mount Soracte, of +classical fame, we took leave of the Apennines; having lived amongst +them ever since we left Bologna. + +The costume of this part of the country is very gay and picturesque: +the women wear a white head-dress formed of a square kerchief, which +hangs down upon the shoulders, and is attached to the hair by a silver +pin: a boddice half laced, and decorated with knots of ribbon, and a +short scarlet petticoat complete their attire. Between Perugia and +Terni I did not see one woman without a coral necklace; and those who +have the power, load themselves with trinkets and ornaments. + +_Rome, December 12._--The morning broke upon us so beautifully between +Civita Castellana and Nevi, that we lauded our good fortune, and +anticipated a glorious approach to the "Eternal City." We were +impatient to reach the heights of Baccano; from which, at the distance +of fifteen miles, we were to view the cross of St. Peter's glittering +on the horizon, while the postilions rising in their stirrups, should +point forward with exultation, and exclaim "ROMA!" But, O +vain hope! who can controul their fate? just before we reached +Baccano, impenetrable clouds enveloped the whole Campagna. The mist +dissolved into a drizzling rain; and when we entered the city, it +poured in torrents. Since we left England, this is only the third time +it has rained while we were on the road; it seems therefore +unconscionable to murmur. But to lose the first view of Rome! the +first view of the dome of St. Peter's! no--that lost moment will never +be retrieved through our whole existence. + +We found it difficult to obtain suitable accommodation for our +numerous _cortege_, the Hotel d'Europe, and the Hotel de Londres being +quite full: and for the present we are rather indifferently lodged in +the Albergo di Parigi. + +So here we are, in ROME! where we have been for the last five +hours, and have not seen an inch of the city beyond the dirty pavement +of the Via Santa Croce; where an excellent dinner cooked _a +l'Anglaise_, a blazing fire, a drawing-room snugly carpeted and +curtained, and the rain beating against our windows, would almost +persuade us that we are in London; and every now and then, it is with +a kind of surprise that I remind myself that I am really in Rome. +Heaven send us but a fine day to-morrow! + +13.--The day arose as beautiful, as brilliant, as cloudless, as I +could have desired for the first day in Rome. About seven o'clock, and +before any one was ready for breakfast, I walked out; and directing my +steps by mere chance to the left, found myself in the Piazza di Spagna +and opposite to a gigantic flight of marble stairs leading to the top +of a hill. I was at the summit in a moment; and breathless and +agitated by a thousand feelings, I leaned against the obelisk, and +looked over the whole city. I knew not where I was: nor among the +crowded mass of buildings, the innumerable domes and towers, and vanes +and pinnacles, brightened by the ascending sun, could I for a while +distinguish a single known object; for my eyes and my heart were both +too full: but in a few minutes my powers of perception returned; and +in the huge round bulk of the castle of St. Angelo, and the immense +facade and soaring cupola of St. Peter's, I knew I could not be +mistaken. I gazed and gazed as if I would have drunk it all in at my +eyes: and then descending the superb flight of steps rather more +leisurely than I had ascended, I was in a moment at the door of our +hotel. + +The rest of the day I wish I could forget--I found letters from +England on the breakfast table-- + + * * * * * + +Until dinner time were we driving through the narrow dirty streets at +the mercy of a stupid _laquais de place_, in search of better +accommodations, but without success: and, on the whole, I fear I shall +always remember too well the disagreeable and painful impressions of +my first day in Rome. + +_Dec. 18._--A week has now elapsed, and I begin to know and feel Rome +a little better than I did. The sites of the various buildings, the +situations of the most interesting objects, and the bearings of the +principal hills, the Capitol, the Palatine, the Aventine, and the +AEsquiline, have become familiar to me, assisted in my perambulations +by an excellent plan. I have been disappointed in nothing, for I +expected that the general appearance of modern Rome would be mean; and +that the impression made by the ancient city would be melancholy; and +I had been, unfortunately, too well prepared, by previous reading, for +all I see, to be astonished by any thing except the Museum of the +Vatican. + +I entered St. Peter's expecting to be struck dumb with admiration, and +accordingly it was so. A feeling of vastness filled my whole mind, and +made it disagreeable, almost impossible to speak or exclaim: but it +was a style of grandeur, exciting rather than oppressive to the +imagination, nor did I experience any thing like that sombre and +reverential awe, I have felt on entering one of our Gothic minsters. +The interior of St. Peter's is all airy magnificence, and gigantic +splendour; light and sunshine pouring in on every side; gilding and +gay colours, marbles and pictures, dazzling the eye above, below, +around. The effect of the whole has not diminished in a second and +third visit; but rather grows upon me. I can never utter a word for +the first ten minutes after I enter the church. + +For the Museum of the Vatican, I confess I was totally unprepared; and +the first and second time I walked through the galleries, I was so +amazed--so intoxicated, that I could not fix my attention upon any +individual object, except the Apollo, upon which, as I walked along +confused and lost in wonder and enchantment, I stumbled accidentally, +and stood spell-bound. Gallery beyond gallery, hall within hall, +temple within temple, new splendours opening at every step! of all the +creations of luxurious art, the Museum of the Vatican may alone defy +any description to do it justice, or any fancy to conceive the +unimaginable variety of its treasures. When I remember that the French +had the audacious and sacrilegious vanity to snatch from these +glorious sanctuaries the finest specimens of art, and hide them in +their villanous old gloomy Louvre, I am confounded. + +I have been told and can well believe, that the whole _giro_ of the +galleries exceed two miles. + +I have not yet studied the frescos of Raffaelle sufficiently to feel +all their perfection; and should be in despair at my own dullness, +were I not consoled by the recollection of Sir Joshua Reynolds. At +present one of Raffaelle's divine Virgins delights me more than all +his camere and logie together; but I can look upon them with due +veneration, and grieve to see the ravages of time and damp. + + * * * * * + +19.--Last night we took advantage of a brilliant full moon to visit +the Coliseum by moonlight; and if I came away disappointed of the +pleasure I had expected, the fault was not in me nor in the scene +around me. In its sublime and heart-stirring beauty, it more than +equalled, it surpassed all I had anticipated--but--(there must always +be a _but!_ always in the realities of this world something to +disgust;) it happened that one or two gentlemen joined our +party--young men too, and classical scholars, who perhaps thought it +fine to affect a well-bred _nonchalance_, a fashionable disdain for +all romance and enthusiasm, and amused themselves with _quizzing_ our +guide, insulting the gloom, the grandeur, and the silence around them, +with loud impertinent laughter at their own poor jokes; and I was +obliged to listen, sad and disgusted, to their empty and tasteless and +misplaced flippancy. The young barefooted friar, with his dark +lanthorn, and his black eyes flashing from under his cowl, who acted +as our cicerone, was in picturesque unison with the scene; but--more +than one murder having lately been committed among the labyrinthine +recesses of the ruin, the government has given orders that every +person entering after dusk should be attended by a guard of two +soldiers. These fellows therefore necessarily walked close after our +heels, smoking, spitting, and spluttering German. Such were my +companions, and such was my _cortege_. I returned home vowing that +while I remained at Rome, nothing should induce me to visit the +Coliseum by moonlight again. + +To-day I was standing before the Laocoon with Rogers, who remarked +that the absence of all parental feeling in the aspect of Laocoon, his +self-engrossed indifference to the sufferings of his children (which +is noticed and censured, I think, by Dr. Moore) adds to the pathos, if +properly considered, by giving the strongest possible idea of that +physical agony which the sculptor intended to represent. It may be so, +and I thought there was both truth and _tacte_ in the poet's +observation. + +The Perseus of Canova does not please me so well as his Paris; there +is more simplicity and repose in the latter statue, less of that +theatrical air which I think is the common fault of Canova's figures. + +It is absolutely necessary to look at the Perseus before you look at +the Apollo, in order to do the former justice. I have gazed with +admiration at the Perseus for minutes together, then walked from it to +the Apollo and felt instantaneously, but could not have expressed, the +difference. The first is indeed a beautiful statue, the latter +"breathes the flame with which 'twas wrought," as if the sculptor had +left a portion of his own soul within the marble to half animate his +glorious creation. The want of this informing life is strongly felt in +the Perseus, when contemplated after the Apollo. It is delightful when +the imagination rises in the scale of admiration, when we ascend from +excellence to perfection: but excellence after perfection is absolute +inferiority; it sinks below itself, and the descent is so disagreeable +and disappointing, that we can seldom estimate justly the object +before us. We make comparisons involuntarily in a case where +comparisons are odious. + + * * * * * + +The weather is cold here during the prevalence of the tramontana: but +I enjoy the brilliant skies and the delicious purity of the air, which +leaves the eye free to wander over a vast extent of space. Looking +from the gallery of the Belvedere at sunset this evening, I clearly +saw Tivoli, Albano, and Frascati, although all Rome and part of the +Campagna lay between me and those towns. The outlines of every +building, ruin, hill, and wood were so distinctly marked, and _stood +out_ so brightly to the eye! and the full round moon, magnified +through the purple vapour which floated over the Apennines, rose just +over Tivoli, adding to the beauty of the scene. O Italy! how I wish I +could transport hither all I love! how I wish I were well enough, +happy enough, to enjoy all the lovely things I see! but pain is +mingled with all I behold, all I feel: a cloud seems for ever before +my eyes, a weight for ever presses down my heart. I know it is wrong +to repine: and that I ought rather to be thankful for the pleasurable +sensations yet spared to me, than lament that they are so few. When I +take up my pen to record the impressions of the day, I sometimes turn +within myself, and wonder how it is possible that amid the strife of +feelings not all subdued, and the desponding of the heart, the mind +should still retain its faculties unobscured, and the imagination all +its vivacity and its susceptibility to pleasure,--like the beautiful +sunbow I saw at the Falls of Terni, bending so bright and so calm over +the verge of the abyss which toiled and raged below. + + * * * * * + +22.--This morning was devoted to the Capitol, where the objects of art +are ill arranged and too crowded: the lights are not well managed, and +on the whole I could not help wishing, in spite of my veneration for +the Capitol, that some at least among the divine master-pieces it +contains could be transferred to the glorious halls of the Vatican, +and shrined in temples worthy of them. + +The objects which most struck me were the dying Gladiator, the +Antinous, the Flora, and the statue called (I know not on what +authority) the Faun of Praxiteles. + +The dying Gladiator is the chief boast of the Capitol. The antiquarian +Nibby insists that this statue represents a Gaul, that the sculpture +is Grecian, that it formed part of a group on a pediment, representing +the vengeance which Apollo took on the Gauls, when, under their king +Brennus, they attacked the temple of Delphi: that the cord round the +neck is a twisted chain, an ornament peculiar to the Gauls; and that +the form of the shield, the bugles, the style of the hair, and the +mustachios, all prove it to be a Gaul. I asked, "why should such +faultless, such exquisite sculpture be thrown away upon a high +pediment? the affecting expression of the countenance, the head 'bowed +low and full of death,' the gradual failure of the strength and +sinking of the form, the blood slowly trickling from his side--how +could any spectator, contemplating it at a vast height, be sensible of +these minute traits--the distinguishing perfections of this matchless +statue?" It was replied, that many of the ancient buildings were so +constructed, that it was possible to ascend and examine the sculpture +above the cornice, and though some statues so placed were unfinished +at the back, (for instance, some of the figures which belonged to the +group of Niobe,) others (and he mentioned the AEgina marbles as an +example) were as highly finished behind as before. I owned myself +unwilling to consider the Gladiator a Gaul, but the reasoning struck +me, and I am too unlearned to weigh the arguments he used, much less +confute them. That the statue being of Grecian marble and Grecian +sculpture must therefore have come from Greece, does not appear a +conclusive argument, since the Romans commonly employed Greek artists: +and as to the rest of the argument,--suppose that in a dozen centuries +hence, the charming statue of Lady Louisa Russell should be discovered +under the ruins of Woburn Abbey, and that by a parity of reasoning, +the production of Chantrey's chisel should be attributed to Italy and +Canova, merely because it is cut from a block of Carrara marble? we +might smile at such a conclusion. + +Among the pictures in the gallery of the Capitol, the one most highly +valued pleases me least of all--the Europa of Paul Veronese. The +splendid colouring and copious fancy of this master can never +reconcile me to his strange anomalies in composition, and his sins +against good taste and propriety. One wishes that he had allayed the +heat of his fancy with some cooling drops of discretion. Even his +colouring so admired in general, has something florid and meretricious +to my eye and taste. + +One of the finest pictures here is Domenichino's Cumean Sibyl, which, +like all other masterpieces, defies the copyist and engraver. The +Sibilla Persica of Guercino hangs a little to the left; and with her +contemplative air, and the pen in her hand, she looks as if she were +recording the effusions of her more inspired sister. The former is a +chaste and beautiful picture, full of feeling and sweetly coloured; +but the vicinity of Domenichino's magnificent creation throws it +rather into shade. Two unfinished pictures upon which Guido was +employed at the time of his death are preserved in the Capitol: one is +the Bacchus and Ariadne, so often engraved and copied; the other, a +single figure, the size of life, represents the Soul of the righteous +man ascending to heaven. Had Guido lived to finish this divine +picture, it would have been one of his most splendid productions; but +he was snatched away to realize, I trust, in his own person, his +sublime conception. The head alone is finished, or nearly so; and has +a most extatic expression. The globe of the earth seems to sink from +beneath the floating figure, which is just sketched upon the canvass, +and has a shadowy indistinctness which to my fancy added to its +effect. Guercino's chef-d'oeuvre, the Resurrection of Saint +Petronilla, (a saint, I believe, of very hypothetical fame,) is also +here; and has been copied in mosaic for St. Peters. A magnificent +Rubens, the She Wolf nursing Romulus and Remus; a fine copy of +Raffaelle's Triumph of Galatea by Giulo Romano; Domenichino's Saint +Barbara, with the same lovely inspired eyes he always gives his female +saints, and a long et cetera. + +From the Capitol we immediately drove to the Borghese palace, where I +spent half an hour looking at the picture _called_ the Cumean Sibyl of +Domenichino, and am more and more convinced that it is a Saint Cecilia +and not a Sibyl. + +We have now visited the Borghese palace four times; and a-propos to +pictures, I may as well make a few memoranda of its contents. It is +not the most numerous, but it is by far the most valuable and select +private gallery in Rome. + +Domenichino's Chase of Diana, with the two beautiful nymphs in the +foreground, is a splendid picture. Titian's Sacred and Profane Love +puzzles me completely: I neither understand the name nor the intention +of the picture. It is evidently allegorical: but an allegory very +clumsily expressed. The aspect of Sacred Love would answer just as +well for Profane Love. What is that little cupid about, who is groping +in the cistern behind? why does Profane Love wear gloves? The picture, +though so provokingly obscure in its subject, is most divinely +painted. The three Graces by the same master is also here; two heads +by Giorgione, distinguished by all his peculiar depth of character and +sentiment, some exquisite Albanos; one of Raffaelle's finest +portraits--and in short, an endless variety of excellence. I feel my +taste become more and more fastidious every day. + + * * * * * + +This morning we heard mass at the Pope's Chapel; the service was read +by Cardinal Fesche, and the venerable old pope himself, robed and +mitred _en grand costume_, was present. No females are allowed to +enter without veils, and we were very ungallantly shut up behind a +sort of grating, where, though we had a tolerable view of the +ceremonial going forward, it was scarcely possible for us to be seen. +Cardinal Gonsalvi sat so near us, that I had leisure and opportunity +to contemplate the fine intellectual head and acute features of this +remarkable man. I thought his countenance had something of the +Wellesley cast. + +The Pope's Chapel is decorated in the most exquisite taste; splendid +at once and chaste. There are no colours--the whole interior being +white and gold. + +At an unfortunate moment, Lady Morgan's ludicrous description of the +twisting and untwisting of the Cardinal's tails came across me, and +made me smile very _mal a-propos_: it is certainly from the life. +Whenever this lively and clever woman describes what she has actually +seen with her own eyes, she is as accurately true as she is witty and +entertaining. Her sketches after nature are admirable; but her +observations and inferences are coloured by her peculiar and rather +unfeminine habits of thinking. I never read her "_Italy_" till the +other day, when L., whose valet had contrived to smuggle it into Rome, +offered to lend it to me. It is one of the books most rigorously +proscribed here; and if the Padre Anfossi or any of his satellites had +discovered it in my hands, I should assuredly have been fined in a sum +beyond what I should have liked to pay. + +We concluded the morning at St. Peter's, where we arrived in time for +the anthem. + + * * * * * + +23.--Our visit to the Barberini palace to-day was solely to view the +famous portrait of Beatrice Cenci. Her appalling story is still as +fresh in remembrance here, and her name and fate as familiar in the +mouths of every class, as if instead of two centuries, she had lived +two days ago. In spite of the innumerable copies and prints I have +seen, I was more struck than I can express by the dying beauty of the +Cenci. In the face the expression of heart-sinking anguish and terror +is just not _too_ strong, leaving the loveliness of the countenance +unimpaired; and there is a woe-begone negligence in the streaming hair +and loose drapery which adds to its deep pathos. It is consistent too +with the circumstances under which the picture is traditionally said +to have been painted--that is, in the interval between her torture and +her execution. + +A little daughter of the Princess Barberini was seated in the same +room, knitting. She was a beautiful little creature; and as my eye +glanced from her to the picture and back again, I fancied I could +trace a strong family resemblance; particularly about the eyes, and +the very peculiar mouth. I turned back to ask her whether she had ever +been told that she was like _that_ picture? pointing to Cenci. She +shook back her long curls, and answered with a blush and a smile, +"Yes, often."[H] + +The Barberini Palace contains other treasures beside the Cenci. +Poussin's celebrated picture of the Death of Germanicus, Raffaelle's +Fornarina, inferior I thought to the one at Florence, and a St. Andrew +by Guido, in his very best style of heads, "mild, pale, and +penetrating;" besides others which I cannot at this moment recall. + + * * * * * + +24.--Yesterday, after chapel, I walked through part of the Vatican; +and then, about vesper-time, entered St. Peter's, expecting to hear +the anthem: but I was disappointed. I found the church as usual +crowded with English, who every Sunday convert St. Peter's into a kind +of Hyde Park, where they promenade arm in arm, show off their finery, +laugh, and talk aloud: as if the size and splendour of the edifice +detracted in any degree from its sacred character. I was struck with a +feeling of disgust; and shocked to see this most glorious temple of +the Deity metamorphosed into a mere theatre. Mr. W. told me this +morning, that in consequence of the shameful conduct of the English, +in pressing in and out of the chapel, occupying all the seats, +irreverently interrupting the service, and almost excluding the +natives, the anthem will not be sung in future. + +This is not the first time that the behaviour of the English has +created offence, in spite of the friendly feeling which exists towards +us, and the allowances which are made for our national character. Last +year the pope objected to the indecent custom of making St. Peter's a +place of fashionable rendezvous, and notified to Cardinal Gonsalvi his +desire that English ladies and gentlemen should not be seen arm in arm +walking up and down the aisles, during and after divine service. The +cardinal, as the best means of proceeding, spoke to the Duchess of +Devonshire, who signified the wishes of the Papal Court to a large +party, assembled at her house. The hint so judiciously and so +delicately given, was at the time attended to, and during a short +interval the offence complained of ceased. New comers have since +recommenced the same course of conduct: and in fact, nothing _could_ +be worse than the exhibition of gaiety and frivolity, gallantry and +coquetterie at St. Peter's yesterday. I almost wish the pope may +interfere, and with rigour; though, individually, I should lose a high +gratification, if our visits to St. Peter's were interdicted. It is +surely most ill-judged and unfeeling (to say nothing of the +_profanation_, for such it is), to show such open contempt for the +Roman Catholic religion in its holiest, grandest temple, and under the +very eyes of the head of that church. I blushed for my countrywomen. + + * * * * * + +On Christmas Eve we went in a large party to visit some of the +principal churches, and witness the celebration of the Nativity; one +of the most splendid ceremonies of the Romish Church. We arrived at +the chapel of Monte Cavallo about half-past nine; but the pope being +ill and absent, nothing particular was going forward; and we left it +to proceed to the San Luigi dei Francesi, where we found the church +hung from the floor to the ceiling with garlands of flowers, blazing +with light, and resounding with heavenly music: but the crowd was +intolerable, the people dirty, and there was such an effluence of +strong perfumes, in which garlic predominated, that our physical +sensations overcame our curiosity: and we were glad to make our +escape. We then proceeded to the church of the Ara Celi, built on the +site of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, and partly from its ruins. +The scene here from the gloomy grandeur and situation of the church, +was exceedingly fine: but we did not stay long enough to see the +concluding procession, as we were told it would be much finer at the +Santa Maria Maggiore; for there the _real_ manger which had received +our Saviour at his birth was deposited: and this inestimable relic was +to be displayed to the eyes of the devout; and with a waxen figure +laid within (called here Il Bambino), was to be carried in procession +round the church, "with pomp, with music, and with triumphing." + +The _real_ cradle was a temptation not to be withstood: and to witness +this signal prostration of the human intellect before ignorant and +crafty superstition, we adjourned to the Santa Maria Maggiore. For +processions and shows I care very little, but not for any thing, not +for all I suffered at the moment, would I have missed the scene which +the interior of the church exhibited; for it is impossible that any +description could have given me the faintest idea of it. This most +noble edifice, with its perfect proportions, its elegant Ionic +columns, and its majestic simplicity, appeared transformed, for the +time being, into the temple of some Pagan divinity. Lights and +flowers, incense and music, were all around: and the spacious aisles +were crowded with the lowest classes of the people, the inhabitants of +the neighbouring hills, and the peasantry of the Campagna, who with +their wild ruffianlike figures and picturesque costumes, were lounging +about, or seated at the bases of pillars, or praying before the +altars. How I wished to paint some of the groups I saw! but only +Rembrandt could have done them justice. + +We remained at the Santa Maria Maggiore till four o'clock, and no +procession appearing, our patience was exhausted. I nearly fainted on +my chair from excessive fatigue; and some of our party had absolutely +laid themselves down on the steps of an altar, and were fast asleep; +we therefore returned home completely knocked up by the night's +dissipation. + +27.--"Come," said L. just now, as he drew his chair to the fire, and +rubbed his hands with great complacency, "I think we've worked pretty +hard to-day; three palaces, four churches--besides odds and ends of +ruins we dispatched in the way: to say nothing of old Nibby's lectures +in the morning about the Volces, the Saturnines, the Albanians, and +the other old Romans--by Jove! I almost fancied myself at school +again---- + + 'Armis vitrumque canter,' + +as old Virgil or somebody else says. So now let's have a little ecarte +to put it all out of our heads:--for my brains have turned round like +a windmill, by Jove! ever since I was on the top of that cursed +steeple on the capitol," etc., etc. + +I make a resolution to myself every morning before breakfast, that I +will be prepared with a decent stock of good-nature and forbearance, +and not laugh at my friend L.'s absurdities; but in vain are my +amiable intentions: his blunders and his follies surpass all +anticipation, as they defy all powers of gravity. I console myself +with the conviction that such is his slowness of perception, he does +not see that he is the _butt_ of every party; and such his obtuseness +of feeling, that if he did see it, he would not mind it; but he is the +heir to twenty-five thousand a year, and therefore, as R. said, he can +afford to be laughed at. + +We "dispatched," as L. says, a good deal to-day, though I did not +"work quite so hard" as the rest of the party: in fact, I was obliged +to return home from fatigue, after having visited the Doria and +Sciarra Palaces (the last for the second time), and the church of San +Pietro in Vincoli. + +The Doria Palace contains the largest collection of pictures in Rome: +but they are in a dirty and neglected condition, and many of the best +are hung in the worst possible light: added to this there is such a +number of bad and indifferent pictures, that one ought to visit the +Doria Gallery half a dozen times merely to select those on which a +cultivated taste would dwell with pleasure. Leonardo da Vinci's +portrait of Joanna of Naples, is considered one of the most valuable +pictures in the collection. It exhibits the same cast of countenance +which prevails through all his female heads, a sort of sentimental +simpering affectation which is very disagreeable, and not at all +consistent with the character of Joanna. I was much more delighted by +some magnificent portraits by Titian and Rubens; and by a copy of the +famous antique picture, the Nozze Aldobrandini, executed in a kindred +spirit by the classic pencil of Poussin. + +The collection at the Sciarra Palace is small but very select. The +pictures are hung with judgment, and well taken care of. The Magdalen, +which is considered one of Guido's masterpieces, charmed me most: the +countenance is heavenly; though full of ecstatic and devout +contemplation, there is in it a touch of melancholy, "all sorrow's +softness charmed from its despair," which is quite exquisite: and the +attitude, and particularly the turn of the arm, are perfectly +graceful: but why those odious turnips and carrots in the foreground? +They certainly do not add to the sentiment and beauty of the +picture.--Leonardo da Vinci's Vanity and Modesty, and Caravaggio's +Gamblers, both celebrated pictures in very different styles, are in +this collection. I ought not to forget Raffaelle's beautiful portrait +of a young musician who was his intimate friend. The Doria and Sciarra +palaces contain the only Claudes I have seen in Rome. Since the +acquisition of the Altieri Claudes, we may boast of possessing the +finest productions of this master in England. I remember but one +solitary Claude in the Florentine gallery; and I see none here equal +to those at Lord Grosvenor's and Angerstein's. We visited the church +of San Pietro in Viscoli, to see Michel Angelo's famous statue of +Moses,--of which, who has not heard? I must confess I never was so +disappointed by any work of art as I was by this statue, which is +easily accounted for. In the first place, I had not seen any model or +copy of the original; and, secondly, I _had_ read Zappi's sublime +sonnet, which I humbly conceive does rather more than justice to its +subject. The fine opening-- + + "Chi e costui che in dura pietra scolto + Siede _Gigante_"-- + +gave me the impression of a colossal and elevated figure: my surprise, +therefore, was great to see a sitting statue, not much larger than +life, and placed nearly on the level of the pavement; so that, instead +of looking up at it, I almost looked down upon it. The "Doppio raggio +in fronte," I found in the shape of a pair of horns, which, at the +first glance, gave something quite Satanic to the head, which disgusted +me. When I began to recover from this first disappointment--although +my eyes were opened gradually to the sublimity of the attitude, the +grand forms of the drapery, and the lips, which unclose as if about to +speak--I still think that Zappi's sonnet (his acknowledged +chef-d'oeuvre) is a more sublime production than the chef-d'oeuvre it +celebrates. + +The mention of Zappi reminds me of his wife, the daughter of Carlo +Maratti, the painter. She was so beautiful that she was her father's +favourite model for his Nymphs, Madonnas, and Vestal Virgins; and to +her charms she added virtue, and to her virtue uncommon musical and +literary talents. Among her poems, there is a sonnet addressed to a +lady, once beloved by her husband, beginning + + "Donna! che tanto al mio sol piacesti," + +which is one of the most graceful, most feeling, most delicate +compositions I ever read. Zappi celebrates his beautiful wife under +the name of Clori, and his first mistress under that of Filli: to the +latter he has addressed a sonnet, which turns on the same thought as +Cowley's well known song, "Love in thine eyes." As they both lived +about the same time, it would be difficult to tell which of the two +borrowed from the other; probably they were both borrowers from some +elder poet. + +The characteristics of Zappi's style, are tenderness and elegance; he +occasionally rises to sublimity; as in the sonnet on the Statue of +Moses, and that on Good Friday. He never emulates the flights of Guido +or Filicaja, but he is more uniformly graceful and flowing than +either; his happy thoughts are not spun out too far,--and his _points_ +are seldom mere _concetti_. + +SONETTO. + +DI GIAMBATTISTA ZAPPI. + + Amor s'asside alia mia Filli accanto, + Amor la segue ovunque i passi gira: + In lei parla, in lei tace, in lei sospira, + Anzi in lei vive, ond'ella ed ei puo tanto. + + Amore i vezzi, amor le insegna il canto; + E se mai duolsi, o se pur mai s'adira, + Da lei non parte amor, anzi se mira + Amor ne le belle ire, amor nel pianto. + + Se avvien che danzi in regolato errore, + Darle il moto al bel piede, amor riveggio, + Come l'auretto quando muove un fiore. + + Le veggio in fronte amor come in suo seggio, + Sul crin, negli occhi, su le labbra amore, + Sol d'intorno al suo cuore, amor non veggio.[I] + +After being confined to the house for three days, partly by +indisposition, and partly by a vile sirocco, which brought, as usual, +vapours, clouds, and blue devils in its train--this most lovely day +tempted me out; and I walked with V. over the Monte Cavallo to the +Forum of Trajan. After admiring the view from the summit of the +pillar, we went on towards the Capitol, which presented a singular +scene: the square and street in front, as well as the immense flight +of steps, one hundred and fifty in number, which lead to the church of +the Ara Celi, were crowded with men, women, and children, all in their +holiday dresses. It was with difficulty we made our way through them, +though they very civilly made way for us, and we were nearly a quarter +of an hour mounting the steps, so dense was the multitude ascending +and descending, some on their hands and knees out of extra-devotion. +At last we reached the door of the church, where we understood, from +the exclamations and gesticulations of those of whom we inquired, +something extraordinary was to be seen. On one side of the entrance +was a puppet show, on the other a band of musicians, playing "Di tanti +palpati." The interior of the church was crowded to suffocation; and +all in darkness, except the upper end, where upon a stage brilliantly +and very artificially lighted by unseen lamps, there was an exhibition +in wax-work, as large as life, of the Adoration of the Shepherds. The +Virgin was habited in the court dress of the last century, as rich as +silk and satin, gold lace, and paste diamonds could make it, with a +flaxen wig, and high-heeled shoes. The infant Saviour lay in her lap, +his head encircled with rays of gilt wire, at least two yards long. +The shepherds were very well done, but the sheep and dogs best of all; +I believe they were the real animals stuffed. There was a distant +landscape, seen between the pasteboard trees, which was well painted, +and from the artful disposition of the light and perspective, was +almost a deception--but by a blunder very consistent with the rest of +the show, it represented a part of the Campagna of Rome. Above all was +a profane representation of that Being, whom I dare scarcely allude +to, in conjunction with such preposterous vanities, encircled with +saints, angels, and clouds; the whole got up very like a scene in a +pantomime, and accompanied by music from a concealed orchestra, which +was intended, I believe, to be sacred music, but sounded to me like +some of Rossini's airs. In front of the stage there was a narrow +passage divided off, admitting one person at a time, through which a +continued file of persons moved along, who threw down their +contributions as they passed, bowing and crossing themselves with +great devotion. It would be impossible to describe the ecstasies of +the multitude, the lifting up of hands and eyes, the string of +superlatives--the bellissimos, santissimos, gloriosissimos, and +maravigliosissimos, with which they expressed their applause and +delight. I stood in the back-ground of this strange scene, supported +on one of the long-legged chairs which V---- placed for me against a +pillar, at once amazed, diverted, and disgusted by this display of +profaneness and superstition, till the heat and crowd overcame me, and +I was obliged to leave the church. I shall never certainly forget the +"Bambino" of the Ara Celi: for though the exhibition I saw afterwards +at the San Luigi (where I went to look at Domenichino's fine pictures) +surpassed what I have just described, it did not so much surprise me. +Something in the same style is exhibited in almost every church, +between Christmas day and the Epiphany. + +During our examination of Trajan's Forum to-day, I learnt nothing new, +except that Trajan levelled part of the Quirinal to make room for it. +The ground having lately been cleared to the depth of about twelve +feet, part of the ancient pavement has been discovered, and many +fragments of columns set upright: pieces of frieze and broken capitals +are scattered about. The pillar, which is now cleared to the base, +stands in its original place, but not, as it is supposed, at its +original level, for the Romans generally raised the substructure of +their buildings, in order to give them a more commanding appearance. +The antiquarians here are of opinion that both the pavement of the +Basilica and the base of the pillar were raised above the level of the +ancient street, and that there is a flight of steps, still concealed, +between the pillar and the pavement in front. The famous Ulpian +Library was on each side of the Basilica, and the Forum differed from +other Forums in not being an open space surrounded by buildings, but a +building surrounded by an open space. + + * * * * * + +_Dec 31.-Jan. 1._--That hour in which we pass from one year to +another, and begin a new account with ourselves, with our fellow +creatures, and with God, must surely bring some solemn and serious +thoughts to the bosoms of the most happy and most unreflecting among +the triflers on this earth. What then must it be to me? The first +hour, the first moment of the expiring year was spent in tears, in +distress, in bitterness of heart--as it began so it ends. Days, and +weeks, and months, and seasons, came and "passed like visions to +their viewless home," and brought no change. Through the compass of +the whole year I have not enjoyed one single day--I will not say of +happiness--but of health and peace; and what I have endured has left +me little to learn in the way of suffering. Would to heaven that as +the latest minutes now ebb away while I write, memory might also pass +away! Would to heaven that I could efface the last year from the +series of time, hide it from myself, bury it in oblivion, stamp it +into annihilation, that none of its dreary moments might ever rise up +again to haunt me, like spectres of pain and dismay! But this is +wrong--I feel it is--and I repent, I recall my wish. That great Being, +to whom the life of a human creature is a mere point, but who has +bestowed on his creatures such capacities of feeling and suffering, as +extend moments to hours and days to years, inflicts nothing in vain, +and if I have suffered much, I have also learned much. Now the last +hour is past--another year opens; may it bring to those I love all I +wish them in my heart! to me it can bring nothing. The only blessing I +hope from time is _forgetfulness_--my only prayer to heaven +is--_rest, rest, rest_. + +_Jan. 4._--We _dispatched_, as L** would say, a good deal to-day: we +visited the Temple of Vesta, the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmadino, +the Temple of Fortune, the Ponte Rotto, and the house of Nicolo +Rienzi: all these lie together in a dirty, low, and disagreeable part +of Rome. Thence we drove to the Pyramid of Caius Cestus.--As we know +nothing of this Caius Cestus, but that he lived, died, and was buried, +it is not possible to attach any fanciful or classical interest to his +tomb, but it is an object of so much beauty in itself, and from its +situation so striking and picturesque, that it needs no additional +interest. It is close to the ancient walls of Rome, which stretch on +either side as far as the eye can reach in huge and broken masses of +brickwork, fragments of battlements and buttresses, overgrown in many +parts with shrubs and even trees. Around the base of the Pyramid lies +the burying-ground of strangers and heretics. Many of the monuments +are elegant, and their frail materials and diminutive forms are in +affecting contrast with the lofty and solid pile which towers above +them. The tombs lie around in a small space "amicably close," like +brothers in exile, and as I gazed I felt a kindred feeling with all; +for I, too, am a wanderer, a stranger and a heretic; and it is +probable that my place of rest may be among them. Be it so! for +methinks this earth could not afford a more lovely, a more tranquil, +or more sacred spot. I remarked one tomb, which is an exact model, and +in the same material with the sarcophagus of Cornelius Scipio, in the +Vatican. One small slab of white marble bore the name of a young girl, +an only child, who died at sixteen, and "left her parents +disconsolate:" another elegant and simple monument bore the name of a +young painter of genius and promise, and was erected "by his +companions and fellow students as a testimony of their affectionate +admiration and regret." This part of old Rome is beautiful beyond +description, and has a wild, desolate, and poetical grandeur, which +affects the imagination like a dream.--The very air disposes one to +reverie. I am not surprised that Poussin, Claude, and Salvator Rosa +made this part of Rome a favourite haunt, and studied here their +finest effects of colour, and their grandest combinations of +landscape. I saw a young artist seated on a pile of ruins with his +sketch book open on his knee, and his pencil in his hand--during the +whole time we were there he never changed his attitude, nor put his +pencil to the paper, but remained leaning on his elbow, like one lost +in ecstasy. + +_Jan 5._--To-day we drove through the quarter of the Jews, called the +Ghetta degli Ebrei. It is a long street enclosed at each end with a +strong iron gate, which is locked by the police at a certain hour +every evening (I believe at ten o'clock); and any Jew found without +its precincts after that time, is liable to punishment and a heavy +fine. The street is narrow and dirty, the houses wretched and ruinous, +and the appearance of the inhabitants squalid, filthy, and +miserable--on the whole, it was a painful scene, and one I should have +avoided, had I followed my own inclinations. If this specimen of the +effects of superstition and ignorance was depressing, the next was not +less ridiculous. We drove to the Lateran: I had frequently visited +this noble Basilica before, but on the present occasion we were to go +over it _in form_, with the usual torments of laquais and ciceroni. I +saw nothing new but the cloisters, which remain exactly as in the time +of Constantine. They are in the very vilest style of architecture, and +decorated with Mosaic in a very elaborate manner: but what most amused +us was the collection of relics, said to have been brought by +Constantine from the Holy Land, and which our cicerone exhibited with +a sneering solemnity which made it very doubtful whether he believed +himself in their miraculous sanctity. Here is the stone on which the +cock was perched when it crowed to St. Peter, and a pillar from the +Temple of Jerusalem, split asunder at the time of the crucifixion; it +looks as if it had been _sawed_ very accurately in half from top to +bottom; but this of course only renders it more miraculous. Here is +also the column in front of Pilate's house, to which our Saviour was +bound, and the very well where he met the woman of Samaria. All these, +and various other relics, supposed to be consecrated by our Saviour's +Passion, are carelessly thrown into the cloisters--not so the heads of +St. Peter and St. Paul, which are considered as the chief treasures in +the Lateran, and are deposited in the body of the church in a rich +shrine. The beautiful sarcophagus of red porphyry, which once stood +in the Portico of the Pantheon, and contained the ashes of Agrippa, +is now in the Corsini chapel here, and encloses the remains of some +Pope Clement. The bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, which +stands on the Capitol, was dug from the cloisters of the Lateran. The +statue of Constantine in the portico was found in the baths of +Constantine: it is in a style of sculpture worthy the architecture of +the cloisters.--Constantine was the first Christian emperor, a glory +which has served to cover a multitude of sins; it is indeed impossible +to forget that he was the chosen instrument of a great and blessed +revolution; but in other respects it is as impossible to look back to +the period of Constantine without horror--an era when bloodshed and +barbarism, and the general depravity of morals and taste seemed to +have reached their climax. + +On leaving the Lateran, we walked to the Scala Santa, said to be the +very flights of steps which led to the judgment hall at Jerusalem, and +transported hither by the Emperor Constantine; but while the other +relics which his pious benevolence bestowed on the city of Rome have +apparently lost some of their efficacy, the Scala Santa is still +regarded with the most devout veneration. At the moment of our +approach, an elegant barouche drove up to the portico, from which two +well-dressed women alighted, and pulling out their rosaries, began to +crawl up the steps on their hands and knees, repeating a Paternoster +and an Ave Maria on every step. A poor diseased beggar had just gone +up before them, and was a few steps in advance. This exercise, as we +are assured, purchases a thousand years of indulgence. The morning was +concluded by a walk on the Mont Pincio. + +I did not know on that first morning after our arrival, when I ran up +the Scalla della Trinita to the top of the Pincian hill, and looked +around me with such transport, that I stood by mere chance on that +very spot from which Claude used to study his sun sets, and his +beautiful effects of evening. His house was close to me on the left, +and those of Nicolo Poussin and Salvator Rosa a little beyond. Since +they have been pointed out to me, I never pass from the Monte Pincio +along the Via Felice without looking up at them with interest: such +power has genius, "to hallow in the core of human hearts even the ruin +of a wall." + + * * * * * + +_Jan. 6._--Sunday, at the English chapel, which was crowded to excess, +and where it was at once cold and suffocating. We had a plain but +excellent sermon, and the officiating clergyman, Mr. W., exhorted the +congregation to conduct themselves with more decorum at St. Peter's, +and to remember what was due to the temple of that God who was equally +the God of all Christians. We afterwards went to St. Peter's; where +the anthem was performed at vespers as usual, and the tenor of the +Argentino sung. The music was indeed heavenly--but I did not enjoy it: +for though the behaviour of the English was much more decent than I +have yet seen it, the crowd round the chapel, the talking, pushing, +whispering, and movement, were enough to disquiet and discomfort me; I +withdrew, therefore, and walked about at a little distance, where I +could just hear the swell of the organ. Such is the immensity of the +building, that at the other side of the aisle the music is perfectly +inaudible. + +7.--Visited the Falconieri Palace to see Cardinal Fesche's gallery. +The collection is large and contains many fine pictures, but there is +such a _melange_ of good, bad, and indifferent, that on the whole I +was disappointed. L** attached himself to my side the whole +morning--to benefit, as he said, by my "tasty remarks;" he hung so +dreadfully heavy on my hands, and I was so confounded by the +interpretations and explanations his ignorance required, that I at +last found my patience nearly at an end. Pity he is so good-natured +and so good-tempered, that one can neither have the comfort of +heartily disliking him, nor find nor make the shadow of an excuse to +shake him off! + +In the evening we had a gay party of English and foreigners: among +them---- + + * * * * * + + +A REPLY TO A COMPLAINT + + Trust not the ready smile! + 'Tis a delusive glow-- + For cold and dark the while + The spirits flag below. + + With a beam of departed joy, + The eye may kindle yet: + As the cloud in yon wintry sky, + Still glows with the sun that is set, + + The cloud will vanish away-- + The sun while shine to morrow-- + To me shall break no day + On this dull night of sorrow! + + +A REPLY TO A REPROACH. + + I would not that the world should know, + How deep within my panting heart + A thousand warmer feelings glow, + Than word or look could e'er impart. + + I would not that the world should guess + At aught beyond this outward show; + What happy dreams in secret bless-- + What burning tears in secret flow. + + And let them deem me cold or vain; + --O there is one who thinks not so! + In one devoted heart I reign, + And what is all the rest below? + +9.--We have had two days of truly English weather; cold, damp, and +gloomy, with storms of wind and rain. I know not why, but there is +something peculiarly deforming and discordant in bad weather here; and +we are all rather stupid and depressed. To me, sunshine and warmth are +substitutes for health and spirits; and their absence inflicts +positive suffering. There is not a single room in our palazzetto which +is weather-proof; and as to a good fire, it is a luxury unknown, but +not unnecessary, in these regions. In such apartments as contain no +fire-place, a stufa, or portable stove, is set, which diffuses little +warmth, and renders the air insupportably close and suffocating. + +I witnessed a scene last night, which was a good illustration of that +extraordinary indolence for which the Romans are remarkable. Our +laquais Camillo suffered himself to be turned off, rather than put +wood on the fire three times a-day; he would rather, he said, "starve +in the streets than break his back by carrying burdens like an ass; +and though he was miserable to displease the Onoratissimo Padrone, his +first _duty_ was to take care of his own health, which, with the +blessing of the saints, he was determined to do." R---- threw him his +wages, repeating with great contempt the only word of his long speech +he understood, "_Asino!_" "Sono Romano, io," replied the fellow, +drawing himself up with dignity. He look his wages, however, and +marched out of the house. + +The impertinence of this Camillo was sometimes amusing, but oftener +provoking. He piqued himself on being a profound antiquarian, would +confute Nibby, and carried Nardini in his pocket, to whom he referred +on all occasions: yet the other day he had the impudence to assure us +that Caius Cestus was an English Protestant, who was excommunicated by +Pope Julius Caesar; and took his Nardini out of his pocket to prove his +assertion. + +V---- brought me to-day the "Souvenirs de Felicie," of Madame de +Genlis, which amused me delightfully for a few hours. They contain +many truths, many half or whole falsehoods, many impertinent things, +and several very interesting anecdotes. They are written with all the +graceful simplicity of style, and in that tone of lady-like feeling +which distinguishes whatever she writes: but it is clear that though +she represents these "Souvenirs" as mere extracts from her journal, +they have been carefully composed or re-composed for publication, and +were always intended to be seen. Now if my poor little Diary should +ever be seen! I tremble but to think of it!--what egotism and vanity, +what discontent--repining--caprice--should I be accused of?--neither +perhaps have I always been just to others; _quand on sent, on +reflechit rarement_. Such strange vicissitudes of temper--such +opposite extremes of thinking and feeling, written down at the moment, +without noticing the intervening links of circumstances and +impressions which led to them, would appear like detraction, if they +should meet the eye of any indifferent person--but I think I have +taken sufficient precautions against the possibility of such an +exposure, and the only eyes which will ever glance over this blotted +page, when the hand that writes it is cold, will read, not to +_criticise_, but to _sympathise_. + +10.--A lovely brilliant day, the sky without a cloud and the air as +soft as summer. The carriages were ordered immediately after +breakfast, and we sallied forth in high spirits--resolved as L** said, +with his usual felicitous application of Shakspeare, + + "To take the tide in the affairs of men." + +The baths of Titus are on the AEsquiline; and nothing remains of them +but piles of brickwork, and a few subterranean chambers almost choked +with rubbish. Some fragments of exquisite arabesque painting are +visible on the ceilings and walls; and the gilding and colours are +still fresh and bright. The brickwork is perfectly solid and firm, and +appeared as if finished yesterday. On the whole the impression on my +mind was, that not the slow and gentle hand of time, but sudden rapine +and violence had caused the devastation around us; and looking into +Nardini on my return, I found that the baths of Titus were nearly +entire in the thirteenth century, but were demolished with great +labour and difficulty by the ferocious Senator Brancaleone, who, about +the year 1257, destroyed an infinite number of ancient edifices, "per +togliere ai Nobili il modo di fortificarsi." The ruins were excavated +during the pontificate of Julius the Second, and under the direction +of Raffaelle, who is supposed to have taken the idea of the arabesques +in the Loggie of the Vatican, from the paintings here. We were shown +the niche in which the Laocoon stood, when it was discovered in 1502. +After leaving the baths, we entered the neighbouring church of San +Pietro in Vincoli, to look again at the beautiful fluted Doric columns +which once adorned the splendid edifice of Titus: and on this occasion +we were shown the chest in which the fetters of St. Peter are +preserved in a triple enclosure of iron, wood, and silver. My +unreasonable curiosity not being satisfied by looking at the mere +outside of this sacred coffer, I turned to the monk who exhibited it, +and civilly requested that he would open it, and show us the +miraculous treasure it contained. The poor man looked absolutely +astounded and aghast at the audacity of my request, and stammered out, +that the coffer was never opened, without a written order from his +holiness the pope, and in the presence of a cardinal, and, that this +favour was never granted to a heretic (con rispetto parlando); and +with this excuse we were obliged to be satisfied. + +The church of San Martino del Monte is built on part of the +substructure of the baths of Titus; and there is a door opening from +the church, by which you descend into the ancient subterranean vaults. +The small, but exquisite pillars, and the pavement, which is of the +richest marbles, were brought from the Villa of Adrian at Tivoli. The +walls were painted in fresco by Nicolo and Gaspar Poussin, and were +once a celebrated study for young landscape painters; almost every +vestige of colouring is now obliterated by the damp which streams down +the walls. There are some excellent modern pictures in good +preservation, I think by Carluccio. This church, though not large, is +one of the most magnificent we have yet seen, and the most precious +materials are lavished in profusion on every part. The body of +Cardinal Tomasi is preserved here, embalmed in a glass case. It is +exhibited conspicuously, and in my life I never saw (or smelt) +anything so abominable and disgusting. + +The rest of the morning was spent in the Vatican. + +I stood to-day for some time between those two great masterpieces, the +Transfiguration of Raffaelle, and Domenichino's Communion of St. +Jerome. I studied them, I examined them figure by figure, and then in +the ensemble, and mused upon the different effects they produce, and +were designed to produce, until I thought I could decide to my own +satisfaction on their respective merits. I am not ignorant that the +Transfiguration is pronounced the "grandest picture in the world," nor +so insensible to excellence as to regard this glorious composition +without all the admiration due to it. I am dazzled by the flood of +light which bursts from the opening heavens above, and affected by the +dramatic interest of the group below. What splendour of colour! What +variety of expression! What masterly grouping of the heads! I see all +this--but to me Raffaelle's picture wants unity of interest: it is two +pictures in one: the demoniac boy in the foreground always shocks me; +and thus from my peculiarity of taste the pleasure it gives me is not +so perfect as it ought to be. + +On the other hand, I never can turn to the Domenichino without being +thrilled with emotion, and touched with awe. The story is told with +the most admirable skill, and with the most exquisite truth and +simplicity: the interest is one and the same; it all centres in the +person of the expiring saint; and the calm benignity of the +officiating priest is finely contrasted with the countenances of the +group who support the dying form of St. Jerome: anxious tenderness, +grief, hope, and fear, are expressed with such deep pathos and +reality, that the spectator forgets admiration in sympathy; and I have +gazed, till I could almost have fancied myself one of the assistants. +The colouring is as admirable as the composition--gorgeously rich in +effect, but subdued to a tone which harmonizes with the solemnity of +the subject. + +There is a curious anecdote connected with this picture, which I wish +I had noted down at length as it was related to me, and at the time I +heard it: it is briefly this. The picture was painted by Domenichino +for the church of San Girolamo della Carita. At that time the factions +between the different schools of painting ran so high at Rome, that +the followers of Domenichino and Guido absolutely stabbed and poisoned +each other; and the popular prejudice being in favour of the latter, +the Communion of St. Jerome was torn down from its place, and flung +into a lumber garret. Some time afterwards, the superiors of the +convent wishing to substitute a new altar-piece, commissioned Nicolo +Poussin to execute it; and sent him Domenichino's rejected picture as +old canvas to paint upon. No sooner had the generous Poussin cast his +eyes on it, than he was struck, as well he might be, with astonishment +and admiration. He immediately carried it into the church, and there +lectured in public on its beauties, until he made the stupid monks +ashamed of their blind rejection of such a masterpiece, and boldly +gave it that character it has ever since retained, of being the second +best picture in the world. + + * * * * * + +11.--A party of four, including L** and myself, ascended the dome of +St. Peter's; and even mounted into the gilt ball. It was a most +fatiguing expedition, and one I have since repented. I gained, +however, a more perfect, and a more sublime idea of the architectural +wonders of St. Peter's, than I had before; and I was equally pleased +and surprised by the exquisite neatness and cleanliness of every part +of the building. We drove from St. Peter's to the church of St. +Onofrio, to visit the tomb of Tasso. A plain slab marks the spot, +which requires nothing but his name to distinguish it. "After life's +fitful fever he sleeps well." The poet Guidi lies in a little chapel +close by; and his effigy is so placed that the eyes appear fixed upon +the tomb of Tasso. + +In the church of Santa Maria Trastevere (which is held in peculiar +reverence by the Tresteverini), there is nothing remarkable, except +that like many others in Rome, it is rich in the spoils of antique +splendour: afterwards to the palazzo Farneze and the Farnesina, to see +the frescos of Raffaelle, Giulio Romano, and the Caraccis, which have +long been rendered familiar to me in copies and engravings. + +12.--I did penance at home for the fatigue of the day before, and +to-day (the 13th) I took a delightful drive of several hours attended +only by Saccia. Having examined at different times, and in detail, +most of the interesting objects within the compass of the ancient +city, I wished to generalize what I had seen, by a kind of _survey_ of +the whole. For this purpose, making the Capitol a central point, I +drove first slowly through the Forum, and made the circuit of the +Palatine Hill, then by the arch of Janus (which by a late decision of +the antiquarians, has no more to do with Janus than with Jupiter), and +the temple of Vesta, back again over the site of the Circus Maximus, +between the Palatine and the Aventine (the scene of the Rape of the +Sabines), to the baths of Caracalla, where I spent an hour, musing, +sketching, and poetizing; thence to the church of San Stefano Rotundo, +once a temple dedicated to Claudius by Agrippina; over the Celian +Hill, covered with masses of ruins, to the church of St. John and St. +Paul, a small but beautiful edifice; then to the neighbouring church +of San Gregorio, from the steps of which there is such a noble view. +Thence I returned by the arch of Constantine, and the Coliseum, which +frowned on me in black masses through the soft but deepening twilight, +through the street now called the Suburra, but formerly the Via +Scelerata, where Tullia trampled over the dead body of her father, and +so over the Quirinal home. + +My excursion was altogether delightful, and gave me the most +magnificent, and I had almost said, the most _bewildering_ ideas of +the grandeur and extent of ancient Rome. Every step was classic +ground: illustrious names, and splendid recollections crowded upon the +fancy-- + + "And trailing clouds of glory did they come." + +On the Palatine Hill were the houses of Cicero and the Gracchi; +Horace, Virgil, and Ovid resided on the Aventine; and Mecaenas and +Pliny on the AEsquiline. If one little fragment of a wall remained, +which could with any shadow of probability be pointed out as belonging +to the residence of Cicero, Horace, or Virgil, how much dearer, how +much more sanctified to memory would it be than all the magnificent +ruins of the fabrics of the Caesars! But no--all has passed away. I +have heard the remains of Rome coarsely ridiculed, because, after the +researches of centuries, so little is comparatively known--because of +the endless disputes of antiquarians, and the night and ignorance in +which all is involved; but to the imagination there is something +singularly striking in this mysterious veil which hangs like a cloud +upon the objects around us. I trod to-day over the shapeless masses of +building, extending in every direction as far as the eye could reach. +Who had inhabited the edifices I trampled under my feet? What hearts +had burned--what heads had thought--what spirits had kindled _there_, +where nothing was seen but a wilderness and waste, and heaps of ruins, +to which antiquaries--even Nibby himself--dare not give a name? All +swept away--buried beneath an ocean of oblivion, above which rise a +few great and glorious names, like rocks, over which the billows of +time break in vain. + + "Indi esclamo, qual' notte atra, importuua + Tutte l'ampie tue glorie a un tratto amorza? + Glorie di senno, di valor, di forza + Gia mille avesti, or non hai pur una!" + + * * * * * + +One of the most striking scenes I saw to-day was the Roman forum, +crowded with the common people gaily dressed (it is a festa or saint's +day); the women sitting in groups upon the fallen columns, nursing or +amusing their children. The men were playing at mora, or at a game +like quoits. Under the vast side of the Palatine Hill, on the side of +the Circus Maximus, I met a woman mounted on an ass, habited in a most +beautiful and singular holiday costume, a man walked by her side, +leading the animal she rode, with lover-like watchfulness. He was _en +veste_, and I observed that his cloak was thrown over the back of the +ass as a substitute for a saddle. Two men followed behind with their +long capotes hanging from their shoulders, and carrying guitars, which +they struck from time to time, singing as they walked along. A little +in advance there is a small chapel, and Madona. A young girl +approached, and laying a bouquet of flowers before the image, she +knelt down, hid her face in her apron, and wrung her hands from time +to time as if she was praying with fervor. When the group I have just +mentioned came up, they left the pathway, and made a circuit of many +yards to avoid disturbing her, the men taking off their hats, and the +woman inclining her head, in sign of respect, as they passed. + +All this sounds, while I soberly write it down, very sentimental, and +picturesque, and poetical. It was exactly what I saw--what I often +see: such is the place, the scenery, the people. Every group is a +picture, the commonest object has some interest attached to it, the +commonest action is dignified by sentiment, the language around us is +music, and the air we breathe is poetry. + +Just as I was writing the word _music_, the sounds of a guitar +attracted me to the window, which looks into a narrow back street, and +is exactly opposite a small white house belonging to a vetturino, who +has a very pretty daughter. For her this serenade was evidently +intended; for the moment the music began, she placed a light in the +window as a signal that she listened propitiously, and then retired. +The group below consisted of two men, the lover and a musician he had +brought with him: the former stood looking up at the window with his +hat off, and the musician, after singing two very beautiful airs, +concluded with the delicious and popular Arietta "Buona notte, amato +bene!" to which the lover _whistled_ a second, in such perfect tune, +and with such exquisite taste, that I was enchanted. Rome is famous +for serenades and serenaders; but at this season they are seldom +heard. I remember at Venice being wakened in the dead of the night by +such delicious music, that (to use a hyperbole common in the mouths +of this poetical people) I was "transported to the seventh heaven:" +before I could perfectly recollect myself, the music ceased, the +inhabitants of the neighbouring houses threw open their casements, and +vehemently and enthusiastically applauded, clapping their hands, and +shouting bravos: but neither at Venice, at Padua, nor at Florence did +I hear any thing that pleased and touched me so much as the serenade +to which I have just been listening. + + * * * * * + +14.--To-day was quite heavenly--like a lovely May-day in England: the +air so pure, so soft, and the sun so warm, that I would gladly have +dispensed with my shawl and pelisse. We went in carriages to the other +side of the Palatine, and then dispersing in small parties, as will or +fancy led, we lounged and wandered about in the Coliseum, and among +the neighbouring ruins till dinner time. I climbed up the western side +of the Coliseum, at the imminent hazard of my neck; and looking down +through a gaping aperture, on the brink of which I had accidentally +seated myself, I saw in the colossal corridor far below me, a young +artist, who, as if transported out of his senses by delight and +admiration, was making the most extraordinary antics and gestures: +sometimes he clasped his hands, then extended his arms, then stood +with them folded as in deep thought; now he snatched up his portfolio +as if to draw what so much enchanted him, then threw it down and +kicked it from him as if in despair. I never saw such admirable dumb +show: it was better than any pantomime. At length, however, he +happened to cast up his eyes, as if appealing to heaven, and they +encountered mine peeping down upon him from above. He stood fixed and +motionless for two seconds, staring at me, and then snatching up his +portfolio and his hat, ran off and disappeared. I met the same man +afterwards walking along the Via Felice, and could not help smiling as +he passed: he smiled too, but pulled his hat over his face and turned +away. + +I discovered to-day (and it is no slight pleasure to make a discovery +for one's self), the passage which formed the communication between +the Coliseum and the Palace of the Caesars, and in which the Emperor +Commodus was assassinated. I recognized it by its situation, and the +mosaic pavement described by Nibby. If I had time I might moralize +here, and make an eloquent tirade _a la Eustace_ about imperial +monsters and so forth,--but in fact I _did_ think while I stood in the +damp and gloomy corridor, that it was a fitting death for Commodus to +die by the giddy playfulness of a child, and the machinations of an +abandoned woman. It was not a favourable time or hour to contemplate +the Coliseum--the sunshine was too resplendent-- + + It was a garish, broad, and peering day, + Loud, light, suspicious, full of eyes and ears; + And every little corner, nook, and hole, + Was penetrated by the insolent light. + +We are told that five thousand animals were slain in the amphitheatre +on its dedication--how dreadful! The mutual massacres of the +gladiators inspire less horror than this disgusting butchery! To what +a pitch must the depraved appetite for blood and death have risen +among the corrupted and ferocious populace, before such a sight could +be endured! + + * * * * * + +15.--We drove to-day to the tomb of Cecilia Metella, on the Appian +Way, to the Fountain of Egeria, and the tomb of the Scipios near the +Porta Cappena. + +I wish the tomb of Cecilia Metella had been that of Cornelia or +Valeria. There may be little in a name, but how much there is in +association! What this massy fabric wanted in classical fame Lord +Byron has lately supplied in poetical interest. The same may be said +of the Fountain of Egeria, to which he has devoted some of the most +exquisite stanzas in his poem, and has certainly invested it with a +charm it could not have possessed before. The woods and groves which +once surrounded it, have been all cut down, and the scenery round it +is waste and bleak; but the fountain itself is pretty, overgrown with +ivy, moss, and the graceful capillaire plant (capello di venere) +drooping from the walls, and the stream is as pure as crystal. L**, +who was with us, took up a stone to break off a piece of the statue, +and maimed, defaced, and wretched as it is, I could not help thinking +it a profanation to the place, and stopped his hand, calling him a +_barbarous Vandyke_: he looked so awkwardly alarmed and puzzled by the +epithet I had given him! The identity of this spot (like all other +places here) has been vehemently disputed. At every step to-day we +encountered doubt, and contradiction, and cavilling: authorities are +marshalled against each other in puzzling array, and the modern +unwillingness to be cheated by fine sounds and great names has become +a general scepticism. I have no objection to the "shadows, doubts, and +darkness" which rest upon all around us; it rather pleases my fancy +thus to "dream over the map of things," abandoned to my own +cogitations and my own conclusions; but then there are certain points +upon which it is very disagreeable to have one's faith disturbed; and +the Fountain of Egeria is one of these. So leaving the more learned +antiquarians to fight it out, _secundum artem_, and fire each other's +wigs if they will, I am determined, and do steadfastly believe, that +the Fountain of Egeria I saw to-day is the very identical and original +Fountain of Egeria--of Numa's Egeria--and therefore it _is_ so. + +The tomb of the Scipios is a dirty dark wine cellar: all the urns, the +fine sarcophagus, and the original tablets and inscriptions have been +removed to the Vatican. I thought to-day while I stood in the +sepulchre, and on the very spot whence the sarcophagus of Publius was +removed, if Scipio, or Augustus, or Adrian, could return to this +world, how would their Roman pride endure to see their last +resting-places, the towers and the pyramids in which they fortified +themselves, thus violated and put to ignoble uses, and the urns which +contained their ashes stuck up as ornaments in a painted room, where +barbarian visitors lounge away their hours, and stare upon their +relics with scornful indifference or idle curiosity! + + * * * * * + +The people here, even the lowest and meanest among them seem to have +imbibed a profound respect for antiquity and antiquities, which +sometimes produces a comic effect. I am often amused by the exultation +with which they point out a bit of old stone, or piece of brick wall, +or shapeless fragment of some nameless statue, and tell you it is +_antico, molto, antico_, and the half contemptuous tone in which they +praise the most beautiful modern production, _e moderna--ma pure non e +cativa!_ + + * * * * * + +18.--We had an opportunity of witnessing to-day one of the most +splendid ceremonies of the Catholic church. It is one of the four +festivals at which the Pope performs mass in state at the Vatican, the +anniversary of St. Peter's entrance into Rome, and of his taking +possession of the Papal chair; for here St. Peter is reckoned the +first Pope. To see the high priest of an ancient and wide-spread +superstition publicly officiate in his sacred character, in the +grandest temple in the universe, and surrounded by all the trappings +of his spiritual and temporal authority, was an exhibition to make sad +a reflecting mind, but to please and exalt a lively imagination: I +wished myself a Roman Catholic for one half hour only. The procession, +which was so arranged as to produce the most striking theatrical +effect, moved up the central aisle, to strains of solemn and beautiful +music from an orchestra of wind instruments. The musicians were placed +out of sight, nor could I guess from what part of the buildings the +sounds proceeded; but the blended harmony, so soft, yet so powerful +and so equally diffused, as it floated through the long aisles and +lofty domes, had a most heavenly effect. At length appeared the Pope, +borne on the shoulders of his attendants, and habited in his full +Pontifical robes of white and gold; fans of peacocks' feathers were +waved on each side of his throne, and boys flung clouds of incense +from their censers. As the procession advanced at the slowest possible +foot-pace, the Pope from time to time stretched forth his arms which +were crossed upon his bosom, and solemnly blessed the people as they +prostrated themselves on each side. I could have fancied it the +triumphant approach of an Eastern despot, but for the mild and +venerable air of the amiable old Pope, who looked as if more humbled +than exalted by the pageantry around him. It might be _acting_, but if +so, it was the most admirable acting I ever saw: I wish all his +attendants had performed their parts as well. While the Pope assists +at mass, it is not etiquette for him to do anything for himself: one +Cardinal kneeling, holds the book open before him, another carries his +handkerchief, a third folds and unfolds his robe, a priest on each +side supports him whenever he rises or moves, so that he appears among +them like a mere helpless automaton going through a certain set of +mechanical motions, with which his will has nothing to do. All who +approach or address him prostrate themselves and kiss his embroidered +slipper before they rise. + +When the whole ceremony was over, and most of the crowd dispersed, the +Pope, after disrobing, was passing through a private part of the +church where we were standing accidentally, looking at one of the +monuments. We made the usual obeisance, which he returned by inclining +his head. He walked without support, but with great difficulty, and +appeared bent by infirmity and age: his countenance has a melancholy +but most benevolent expression, and his dark eyes retain uncommon +lustre and penetration. During the twenty-one years he has worn the +tiara, he has suffered many vicissitudes and humiliations with dignity +and fortitude. He is not considered a man of very powerful intellect +or very shining talents: he is not a Ganganelli or a Lambertini; but +he has been happy in his choice of ministers, and his government has +been distinguished by a spirit of liberality, and above all by a +partiality to the English, which calls for our respect and gratitude. +There were present to-day in St. Peter's about five thousand people, +and the church would certainly have contained ten times the number. + + * * * * * + +19.--We went to-day to view the restored model of the Coliseum +exhibited in the Piazza di Spagna; and afterwards drove to the +manufactory of the beads called _Roman Pearl_, which is well worth +seeing _once_. The beads are cut from thin laminae of alabaster, and +then dipped into a composition made of the scales of a fish (the +Argentina). When a perfect imitation of pearl is intended, they can +copy the accidental defects of colour and form which occur in the real +gem, as well as its brilliance, so exquisitely, as to deceive the most +practised eye. + +20.--I ordered the open carriage early this morning, and, attended +only by Scaccia, partly drove and partly walked through some of the +finest parts of ancient Rome. The day has been perfectly lovely; the +sky intensely blue without a single cloud; and though I was weak and +far from well, I felt the influence of the soft sunshine in every +nerve: the pure elastic air seemed to penetrate my whole frame, and +made my spirits bound and my heart beat quicker. It is true, I had to +regret at every step the want of a more cultivated companion, and that +I felt myself shamefully--no--not _shamefully_, but _lamentably_ +ignorant of many things. There is so much of which I wish to know and +learn more: so much of my time is spent in hunting books, and +acquiring by various means the information with which I ought already +to be prepared; so many days are lost by frequent indisposition, that +though I enjoy, and feel the value of all I _do_ know and observe, I +am tantalized by the thoughts of all I must leave behind me +unseen--there must necessarily be so much of what I do not even +_hear_! Yet, in spite of these drawbacks, my little excursion to-day +was delightful. I took a direction just contrary to my last +expedition, first by the Quattro Fontane to the Santa Maria Maggiore, +which I always see with new delight; then to the ruins called the +temple of Minerva Medici, which stand in a cabbage garden near another +fine ruin, once called the Trofei di Mario, and now the Acqua Giulia: +thence to the Porta Maggiore, built by Claudius; and round by the +Santa Croce di Gerusalemme. This church was built by Helena, the +mother of Constantine, and contains her tomb, besides a portion of the +_True Cross_ from which it derives its name. The interior of this +Basilica struck me as mean and cold. In the fine avenue in front of +the Santa Croce, I paused a few minutes to look round me. To the right +were the ruins of the stupendous Claudian Aqueduct with its gigantic +arches, stretching away in one unbroken series far into the Campagna: +behind me the amphitheatre of Castrense: to the left, other ruins, +once called the Temple of Venus and Cupid, and now the Sessorium: in +front, the Lateran, the obelisk of Sesostris, the Porta San Giovanni, +and great part of the ancient walls; and thence the view extended to +the foot of the Apennines. All this part of Rome is a scene of +magnificent desolation, and of melancholy yet sublime interest: its +wildness, its vastness, its waste and solitary openness, add to its +effect upon the imagination. The only human beings I beheld in the +compass of at least two miles, were a few herdsmen driving their +cattle through the gate of San Giovanni, and two or three strangers +who were sauntering about with their note books and portfolios, +apparently enthusiasts like myself, lost in the memory of the past and +the contemplation of the present. + +I spent some time in the Lateran, then drove to the Coliseum, where I +found a long procession of penitents, their figures and faces totally +concealed by their masks and peculiar dress, chaunting the Via Crucis. +I then examined the site of the Temple of Venus and Rome, and +satisfied myself by ocular demonstration of the truth of the +measurements which gave sixty feet for the height of the columns and +eighteen feet for the circumference. I knew enough of geometrical +proportion to prove this to my own satisfaction. On examining the +fragments which remain, each fluting measured a foot, that is, eight +inches right across. This appears prodigious, but it is nevertheless +true. I am forced to believe to-day what I yesterday doubted, and +deemed a piece of mere antiquarian exaggeration. + +This magnificent edifice was designed and built by the Emperor Adrian, +who piqued himself on his skill in architecture, and carried his +jealousy of other artists so far, as to banish Apollodorus, who had +designed the Forum of Trajan. When he had finished the Temple of Venus +and Rome, he sent to Apollodorus a plan of his stupendous structure, +challenging him to find a single fault in it. The architect severely +criticised some trifling oversights; and the Emperor, conscious of the +justice of his criticisms, and unable to remedy the defects, ordered +him to be strangled. Such was the fate of Apollodorus, whose +misfortune it was to have an Emperor for his rival. + +They are now clearing the steps which lead to this temple, from which +it appears that the length of the portico in front was three hundred +feet, and of the side five hundred feet. + +While I was among these ruins, I was struck by a little limpid +fountain, which gushed from the crumbling wall and lost itself among +the fragments of the marble pavement. All looked dreary and desolate; +and that part of the ruin which from its situation must have been the +_sanctum sanctorum_, the shrine of the divinity of the place, is now a +receptacle of filth and every conceivable abomination. + +I walked on to the ruins now called the Basilica of Constantine, once +the Temple of Peace. This edifice was in a bad style, and constructed +at a period when the arts were at a low ebb: yet the ruins are vast +and magnificent. The exact direction of the Via Sacra has long been a +subject of vehement dispute. They have now laid open a part of it +which ran in front of the Basilica: the pavement is about twelve feet +below the present pavement of Rome, and the soil turned up in their +excavations is formed entirely of crumbled brickwork and mortar, and +fragments of marble, porphyry, and granite. I returned by the Forum +and the Capitol, through the Forums of Nerva and Trajan, and so over +the Monte Cavallo, home. + + * * * * * + +23.--Last night we had a numerous party, and Signor P. and his +daughter came to sing. _She_ is a private singer of great talent, and +came attended by her lover or her _fiance_; who, according to Italian +custom, attends his mistress every where during the few weeks which +precede their marriage. He is a young artist, a favourite pupil of +Camuccini, and of very quiet, unobtrusive manners. La P. has the +misfortune to be plain; her features are irregular, her complexion of +a sickly paleness, and though her eyes are large and dark, they +appeared totally devoid of lustre and expression. Her plainness, the +bad taste of her dress, her awkward figure, and her timid and +embarrassed deportment, all furnished matter of amusement and +observation to some young people, (English of course,) whose +propensities for _quizzing_ exceeded their good breeding and good +nature. Though La P. does not understand a word of either French or +English, I thought she could not mistake the significant looks and +whispers of which she was the object, and I was in pain for her, and +for her modest lover. I drew my chair to the piano, and tried to +divert her attention by keeping her in conversation, but I could get +no farther than a few questions which were answered in monosyllables. +At length she sang--and sang divinely: I found the pale automaton had +a soul as well as a voice. After giving us, with faultless execution, +as well as great expression, some of Rossini's finest songs, she sung +the beautiful and difficult cavatina in Otello, "_Assisa al pie d'un +Salice_," with the most enchanting style and pathos, and then stood as +unmoved as a statue while the company applauded loud and long. A +moment afterwards, as she stooped to take up a music book, her lover, +who had edged himself by degrees from the door to the piano, bent his +head too, and murmured in a low voice, but with the most passionate +accent, "O brava, brava cara!" She replied only by a look--but it was +such a look! I never saw a human countenance so entirely, so +instantaneously changed in character: the vacant eyes kindled and +beamed with tenderness: the pale cheek glowed, and a bright smile +playing round her mouth, just parted her lips sufficiently to discover +a set of teeth like pearls. I could have called her at that moment +beautiful; but the change was as transient as sudden--it passed like a +gleam of light over her face and vanished, and by the time the book +was placed on the desk, she looked as plain, as stupid, and as +statue-like as ever. I was the only person who had witnessed this +little by-scene; and it gave me pleasant thoughts and interest for the +rest of the evening. + +Another trait of character occurred afterwards, which amused me, but +in a very different style. Our new Danish friend, the Baron B----, +told us he had once been present at the decapitation of nine men, +having first fortified himself with a large goblet of brandy. After +describing the scene in all its horrible details, and assuring us in +his bad German French that it was "_une chose bien mauvaise a voir_," +I could not help asking him with a shudder, how he felt afterwards; +whether it was not weeks or months before the impressions of horror +left his mind? He answered with smiling naivete and taking a pinch of +snuff, "_Ma foi! madame, je n'ai pas pu manger de la viande toute +cette journee-la?_" + + * * * * * + +27.--We drove to the Palazzo Spada, to see the famous Spada Pompey, +said to be the very statue at the base of which Caesar fell. I was +pleased to find, contrary to my expectations, that this statue has +great intrinsic merit, besides its celebrity, to recommend it. The +extremities of the limbs have a certain clumsiness which may perhaps +be a feature of resemblance, and not a fault of the sculptor; but the +attitude is noble, and the likeness of the head to the undisputed bust +of Pompey in the Florentine gallery, struck me immediately. The +Palazza Spada, with its splendid architecture, dirt, discomfort, and +dilapidation, is a fair specimen of the Roman palaces in general. It +contains a corridor, which from an architectural deception appears +much longer than it really is. I hate tricks--in architecture +especially. We afterwards visited the Pantheon, the Church of Santa +Maria sopra Minerva, (an odd combination of names,) and concluded the +morning at Canova's. It is one of the pleasures of Rome to lounge in +the studj of the best sculptors; and it is at Rome only that sculpture +seems to flourish as in its native soil. Rome is truly the _city of +the soul_, the home of art and artists. With the divine models of the +Vatican ever before their eyes, these inspiring skies above their +heads, and the quarries of marble at a convenient distance--it is here +only they can conceive and execute those works which are formed from +the _beau-ideal_; but it is not here they meet with patronage: the +most beautiful things I have seen at the various studj have all been +executed for English, German, and Russian noblemen. The names I heard +most frequently were those of the Dukes of Bedford and Devonshire, +Prince Esterhazy, and the King of England. + +Canova has been accused of a want of simplicity, and of giving a too +voluptuous expression to some of his figures: with all my admiration +of his genius, I confess the censure just. It is particularly +observable in the Clori svegliata (the Nymph awakened by Love), the +Cupid and Psyche, for Prince Yousouppoff, the Endymion, the Graces, +and some others. + +In some of Thorwaldson's works there is exquisite grace, simplicity, +and expression: the Shepherd Boy, the Adonis, the Jason, and the Hebe, +have a great deal of antique spirit. I did not like the colossal +Christ which the sculptor has just finished in clay: it is a proof +that bulk alone does not constitute sublimity: it is deficient in +dignity, or rather in _divinity_. + +At Rodolf Schadow's, I was most pleased by the Cupid and the +Filatrice. His Cupid is certainly the most beautiful Cupid I ever saw, +superior, I think, both to Canova's and to Thorwaldson's. The +Filatrice, though so exquisitely natural and graceful, a little +disappointed me; I had heard much of it, and had formed in my own +imagination an idea different and superior to what I saw. This +beautiful figure has repose, simplicity, nature, and grace, but I felt +a _want_--the want of some internal sentiment: for instance, if, +instead of watching the rotation of her spindle with such industrious +attention, the Filatrice had looked careless, or absent, or pensive, +or disconsolate, (like Faust's Margaret at her spinning-wheel,) she +would have been more interesting--but not perhaps what the sculptor +intended to represent. + +Schadow is ill, but we were admitted by his order into his private +study; we saw there the Bacchante, which he has just finished in clay, +and which is to emulate or rival Canova's Dansatrice. He has been at +work upon a small but beautiful figure of a piping Shepherd-boy, which +is just made out: beside it lay Virgil's Eclogues, and his spectacles +were between the leaves.[J] + +Almost every thing I saw at Max Laboureur's struck me as vapid and +finikin. There were some pretty groups, but nothing to tempt me to +visit it again. + + * * * * * + +30.--We spent the whole morning at the Villa Albani, where there is a +superb collection of antique marbles, most of them brought from the +Villa of Adrian at Tivoli. To note down even a few of the objects +which pleased me would be an endless task. I think the busts +interested me most. There is a basso-relievo of Antinous--the +beautiful head declined in his usual pensive attitude: it is the most +finished and faultless piece of sculpture in relievo I ever saw; and +as perfect and as polished as if it came from the chisel yesterday. +There is another basso-relievo of Marcus Aurelius, and Faustina, equal +to the last in execution, but not in interest. + +We found Rogers in the gardens: the old poet was sunning +himself--walking up and down a beautiful marble portico, lined with +works of art, with his note-book in his hand. I am told he is now +writing a poem of which Italy is the subject; and here, with all the +Campagna di Roma spread out before him--above him, the sunshine and +the cloudless skies--and all around him, the remains of antiquity in a +thousand elegant, or venerable, or fanciful forms: he could not have +chosen a more genial spot for inspiration. Though we disturbed his +poetical reveries rather abruptly, he met us with his usual amiable +courtesy, and conversed most delightfully. I never knew him more +pleasant, and never saw him so animated. + +Our departure from Rome has been postponed from day to day in +consequence of a _trifling_ accident. An Austrian colonel was taken by +the banditti near Fondi, and carried up into the mountains: ten +thousand scudi were demanded for his ransom; and for many days past, +the whole city has been in a state of agitation and suspense about his +ultimate fate. The Austrians, roused by the insult, sent a large body +of troops (some say three thousand men) against about one hundred and +fifty robbers, threatening to exterminate them. They were pursued so +closely, that after dragging their unfortunate captive over the +mountains from one fastness to another, till he was nearly dead from +exhaustion and ill-treatment, they either abandoned or surrendered him +without terms. The troops immediately marched back to Naples, and the +matter rests here: I cannot learn that any thing farther will be done. +The robbers being at present panic-struck by such unusual energy and +activity, and driven from their accustomed haunts, by these valorous +champions of good order and good policy, it is considered that the +road is now more open and safe than it has been for some time, and if +nothing new happens to alarm us, we set off on Friday next. + +I visited to-day the baths of Dioclesian, and the noble church which +Michel Angelo has constructed upon, and out of, their gigantic ruins. +It has all that grand simplicity, that _entireness_ which +characterizes his works: it contains, too, some admirable pictures. On +leaving the church, I saw on each side of the door, the monuments of +Salvator Rosa and Carlo Maratti--what a contrast do they exhibit in +their genius, in their works, in their characters, in their +countenances, in their lives! Near this church (the Santa Maria dei +Angeli) is the superb fountain of the Acqua Felice, the first view of +which rather disappointed me. I had been told that it represented +Moses striking the rock,--a magnificent idea for a fountain! but the +execution falls short of the conception. The water, instead of gushing +from the rock, is poured out from the mouths of two prodigious lions +of basalt, brought, I believe, from Upper Egypt: they seem misplaced +here. A little beyond the Ponta Pia is the Campo Scelerato, where the +Vestals were interred alive. We afterwards drove to the Santi Apostoli +to see the tomb of the excellent Ganganelli, by Canova. Then to Sant' +Ignazio, to see the famous ceiling painted in perspective by the +jesuit Pozzo. The effect is certainly marvellous, making the interior +appear to the eye, at least twice the height it really is; but though +the illusion pleased me as a work of art, I thought the trickery +unnecessary and misplaced. At the magnificent church of the Gesuiti +(where there are two entire columns of giallo antico) I saw a list of +relics for which the church is celebrated, and whose efficacy and +sanctity were vouched for by a very respectable catalogue of miracles. +Among these relics there are a few worth mentioning for their oddity, +viz. one of the Virgin's _shifts_, three of her hairs, and the skirt +of Joseph's coat. + + * * * * * + +31.--We spent nearly the whole day in the gallery of the Vatican, and +in the Pauline and Sistine chapels. + +_February 1st, at Valletri._--I left Rome this morning exceedingly +depressed: Madame de Stael may well call travelling _un triste +plaisir_. My depression did not arise from the feeling that I left +behind me any thing or any person to regret, but from mixed and +melancholy emotions, and partly perhaps from that weakness which makes +my hand tremble while I write--which has bound down my mind, and all +its best powers, and all its faculties of enjoyment, to a languid +passiveness, making me feel at every moment, I am not what I was, or +ought to be, or might have been. + +We arrived, after a short and most delightful journey by Albano, the +Lake Nemi, Gensao, etc. at Velletri, the birth-place of that wretch +Octavius, and famous for its wine. The day has been as soft and as +sunny as a May-day in England, and the country, through which we +travelled but too rapidly, beyond description lovely. The blue +Mediterranean spread far to the west, and on the right we had the +snowy mountains, with their wild fantastic peaks "rushing on the sky." +I felt it all in my heart with a mixture of sadness and delight which +I cannot express. + +This land was made by nature a paradise: it seems to want no charm, +"unborrowed from the eye,"--but how has memory sanctified, history +illustrated, and poetry illumined the scenes around us; where every +rivulet had its attendant nymph, where every wood was protected by its +sylvan divinity; where every tower has its tale of heroism, and "not a +mountain lifts its head unsung;" and though the faith, the glory, and +the power of the antique time be passed away--still + + A spirit hangs, + Beautiful region! o'er thy towns and farms, + Statues and temples, and memorial tombs. + +I can allow that one-half, at least, of the beauty and interest we +see, lies in our own souls; that it is our own enthusiasm which sheds +this mantle of light over all we behold: but, as colours do not exist +in the objects themselves, but in the rays which paint them--so beauty +is not less real, is not less BEAUTY, because it exists in +the medium through which we view certain objects, rather than in those +objects themselves. I have met persons who think they display a vast +deal of common sense, and very uncommon strength of mind, in rising +superior to all prejudices of education and illusions of romance--to +whom enthusiasm is only another name for affectation--who, where the +cultivated and the contemplative mind finds ample matter to excite +feeling and reflection, give themselves airs of fashionable +_nonchalance_, or flippant scorn--to whom the crumbling ruin is so +much brick and mortar, no more--to whom the tomb of the Horatii and +Curiatii is a _stack of chimneys_, the Pantheon _an old oven_, and the +Fountain of Egeria a _pig-sty_. Are such persons aware that in all +this there is an affectation, a thousand times more gross and +contemptible, than that affectation (too frequent perhaps) which they +design to ridicule? + + "Whose mind is but the mind of his own eyes, + He is a slave--the meanest we can meet." + +2.--Our journey to-day has been long, but delightfully diversified, +and abounding in classical beauty and interest. I scarce know what to +say, now that I open my little book to record my own sensations: they +are so many, so various, so painful, so delicious--my senses and my +imagination have been so enchanted, my heart so very heavy--where +shall I begin? + +In some of the scenes of to-day--at Terracina, particularly, there was +beauty beyond what I ever beheld or imagined: the scenery of +Switzerland is of a different character, and on a different scale: it +is beyond comparison grander, more gigantic, more overpowering, but it +is not so poetical. Switzerland is not Italy--is not the enchanting +_south_. This soft balmy air, these myrtles, orange-groves, +palm-trees; these cloudless skies, this bright blue sea, and sunny +hills, all breathe of an enchanted land; "a land of Faery." + +Between Velletri and Terracina the road runs in one undeviating line +through the Pontine Marshes. The accounts we have of the baneful +effects of the malaria here, and the absolute solitude, (not a human +face or a human habitation intervening from one post-house to +another,) invest the wild landscape with a frightful and peculiar +character of desolation. As for the mere exterior of the country, I +have seen more wretched and sterile looking spots, (in France, for +instance,) but none that so affected the imagination and the spirits. +On leaving the Pontine Marshes, we came almost suddenly upon the sunny +and luxuriant region near Terracina: here was the ancient city of +Anxur; and the gothic ruins of the castle of Theodoric, which frown on +the steep above, are contrasted with the delicate and Grecian +proportions of the temple below. All the country round is famed in +classic and poetic lore. The Promontory (once poetically the _island_) +of Circe is still the Monte Circello: here was the region of the +Lestrygons, and the scene of part of the AEneid and Odyssey; and +Corinne has superadded romantic and charming associations quite as +delightful, and quite as _true_. + +Antiquarians, who, like politicians, "seem to see the things that are +not," have placed all along this road, the sites of many a celebrated +town and fane--"making hue and cry after many a city which has run +away, and by certain marks and tokens pursuing to find it:" as some +old author says so quaintly. At every hundred yards, fragments of +masonry are seen by the road-side; portions of brickwork, sometimes +traced at the bottom of a dry ditch, or incorporated into a fence; +sometimes peeping above the myrtle bushes on the wild hills, where the +green lizards lie basking and glittering on them in thousands, and the +stupid ferocious buffalo, with his fierce red eyes, rubs his hide and +glares upon us as we pass. No--not the grandest monuments of Rome--not +the Coliseum itself, in all its decaying magnificence, ever inspired +me with such profound emotions as did those nameless, shapeless +vestiges of the dwellings of man, starting up like memorial tombs in +the midst of this savage but luxuriant wilderness. Of the beautiful +cities which rose along this lovely coast, the colonies of elegant and +polished Greece--one after another swallowed up by the "insatiate maw" +of ancient Rome, nothing remains--their sites, their very names have +passed away and perished. We might as well hunt after a forgotten +dream. + + Vain was the chief's, the sage's pride, + They had no POET, and they died! + In vain they toil'd, in vain they bled, + They had no POET--and are dead. + +I write this a Gaeta--a name famous in the poetical, the classical, +the military story of Italy, from the day of AEneas, from whom it +received its appellation, down to the annals of the late war. On the +site of our inn, (the Albergo di Cicerone,) stood Cicero's Formian +Villa; and in an adjoining grove he was murdered in his litter by the +satellites of the Triumviri, as he attempted to escape. I stood +to-night on a little terrace, which hung over an orange grove, and +enjoyed a scene which I would paint, if words were forms, and hues, +and sounds--not else. A beautiful bay, enclosed by the Mola di Gaeta, +on one side, and the Promontory of Misenum on the other: the sky +studded with stars and reflected in a sea as blue as itself--and so +glassy and unruffled, it seemed to slumber in the moonlight: now and +then the murmur of a wave, not hoarsely breaking on rock and shingles, +but kissing the turfy shore, where oranges and myrtles grew down to +the water edge. These, and the remembrances connected with all, and a +mind to think, and a heart to feel, and thoughts both of pain and +pleasure mingling to render the effect more deep and touching.--Why +should I write this? O surely I need not fear that I shall _forget_! + +LINES WRITTEN AT MOLA DI GAETA, NEAR THE RUINS OF CICERO'S FORMIAN +VILLA. + + We wandered through bright climes, and drank the beams + Of southern suns: Elysian scenes we view'd, + Such as we picture oft in those day dreams + That haunt the fancy in her wildest mood. + Upon the sea-heat vestiges we stood, + Where Cicero dwelt, and watch'd the latest gleams + Of rosy light steal o'er the azure flood: + And memory conjur'd up most glowing themes, + Filling the expanded heart, till it forgot + Its own peculiar grief!--O! if the dead + Yet haunt our earth, around this hallow'd spot, + Hovers sweet Tully's spirit, since it fled + The Roman Forum--Forum now no more! + Though cold and silent be the sands we tread, + Still burns the "eloquent air," and to the shore + There rolls no wave, and through the orange shade + There sighs no breath, which doth not speak of him, + THE FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY: and though dim + Her day of empire--and her laurel crown + Torn and defaced, and soiled with blood and tears, + And her imperial eagles trampled down-- + Still with a queen-like grace, Italia wears + Her garland of bright names,--her coronal of stars, + (Radiant memorials of departed worth!) + That shed a glory round her pensive brow, + And make her still the worship of the earth! + +_Naples. Sunday 3rd._--We left Gaeta early. If the scene was so +beautiful in the evening--how bright, how lovely it was this morning! +The sun had not long risen; and a soft purple mist hung over part of +the sea; while to the north and west the land and water sparkled and +glowed in the living light. Some little fishing boats which had just +put off, rocked upon the glassy sea, which lent them a gentle motion, +though itself appeared all mirror-like and motionless. The orange and +lemon trees in full foliage literally bent over the water; and it was +so warm at half past eight that I felt their shade a relief. + +After leaving Gaeta, the first place of note is or _was_ Minturnum, +where Marius was taken, concealed in the marshes near it. The marshes +remain, the city has disappeared. Capua is still a large town; but it +certainly does not keep up its ancient fame for luxury and good cheer: +for we found it extremely difficult to procure any thing to eat. The +next town is Avversa, a name unknown, I believe, in the classical +history of Italy: it was founded, if I remember rightly, by the Norman +knights. Near this place is or was the convent where Queen Joanna +strangled her husband Andrea, with a silken cord of her own weaving. +So says the story: _non lo credo io_. + +From Avversa to Naples the country is not interesting; but fertile and +rich beyond description: an endless succession of vineyards and orange +groves. At length we reached Naples; all tired and in a particularly +sober and serious mood: we remembered it was the Sabbath, and had +forgotten that it was the first day of the Carnival; and great was our +amazement at the scene which met us on our arrival-- + + I looked, I stared, I smiled, I laughed: and all + The weight of sadness was in wonder lost. + +The whole city seemed one vast puppet-show; and the noisy gaiety of +the crowded streets almost stunned me. One of the first objects we +encountered was a barouche full of Turks and Sultanas, driven by an +old woman in a tawdry court dress as coachman; while a merry-andrew +and a harlequin capered behind as footmen. Owing to the immense size +of the city, and the difficulty of making our way through the motley +throng of masks, beggars, lazzaroni, eating-stalls, carts and +carriages, we were nearly three hours traversing the streets before we +reached our inn on the Chiaja. + +I feel tired and over-excited: I have been standing on my balcony +looking out upon the moonlit bay, and listening to the mingled shouts, +the laughter, the music all around me; and thinking--till I feel in no +mood to write. + + * * * * * + +7.--Last night we visited the theatre of San Carlo. It did not strike +me as equal to the Scala at Milan. The form is not so fine, the extent +of the stage is, or appeared to be, less; but there is infinitely more +gilding and ornament; the mirrors and lights, the sky-blue draperies +produce a splendid effect, and the coup-d'oeil is, on the whole, +more gay, more theatre-like. It was crowded in every part, and many of +the audience were in dominos and fancy dresses: a few were masked. +Rossini's Barbiere di Seviglia, which contains, I think more _melody_ +than all his other operas put together, (the Tancredi perhaps +excepted,) was most enchantingly sung, and as admirably acted; and the +beautiful classical ballet of "Niobe and her Children," would have +appeared nothing short of perfection, had I not seen the Didone +Abbandonata at Milan. But they have no actress here like the graceful, +the expressive Pallerini; nor any actor equal to the AEneas of the +Scala. + + * * * * * + +The Austrians, who are paramount here, allow masks only twice a week, +Sundays and Thursdays. The people seem determined to indemnify +themselves for this restriction on their pleasures by every allowed +excess during the two days of merriment, which their despotic +conquerors have spared them. I am told by M** and S**, our Italian +friends, that the Carnival is now fallen off from its wild spirit of +fanciful gaiety; that it is stupid, dull, tasteless, in comparison to +what it was formerly, owing to the severity of the Austrian police. I +know nothing about the propriety of the measures which have been +resorted to for curbing the excesses of the Carnival: I think if +people _will_ run away instead of fighting for their national rights, +they must be content to suffer accordingly--but I meddle not with +politics, and with all my heart abhor them. Whatever the gaities of +the Carnival may have been formerly, it is scarce possible to conceive +a more fantastic, a more picturesque, a more laughable scene than the +Strada di Toledo exhibited to-day; the whole city seemed to wear "one +universal grin;" and such an incessant fire of sugar-plums (or what +seemed such) was carried on, and with such eagerness and mimic fury, +that when our carriage came out of the conflict, we all looked as if a +sack of flour had been shaken over us. The implements used in this +ridiculous warfare, are, for common purposes, little balls of plaster +of Paris and flour, made to resemble small comfits: friends and +acquaintances pelted each other with real confetti, and those of the +most delicious and expensive kinds. A double file of carriages moved +in a contrary direction along the Corso; a space in the middle and on +each side being left for horsemen and pedestrians, and the most exact +order was maintained by the guards and police; so that if by chance a +carriage lost its place in the line it was impossible to recover it, +and it was immediately obliged to leave the street, and re-enter by +one of the extremities. Besides the warfare carried on below, the +balconies on each side were crowded with people in gay or grotesque +dresses, who had _sacks_ of bon-bons before them, from which they +showered vollies upon those beneath, or aimed across the street at +each other: some of them filled their handkerchiefs, and then +dexterously loosening the corners, and taking a certain aim, flung a +volley at once. This was like a cannon loaded with grape-shot, and +never failed to do the most terrific execution. + +Among the splendid and fanciful equipages of the masqueraders, was +one, containing the Duke of Monteleone's family, in the form of a +ship, richly ornamented, and drawn by six horses mounted by masks for +postilions. The fore part of the vessel contained the Duke's party, +dressed in various gay costumes, as Tartar warriors and Indian queens. +In the stern were the servants and attendants, _travestied_ in the +most grotesque and ludicrous style. This magnificent and unwieldly car +had by some chance lost its place in the procession, and vainly +endeavoured to whip in; as it is a point of honour among the +charioteers not to yield the _pas_. Our coachman, however, was ordered +(though most unwilling) to draw up and make way for it; and this +little civility was acknowledged, not only by a profusion of bows, but +by such a shower of delicious sugar plums, that the seats of our +carriage were literally covered with them, and some of the gentlemen +flung into our laps elegant little baskets, fastened with ribbons, and +filled with exquisite sweetmeats. I could not enter into all this with +much spirit; "_non son io quel ch'un tempo fui:_" but I was an amused, +though a quiet spectator; and sometimes saw much more than those who +were actually engaged in the battle. I observed that to-day our +carriage became an object of attention, and a favourite point of +attack to several parties on foot, and in carriages; and I was at no +loss to discover the reason. I had with me a lovely girl, whose truly +English style of beauty, her brilliant bloom, heightened by her eager +animation, her lips dimpled with a thousand smiles, and her whole +countenance radiant with glee and mischievous archness, made her an +object of admiration, which the English expressed by a fixed stare, +and the Italians by sympathetic smiles, nods, and all the usual +superlatives of delight. Among our most potent and malignant +adversaries, was a troop of elegant masks in a long open carriage, the +form of which was totally concealed by the boughs of laurel, and +wreaths of artificial flowers, with which it was covered. It was drawn +by six fine horses, fancifully caparisoned, ornamented with plumes of +feathers, and led by grotesque masks. In the carriage stood twelve +persons in black silk dominos, black hats, and black masks; with +plumes of crimson feathers, and rich crimson sashes. They were armed +with small painted targets and tin tubes, from which they shot vollies +of confetti, in such quantities, and with such dexterous aim, that we +were almost overwhelmed whenever we passed them. It was in vain we +returned the compliment; our small shot rattled on their masks, or +bounded from their shields, producing only shouts of laughter at our +expense. + +A favourite style of mask here, is the dress of an English sailor, +straw hats, blue jackets, white trowsers, and very white masks with +pink cheeks: we saw hundreds in this whimsical costume. + +13.--On driving home rather late this evening, and leaving the noise, +the crowds, the confusion and festive folly of the Strada di Toledo, +we came suddenly upon a scene, which, from its beauty, no less than by +the force of contrast, strongly impressed my imagination. The shore +was silent, and almost solitary: the bay as smooth as a mirror, and as +still as a frozen lake; the sky, the sea, the mountains round were all +of the same hue, a soft grey tinged with violet, except where the +sunset had left a narrow crimson streak along the edge of the sea. +There was not a breeze, not the slightest breath of air, and a single +vessel, a frigate with all its white sails crowded, lay motionless as +a monument on the bosom of the waters, in which it was reflected as in +a mirror. I have seen the bay more splendidly beautiful; but I never +saw so peculiar, so lovely a picture. It lasted but a short time: the +transparent purple veil became a dusky pall, and night and shadow +gradually enveloped the whole.[K] + + + * * * * * + +How I love these resplendent skies and blue seas! Nature here seems to +celebrate a continual Festa, and to be for ever decked out in holiday +costume! A drive along the "_sempre beata Mergellina_" to the +extremity of the Promontory of Pausilippo is positive enchantment: +thence we looked over a landscape of such splendid and unequalled +interest! the shores of Baia, where Cicero, Horace, Virgil, Pliny, +Mecaenas, lived; the white towers of Puzzuoli and the Islands of +Ischia, Procida, and Nisida. There was the Sybil's Cave, Lake Acheron, +and the fabled Lethe; there the sepulchre of Misenus, who defied the +Triton; and the scene of the whole sixth book of the AEneid, which I am +now reading in Annibal Caro's translation: there Agrippina mourned +Germanicus; and there her daughter fell a victim to her monster of a +son. At our feet lay the lovely little Island of Nisida, the spot on +which Brutus and Portia parted for the last time before the battle of +Philippi. + +To the south of the bay the scenery is not less magnificent, and +scarcely less dear to memory: Naples, rising from the sea like an +amphitheatre of white palaces, and towers, and glittering domes: +beyond, Mount Vesuvius, with the smoke curling from its summits like a +silver cloud, and forming the only speck upon the intense blue sky; +along its base Portici, Annunziata, Torre del Greco, glitter in the +sun; every white building--almost every window in every building, +distinct to the eye at the distance of several miles: farther on, and +perched like white nests on the mountainous promontory, lie Castel a +Mare, and Sorrento, the birth-place of Tasso, and his asylum when the +injuries of his cold-hearted persecutors had stung him to madness, and +drove him here for refuge to the arms of his sister. Yet, farther on, +Capua rises from the sea, a beautiful object in itself, but from which +the fancy gladly turns to dwell again upon the snowy buildings of +Sorrento. + + "O de la liberte vieille et sainte patrie! + Terre autrefois feconde en sublimes vertus! + Sous d'indignes Cesars maintenant asservie + Ton empire est tombe! tes heros ne sont plus! + Mais dans son sein l'ame aggrandie + Croit sur leurs monumens respirer leur genie, + Comme on respire encore dans un temple aboli + La Majeste du Dieu dont il etait rempli." + + DE LA MARTINE. + +THE SONG OF THE SYREN PARTHENOPE. + +A RHAPSODY, + +WRITTEN AT NAPLES. + + Mine are these waves, and mine the twilight depths + O'er which they roll, and all these tufted isles + That lift their backs like dolphins from the deep, + And all these sunny shores that gird us round! + + Listen! O listen to the Sea-maid's shell! + Ye who have wander'd hither from far climes, + (Where the coy summer yields but half her sweets,) + To breathe my bland luxurious airs, and drink + My sunbeams! and to revel in a land + Where Nature--deck'd out like a bride to meet + Her lover--lays forth all her charms, and smiles + Languidly bright, voluptuously gay, + Sweet to the sense, and tender to the heart. + + Listen! O listen to the Sea-maid's shell; + Ye who have fled your natal shores in hate + Or anger, urged by pale disease, or want, + Or grief, that clinging like the spectre bat, + Sucks drop by drop the life-blood from the heart, + And hither come to learn forgetfulness, + Or to prolong existence! ye shall find + Both--though the spring Lethean flow no more, + There is a power in these entrancing skies + And murmuring waters and delicious airs, + Felt in the dancing spirits and the blood, + And falling on the lacerated heart + Like balm, until that life becomes a boon, + Which elsewhere is a burthen and a curse. + + Hear then--O hear the Sea-maid's airy shell, + Listen, O listen! 'tis the Syren sings, + The spirit of the deep--Parthenope-- + She who did once i' the dreamy days of old + Sport on these golden sands beneath the moon, + Or pour'd the ravishing music of her song + Over the silent waters; and bequeath'd + To all these sunny capes and dazzling shores + Her own immortal beauty, and her _name_. + + * * * * * + +This is the last day of the Carnival, the last night of the opera; the +people are permitted to go in masks, and after the performances there +will be a ball. To-day, when Baldi was describing the excesses which +usually take place during the last few hours of the Carnival, he said, +"the man who has but half a shirt will pawn it to-night to buy a good +supper and an opera-ticket: to-morrow for fish and soup-maigre--fasting +and repentance!" + + * * * * * + +_Saturday, 23._--I have just seen a most magnificent sight; one which +I have often dreamed of, often longed to behold, and having beheld, +never shall forget. Mount Vesuvius is at this moment blazing like a +huge furnace; throwing up every minute, or half minute, columns of +fire and red-hot stones, which fall in showers and bound down the side +of the mountain. On the east, there are two distinct streams of lava +descending, which glow with almost a white heat, and every burst of +flame is accompanied by a sound resembling cannon at a distance.-- + +I can hardly write, my mind is so overflowing with astonishment, +admiration, and sublime pleasure: what a scene as I looked out on the +bay from the Sante Lucia! On one side, the evening star and the +thread-like crescent of the new moon were setting together over +Pausilippo, reflected in lines of silver radiance on the blue sea; on +the other the broad train of fierce red light glared upon the water +with a fitful splendour, as the explosions were more or less violent: +before me all was so soft, so lovely, so tranquil! while I had only to +turn my head to be awe-struck by the convulsion of fighting elements. + +I remember, that on our first arrival at Naples, I was disappointed +because Vesuvius did not smoke so much as I had been led to expect +from pictures and descriptions. The smoke then lay like a scarcely +perceptible cloud on the highest point, or rose in a slender white +column; to-day and yesterday, it has rolled from the crater in black +volumes, mixing with the clouds above, and darkening the sky. + +_Half-past twelve._--I have walked out again: the blaze from the +crater is less vivid; but there are now four streams of lava issuing +from it, which have united in two broad currents, one of which extends +below the hermitage. It is probable that by to-morrow night it will +have reached the lower part of the mountain. + +_Sunday, 24._--Just returned from chapel at the English ambassador's, +where the service was read by a dandy clergyman to a crowd of fine and +superfine ladies and gentlemen, crushed together into a hot room. I +never saw extravagance in dress carried to such a pitch as it is by my +countrywomen here,--whether they dress at the men or against each +other, it is equally bad taste. The sermon to-day was very +appropriate, from the text, "_Take ye no thought what ye shall eat, or +what ye shall drink, or what ye shall put on_," and, I dare say, it +was listened to with singular edification. + +_5 o'clock._--We have been driving along the Strada Nuova in L**'s +britschka, whence we had a fine view of Vesuvius. There are tremendous +bursts of smoke from the crater. At one time the whole mountain, down +to the very base, was almost enveloped, and the atmosphere round it +loaded with the vapour, which seemed to issue in volumes half as +large as the mountain itself. If horses are to be had we go up +to-night. + +_Monday night._--I am not in a humour to describe, or give way to any +poetical flights, but I must endeavour to give a faithful, sober, and +circumstantial account of our last night's expedition, while the +impression is yet fresh on my mind; though there is, I think, little +danger of my forgetting. We procured horses, which, from the number of +persons proceeding on the same errand with ourselves, was a matter of +some difficulty. We set out at seven in the evening in an open +carriage, and almost the whole way we had the mountain before us, +spouting fire to a prodigious height. The road was crowded with groups +of people who had come out from the city and environs to take a nearer +view of the magnificent spectacle, and numbers were hurrying to and +fro in those little flying _corricoli_ which are peculiar to Naples. +As we approached, the explosions became more and more vivid, and at +every tremendous burst of fire our friend L** jumped half off his +seat, making most loud and characteristic exclamations,--"By Jove! a +magnificent fellow! now for it, whizz! there he goes, sky high, by +George!" The rest of the party were equally enthusiastic in a +different style; and I sat silent and quiet from absolute inability to +express what I felt. I was almost breathless with wonder, and +excitement, and impatience to be nearer the scene of action. While my +eyes were fixed on the mountain, my attention was, from time to time, +excited by regular rows of small shining lights, six or eight in +number, creeping, as it seemed, along the edge of the stream of lava; +and, when contrasted with the red blaze which rose behind, and the +gigantic black back-ground, looking like a procession of glowworms. +These were the torches of travellers ascending the mountain, and I +longed to be one of them. + +We reached Resina a little before nine, and alighted from the +carriage; the ascent being so rugged and dangerous, that only asses +and mules accustomed to the road are used. Two only were in waiting at +the moment we arrived, which L** immediately secured for me and +himself; and though reluctant to proceed without the rest of the +party, we were compelled to go on before, that we might not lose time, +or hazard the loss of our _monture_. We set off then, each with two +attendants, a man to lead our animals and a torch-bearer. The road, as +we ascended, became more and more steep at every step, being over a +stream of lava, intermixed with stones and ashes, and the darkness +added to the difficulty. But how shall I describe the scene and the +people who surrounded us; the landscape partially lighted by a fearful +red glare, the precipitous and winding road bordered by wild looking +gigantic aloes, projecting their huge spear-like leaves almost across +our path, and our lazzaroni attendants with their shrill shouts, and +strange dresses, and wild jargon, and striking features, and dark +eyes flashing in the gleam of the torches, which they flung round +their heads to prevent their being extinguished, formed a scene so +new, so extraordinary, so like romance, that my attention was +frequently drawn from the mountain, though blazing in all its +tumultuous magnificence. + +The explosions succeeded each other with terrific rapidity about two +in every three minutes; and the noise I can only compare to the +roaring and hissing of ten thousand imprisoned winds, mingled at times +with a rumbling sound like artillery, or distant thunder. It +frequently happened that the guides, in dashing their torches against +the ground, set fire to the dried thorns and withered grass, and the +blaze ran along the earth like wildfire, to the great alarm of poor +L**, who saw in every burning bush a stream of lava rushing to +overwhelm us. + +Before eleven o'clock we reached the Hermitage, situated between +Vesuvius and the Somma, and the highest habitation on the mountain. A +great number of men were assembled within, and guides, lazzaroni, +servants, and soldiers, were lounging round. I alighted, for I was +benumbed and tired, but did not like to venture among those people, +and it was proposed that we should wait for the rest of our party a +little further on. We accordingly left our donkeys and walked forward +upon a kind of high ridge which serves to fortify the Hermitage and +its environs against the lava. From this path, as we slowly ascended, +we had a glorious view of the eruption; and the whole scene around us, +in its romantic interest and terrible magnificence, mocked all power +of description. There were, at this time, five distinct torrents of +lava rolling down like streams of molten lead; one of which extended +above two miles below us and was flowing towards Portici. The showers +of red-hot stones flew up like thousands of sky rockets: many of them +being shot up perpendicularly fell back into the crater, others +falling on the outside bounded down the side of the mountain with a +velocity which would have distanced a horse at full speed: these +stones were of every size, from two to ten or twelve feet in diameter. + +My ears were by this time wearied and stunned by the unceasing roaring +and hissing of the flames, while my eyes were dazzled by the glare of +the red, fierce light: now and then I turned them for relief to other +features of the picture, to the black shadowy masses of the landscape +stretched beneath us, and speckled with shining lights, which showed +how many were up and watching that night; and often to the calm +vaulted sky above our heads, where thousands of stars (not twinkling +as through our hazy or frosty atmosphere, but shining out of "heaven's +profoundest azure," with that soft steady brilliance peculiar to a +highly rarified medium) looked down upon this frightful turmoil in all +their bright and placid loveliness. Nor should I forget one other +feature of a scene, on which I looked with a painter's eye. Great +numbers of the Austrian forces, now occupying Naples, were on the +mountains, assembled in groups, some standing, some sitting, some +stretched on the ground and wrapped in their cloaks, in various +attitudes of amazement and admiration: and as the shadowy glare fell +on their tall martial figures and glittering accoutrements, I thought +I had never beheld any thing so wildly picturesque. + +The remainder of our party not yet appearing, we sent back for our +asses and guides, and determined to proceed. About half a mile beyond, +our companions came up, and here a division took place; some agreeing +to go forward, the rest turning back to wait at the Hermitage. I was +of course one of those who advanced. My spirits were again raised, and +the grand object of all this daring and anxiety was to approach near +enough to a stream of lava to have some idea of its consistency, and +the manner in which it flowed, or trickled down. The difficulties of +our road now increased, "if _road_ that might be called, which road +was none," but black loose ashes, and masses of scoria and lava heaped +in ridges, or broken into hollows in a manner not to be described. +Even my animal, though used to the path, felt his footing at every +step, and if the torch was by accident extinguished, he stopped, and +nothing could make him move. My guide, Andrea, was very vigilant and +attentive, and, in the few words of Italian he knew, encouraged me, +and assured me there was no danger. I had, however, no fear: in fact, +I was infinitely too much interested to have been alive to danger, had +it really existed. Salvador, well known to all who have visited Mount +Vesuvius, had been engaged by Mr. R. as his guide. He is the principal +cicerone on the mountain. It is his business to despatch to the king +every three hours, a regular account of the height of the eruption, +the progress, extent, and direction of the lava, and, in short, the +most minute particulars. He also corresponds, as he assured me, with +Sir Humphry Davy;[L] and is employed to inform him of every +interesting phenomenon which takes place on the mountain. This man has +resided at the foot of it, and been principal guide, for thirty-three +years, and knows every inch of its territory. + +As the lava had overflowed the usual footpath leading to that conical +eminence which forms the summit of the mountain and the exterior of +the crater, we were obliged to alight from our sagacious steeds; and, +trusting to our feet, walked over the ashes for about a quarter of a +mile. The path, or the ground rather, for there was no path, was now +dangerous to the inexperienced foot; and Salvador gallantly took me +under his peculiar care. He led me on before the rest, and I followed +with confidence. Our object was to reach the edge of a stream of +lava, formed of two currents united in a point. It was glowing with an +intense heat; and flowing, not with such rapidity as to alarm us, but +rather slowly, and by fits and starts. _Trickling_, in short, is the +word which expresses its motion: if one can fancy it applied to any +object on so large a scale. + +At this time the eruption was at its extreme height. The column of +fire was from a quarter to a third of a mile high; and the stones were +thrown up to the height of a mile and a quarter. I passed close to a +rock about four feet in diameter, which had rolled down some time +before: it was still red-hot, and I stopped to warm my hands at it. At +a short distance from it lay another stone or rock, also red-hot, but +six times the size. I walked on first with Salvador, till we were +within a few yards of the lava--at this moment a prodigious stone, +followed by two or three smaller ones, came rolling down upon us with +terrific velocity. The gentlemen and guides all ran; my first impulse +was to run too; but Salvador called on me to stop and see what +direction the stone would take. I saw the reason of this advice, and +stopped. In less than a second he seized my arm and hurried me back +five or six yards. I heard the whizzing sound of the stone as it +rushed down behind me. A little further on it met with an impediment, +against which it bolted with such force, that it flew up into the air +to a great height, and fell in a shower of red-hot fragments. All this +passed in a moment; I have shuddered since when I thought of that +moment; but at the time, I saw the danger without the slightest +sensation of terror. I remember the ridiculous figures of the men, as +they scrambled over the ridges of scoria; and was struck by Salvador's +exclamation, who shouted to them in a tone which would have become +Caesar himself,--"Che tema!--Sono Salvador!"[M] + +We did not attempt to turn back again: which I should have done +without any hesitation if any one had proposed it. To have come thus +far, and be so near the object I had in view, and then to run away at +the first alarm! It was a little provoking. The road was extremely +dangerous in the descent. I was obliged to walk part of the way, as +the guides advised, and but for Salvador, and the interesting +information he gave me from time to time, I think I should have been +overpowered. He amused and fixed my attention, by his intelligent +conversation, his assiduity, and solicitude for my comfort, and the +_naivete_ and self-complacency with which his information was +conveyed. He told me he had visited Mount AEtna (_en amateur_) during +the last great eruption of that mountain, and acknowledged with +laudable candour, that Vesuvius, in its grandest moments, was a mere +bonfire in comparison: the whole cone of Vesuvius, he said, was not +larger than some of the masses of rock he had seen whirled from the +crater of Mount AEtna, and rolling down its sides. He frequently made +me stop and look back: and here I should observe that our guides +seemed as proud of the performances of the mountain, and as anxious to +show it off to the best advantage, as the keeper of a menagerie is of +the tricks of his dancing bear, or the proprietor of "Solomon in all +his glory" of his raree-show. Their enthusiastic shouts and +exclamations would have kept up my interest had it flagged. "O veda, +Signora! O bella! O stupenda!" The last great burst of fire was +accompanied by a fresh overflow of lava, which issued from the crater, +on the west side, in two broad streams, and united a few hundred feet +below, taking the direction of Torre del Greco. After this explosion +the eruption subsided, and the mountain seemed to repose: now and then +showers of stones flew up, but to no great height, and unaccompanied +by any vivid flames. There was a dull red light over the mouth of the +crater, round which the smoke rolled in dense tumultuous volumes, and +then blew off towards the south-west. + +After a slow and difficult descent we reached the Hermitage. I was so +exhausted that I was glad to rest for a few minutes. My good friend +Salvador brought me a glass of _Lachryma Christi_ and the leg of a +chicken; and with recruited spirits we mounted our animals and again +started. + +The descent was infinitely more slow and difficult than the ascent, +and much more trying to the nerves. I had not Salvador at my side, nor +the mountain before me, to beguile me from my fears; at length I +prevailed on one of our attendants, a fine tall figure of a man, to +sing to me; and though he had been up the mountain _six_ times in the +course of the day, he sang delightfully and with great spirit and +expression, as he strided along with his hand upon my bridle, +accompanied by a magnificent rumbling bass from the mountain, which +every now and then drowned the melody of his voice, and made me start. +It was past three when we reached Resina, and nearly five when we got +home: yet I rose this morning at my usual hour, and do not feel much +fatigued. About twelve to-day I saw Mount Vesuvius, looking as quiet +and placid as the first time I viewed it. There was little smoke, and +neither the glowing lava nor the flames were visible in the glare of +the sunshine. The atmosphere was perfectly clear, and as I gazed, +almost misdoubting my senses, I could scarcely believe in the reality +of the tremendous scene I had witnessed but a few hours before. + +26.--The eruption burst forth again to-day, and is exceedingly grand; +though not equal to what it was on Sunday night. The smoke rises from +the crater in dense black masses, and the wind having veered a few +points to the southward, it is now driven in the direction of Naples. +At the moment I write this, the skies are obscured by rolling vapours, +and the sun, which is now setting just opposite to Vesuvius, shines, +as I have seen him through a London mist, red, and shorn of his beams. +The sea is angry and discoloured; the day most oppressively sultry, +and the atmosphere thick, sulphureous, and loaded with an almost +impalpable dust, which falls on the paper as I write. + +_March 4._--We have had delicious weather almost ever since we arrived +at Naples, but these last three days have been perfectly heavenly. I +never saw or felt any thing like the enchantment of the earth, air, +and skies. The mountain has been perfectly still, the atmosphere +without a single cloud, the fresh verdure bursting forth all around +us, and every breeze visits the senses, as if laden with a renovating +spirit of life, and wafted from Elysium. Whoever would truly enjoy +nature, should see her in this delicious land: "ou la plus douce nuit +succede au plus beau jour;" for here she seems to keep holiday all the +year round. To stand upon my balcony, looking out upon the sunshine +and the glorious bay; the blue sea, and the pure skies--and to feel +that indefinite sensation of excitement, that _superflu de vie_, +quickening every pulse and thrilling through every nerve, is a +pleasure peculiar to this climate, where the mere consciousness of +existence is happiness enough. Then evening comes on, lighted by a +moon and starry heavens, whose softness, richness, and splendour, are +not to be conceived by those who have lived always in the vapoury +atmosphere of England--dear England! I love, like an Englishwoman, its +fireside enjoyments, and home-felt delights: an English drawing-room, +with all its luxurious comforts--carpets and hearth-rugs, curtains let +down, sofas wheeled round, and a group of family faces round a blazing +fire, is a delightful picture; but for the languid frame, and the sick +heart, give me this pure elastic air, "redolent of spring;" this +reviving sunshine and all the witchery of these deep blue skies!-- + + * * * * * + +Numbers of people set off post-haste from Rome to see the eruption of +Mount Vesuvius, and arrived here Wednesday and Thursday; just time +enough to be too late. Among them our Roman friend Frattino, who has +afforded me more amusement than all our other acquaintance together, +and deserves a niche in my gallery of characters. + +Frattino is a young Englishman, who, if he were in England, would +probably be pursuing his studies at Eton or Oxford, for he is scarce +past the age of boyhood; but having been abroad since he was twelve +years old, and early plunged into active and dissipated life, he is an +accomplished man of fashion, and of the world, with as many airs and +caprices as a spoiled child. He is by far the most _beautiful_ +creature of his sex I ever saw; so like the Antinous, that at Rome he +went by that name. The exquisite regularity of his features, the +graceful air of his head, his _antique_ curls, the faultless +proportions of his elegant figure, make him a _thing_ to be gazed on, +as one looks at a statue. Then he possesses talents, wit, taste, and +information: the most polished and captivating manners, where he +wishes to attract,--high honour and generosity, where women are not +concerned,--and all the advantages attending on rank and wealth: but +under this fascinating exterior, I suspect our Frattino to be a very +worthless, as well as a very unhappy being. While he pleases, he +repels me. There is a want of heart about him, a want of fixed +principles--a degree of profligacy, of selfishness, of fickleness, +caprice and ill-temper, and an excess of vanity, which all his courtly +address and _savoir faire_ cannot hide. What would be insufferable in +another, is in him bearable, and even interesting and amusing: such is +the charm of manner. But all this cannot last: and I should not be +surprised to see Frattino, a few years hence, emerge from his foreign +frippery, throw aside his libertine folly, assume his seat in the +senate, and his rank in British society; and be the very character he +now affects to despise and ridicule--"a true-bred Englishman, who +rides a thorough-bred horse." + + * * * * * + +Our excursion to Pompeii yesterday was "a pic-nic party of pleasure," +_a l'Anglaise_. Now a party of pleasure is proverbially a _bore_: and +our expedition was in the beginning so unpromising, so mismanaged--our +party so numerous, and composed of such a heterogeneous mixture of +opposite tempers, tastes, and characters, that I was in pain for the +result. The day, however, turned out more pleasant than I expected: +exterior polish supplied the want of something better, and our +excursion had its pleasures, though they were not such as I should +have sought at Pompeii. I felt myself a simple _unit_ among many, and +found it easier to sympathise with others, than to make a dozen others +sympathise with me. + +We were twelve in number, distributed in three light barouches, and +reached Pompeii in about two hours and a half--passing by the foot of +Vesuvius, through Portici, Torre del Greco, and l'Annonziata. The +streams of lava, which overwhelmed Torre del Greco in 1794, are still +black and barren; but the town itself is rising from its ruins; and +the very lava which destroyed it serves as the material to rebuild it. + +We entered Pompeii by the street of the tombs: near them are the +semicircular seats, so admirably adapted for conversation, that I +wonder we have not sofas on a similar plan, and similar scale. I need +not dwell on particulars, which are to be found in every book of +travels: on the whole, my expectations were surpassed, though my +curiosity was not half gratified. + +The most interesting thing I saw--in fact the only thing, for which +paintings and descriptions had not previously prepared me, was a +building which has been excavated within the last fortnight: it is +only partly laid open, and labourers are now at work upon it. +Antiquarians have not yet pronounced on its name and design; but I +should imagine it to be some public edifice, perhaps dedicated to +religious purposes. The paintings on the walls are the finest which +have yet been discovered: they are exquisitely and tastefully +designed; and though executed merely for _effect_, that effect is +beautiful. I remarked one female figure in the act of entering a +half-open door: she is represented with pencils and a palette of +colours in her hand, similar to those which artists now use: another +very graceful female holds a lyre of peculiar construction. These, I +presume, were two of the muses: the rest remained hidden. There were +two small pannels occupied by sea-pieces, with gallies; and two +charming landscapes, so well coloured, and drawn with such knowledge +of perspective and effect, that if we may form a comparative idea of +the best pictures, from the specimens of taste and skill in mere +house-painting, the ancients must have excelled us as much in painting +as in sculpture. I remarked on the wall of an entrance or corridor, a +dog starting at a wreathed and crested snake, vividly coloured, and +full of spirit and expression. While I lingered here a little behind +the rest, and most reluctant to depart, a ragged lazzarone boy came up +to me, and seizing my dress, pointed to a corner, and made signs that +he had something to show me. I followed him to a spot where a quantity +of dust and ashes was piled against a wall. He began to scratch away +this heap of dirt with hands and nails, much after the manner of an +ape, every now and then looking up in my face and grinning. The +impediment being cleared away, there appeared on the wall behind, a +most beautiful aerial figure with floating drapery, representing +either Fame or Victory: but before I had time to examine it, the +little rogue flung the earth up again so as to conceal it completely, +then pointing significantly at the other workmen, he nodded, shrugged, +gesticulated, and held out both his paws for a recompense, which I +gave him willingly; at the same time laughing and shaking my head to +show I understood his knavery. I rewarded him apparently beyond his +hopes, for he followed me down the street, bowing, grinning, and +cutting capers like a young savage. + +The streets of Pompeii are narrow, the houses are very small, and the +rooms, though often decorated with exquisite taste, are constructed +without any regard to what _we_ should term comfort and convenience; +they are dark, confined, and seldom communicate with each other, but +have a general communication with a portico, running round a central +court. This court is in general beautifully paved with mosaic, having +a fountain or basin in the middle, and possibly answered the purpose +of a drawing-room. It is evident that the ancient inhabitants of this +lovely country lived like their descendants mostly in the open air, +and met together in their public walks, or in the forums, and +theatres. If they _saw company_, the guests probably assembled under +the porticoes, or in the court round the fountain. The houses seem +constructed on the same principle as birds construct their nests; as +places of retreat and shelter, rather than of assemblage and +recreation: the grand object was to exclude the sunbeams; and this, +which gives such gloomy and chilling ideas in our northern climes, +must here have been delicious. + +Hurried on by a hungry, noisy, merry party, we at length reached the +Caserna (the ancient barracks, or as Forsyth will have it, the +praetorium). The central court of this building has been converted into +a garden: and here, under a weeping willow, our dinner table was +spread. Where Englishmen are, there will be good cheer if possible; +and our banquet was in truth most luxurious. Besides more substantial +cates, we had oysters from Lake Lucrine, and classically excellent +they were; London bottled porter, and half a dozen different kinds of +wine. Our dinner went off most gaily, but no order was kept +afterwards: the purpose of our expedition seemed to be forgotten in +general mirth: many witty things were said and done, and many merry +ones, and not a few silly ones. We visited the beautiful public walk +and the platform of the old temple of Hercules (I call it _old_, +because it was a ruin when Pompeii was entire); the Temple of Isis, +the Theatres, the Forum, the Basilica, the Amphitheatre, which is in a +perfect state of preservation, and more elliptical in form than any of +those I have yet seen, and the School of Eloquence, where R** mounted +the rostrum, and gave us an oration extempore, equally pithy, +classical and comical. About sunset we got into the carriages, and +returned to Naples. + +Of all the heavenly days we have had since we came to Naples, this has +been the most heavenly: and of all the lovely scenes I have beheld in +Italy, what I saw to-day has most enchanted my senses and imagination. +The view from the eminence on which the old temple stood, and which +was anciently the public promenade, was splendidly beautiful, the +whole landscape was at one time overflowed with light and sunshine, +and appeared as if seen through an impalpable but dazzling veil. +Towards evening the outlines became more distinct: the little white +towns perched upon the hills, the gentle sea, the fairy island of +Rivegliano with its old tower, the smoking crater of Vesuvius, the +bold forms of Mount Lactarius and Cape Minerva, stood out full and +clear under the cloudless sky: as we returned, I saw the sun sink +behind Capri, which appeared by some optical illusion like a glorious +crimson transparency suspended above the horizon: the sky, the earth, +the sea, were flushed with the richest rose colour, which gradually +softened and darkened into purple: the short twilight faded away, and +the full moon, rising over Vesuvius, lighted up the scenery with a +softer radiance. + +Thus ended a day which was not without its pleasures:--yet had I +planned a party of pleasure to Pompeii, methinks I could have managed +better. _Par exemple_, I would have deferred it a fortnight later, or +till the vines were in leaf; I would have chosen for my companions two +or at most three persons whom I could name, whose cultivated minds and +happy tempers would have heightened their own enjoyment and mine. +After spending a few hours in taking a general view of the whole city, +we would have sat down on the platform of the old Greek Temple which +commands a view of the mountains and the bay; or, if the heat were too +powerful, under the shade of the hill near it. There we would make our +cheerful and elegant repast, on bread and fruits, and perhaps a bottle +of Malvoisie or Champagne: the rest of the day should be devoted to a +minute examination of the principal objects of interest and curiosity: +we would wait till the shadows of evening had begun to steal over the +scene, purpling the mountains and the sea; we would linger there to +enjoy all the splendours of an Italian sunset; and then, with minds +softened and elevated by the loveliness and solemnity of the scenes +around, we would get into our carriage, and drive back to Naples +beneath the bright full moon; and, by the way, we would "talk the +flowing heart," and make our recollections of the olden time, our deep +impressions of the past, heighten our enjoyment of the present: and +this would be indeed a day of _pleasure_, of such pleasure as I think +I am capable of feeling--of imparting--of remembering with unmixed +delight. Such was _not_ yesterday. + + * * * * * + +M** brought with him this evening, for our amusement, an old man, a +native of Cento, who gains his livelihood by a curious exhibition of +his peculiar talents. He is blind, and plays well on the violin: he +can recite the whole of the Gerusalemme from beginning to end without +missing a word: he can repeat any given stanza or number of stanzas +either forwards or backwards: he can repeat the last words one after +another of any stanzas: if you give him the first word and the last, +he can name immediately the particular line, stanza, and book: lastly, +he can tell instantly the exact number of words contained in any given +stanza. This exhibition was at first amusing; but as I soon found that +the man's head was a mere machine, that he was destitute of +imagination, and that far from feeling the beauty of the poet, he did +not even understand the meaning of the lines he thus repeated up and +down, and backwards and forwards, it ceased to interest me after the +first sensations of surprise and curiosity were over. + + * * * * * + +After I had read Italian with Signior B** this evening, he amused me +exceedingly by detailing to me the plan of two tragedies he is now +writing or about to write. He has already produced one piece on the +story of Boadicea, which is rather a drama than a regular tragedy. It +was acted here with great success. After giving his drama due praise, +I described to him the plan and characters of Fletcher's Bonduca; and +attempted to give him in Italian some idea of the most striking scenes +of that admirable play: he was alternately in enchantment and despair, +and I thought he would have torn and bitten his Boadicea to pieces, in +the excess of his vivacity. + +The subject of one of his tragedies is to be the Sicilian Vespers. +Casimir Delavigne, who wrote _Les Vepres Siciliennes_, which obtained +some years ago such amazing popularity at Paris, and in which the +national vanity of the French is flattered at the expense of the +Italians, received a pension from Louis XVIII. B** spoke with contempt +of Casimir Delavigne's tragedy, and with indignation of what he called +"his wilful misrepresentation of history." He is determined to give +the reverse of the picture: the French will be represented as "_gente +crudeli--tiranni--oppressori, senza fede_;" Giovanni di Procida, as a +hero and patriot, _a l'antique_, and the Sicilians as rising in defence +of their freedom and national honour. The other tragedy is to be +founded on the history of the famous _Congiura dei Baroni_ in the +reign of Ferdinand the First, as related by Giannone. The simple facts +of this history need not any ornaments, borrowed from invention or +poetry, to form a most interesting tale, and furnish ample materials +for a beautiful tragedy, in incident, characters, and situations. B** +is a little man, dwarfish and almost deformed in person; but full of +talent, spirit, and enthusiasm. I asked him why he did not immediately +finish these tragedies, which appeared from the sketches he had given +me, so admirably calculated to succeed. He replied, that under the +present regime, he dared not write up to his own conceptions; and if +he curbed his genius, he could do nothing; "Besides," added he +mournfully, "I have no time; I am poor--poverissimo! I must work hard +all to-day to supply the wants of to-morrow: I am always surveille by +the police, as a known liberal and _literato_." "_Davvero_," added he, +gaily, "I would soon do, or say, or write something to attract the +honour of their more particular notice, if I could be certain they +would only imprison me for a couple of years, and ensure me during +that time a blanket, bread and water, and the use of pen and ink: then +I would write! I would write! _dalla mattina alla sera_; and thank my +gaolers as my best friends: but pens are poignards, ink is poison in +the eyes of the present government; imprisonment for life, or +banishment, is the least I could expect. Now the mere idea of +imprisonment for life would kill me in a week, and banishment!--_Ah +lungi dalla mia bella Patria, come cantare! come scrivere! come +vivere! moriro io anzi nell' momento di partire!_" + + * * * * * + +I drove to-day, tete-a-tete with Laura, to the Lago d'Agnano, about a +mile and a half beyond Pausilippo. This lovely fair lake is not more +than two miles in circuit; and embosomed in romantic woody hills: +innumerable flocks of wild fowl were skimming over its surface, and +gave life and motion to the beautiful but quiet landscape. While we +were wandering here, enjoying the stillness and solitude, so +delightfully contrasted with the unceasing noise, bustle, and crowd of +the city, the charm was rudely broken by the appearance of the king; +who, attended by a numerous party of his guards and huntsmen, had been +wild boar shooting in the neighbouring woods. The waterfowl, scared by +the report of fire arms, speedily disappeared, and the guards shouted +to each other, and galloped round the smooth sloping banks; cutting up +the turf with their horses' hoofs, and deforming the whole scene with +uproar, confusion, and affright. Devoutly did I wish them all twenty +miles off. The famous Grotto del Cane is on the south bank of the +lake, a few yards from the edge of the water. We saw the torch, when +held in the vapour, instantaneously extinguished. The ground all +around the entrance of the grotto is hot to the touch; and when I +plunged my hand into the deleterious gas, which rises about a foot, or +a foot and a half, above the surface of the ground, it was so warm I +was glad to withdraw it. The disagreeable old woman who showed us this +place, brought with her a wretched dog with a rope round his neck, +bleared eyes, thin ribs, and altogether of a most pitiful aspect. She +was most anxious to exhibit the common but cruel experiment of +suspended animation, by holding his head over the mephitic vapour, +insisting that he was accustomed to it, and even liked it; of course, +we would not suffer it. The poor animal made no resistance; only +drooped his head, and put his tail between his legs, when his tyrant +attempted to seize him. + +Though now so soft, so lovely, and so tranquil, the Lago d'Agnano owes +its existence to some terrible convulsion of the elements. The basin +is the crater of a sunken volcano, which, bursting forth here, +swallowed up a whole city. And the whole region round, bears evident +marks of its volcanic origin. + + * * * * * + +This morning we visited several churches, not one of them worthy of a +remark. The architecture is invariably in the vilest taste; and the +interior decorations, if possible, still worse: white-washing gilding, +and gaudy colours, every where prevail. We saw, however, some good +pictures. At the San Gennaro are the famous frescos of Domenichino and +Lanfranco: the church itself is hideous. At the Girolomini there is no +want of magnificence and ornament; but a barbarous misapplication of +both, as usual. The church of the convent of Santa Chiara was painted +in fresco by Ghiotto: it is now white-washed all over. At this +church, which I first visited during the merry days of the carnival, I +saw a large figure of our Saviour suspended on the cross, dressed in a +crimson domino, and blue sash. To what a pitch, thought I, must the +love of white-washing and masquerading be carried in this strange +city, where the Deity himself is burlesqued, and bad taste is carried +to profanation! To-day I saw the same crucifix in a suit of mourning; +why should not our South Sea missionaries come and preach here? + +The church of San Severo is falling to ruins, owing to some defect in +the architecture. It is only remarkable for containing three +celebrated statues. The man enveloped in a net, and the Pudicita +draped from head to foot, pleased me only as specimens of the patience +and ingenuity of the sculptor. The dead Christ covered with a veil, by +Corradini, has a merit of a higher class: it is most painful to look +upon; and affected me so strongly, that I was obliged to leave the +church, and go into the air. + +I went to-day with two agreeable and intelligent friends, to take +leave of the Studeo and the Museum. I have often resolved not to make +my little journal a mere catalogue of objects, which are to be found +in my pocket guide, and bought for a few pence; but I cannot resist +the temptation of making a few notes of admiration, and commemoration, +for my own peculiar use. + +The Gallery of Painting contains few pictures; but among them are some +master-pieces. The St. John of Leonardo da Vinci (exquisite as it is, +considered as a mere painting), provoked me. I am sick of his eternal +simpering face: the aspect is that of a Ganymede or a young Bacchus; +and if instead of _Ecce Agnus Dei_, they had written over it, _Ecce +vinum bonum_, all would have been in character. + +How I coveted the beautiful "Carita," the Capo d'Opera of +Schidone!--and next to it, Parmegiano's Gouvernante--a delicious +picture. A portrait of Columbus, said to be by the same master, is not +like him, I am sure; for the physiognomy is vacant and disagreeable. +Domenichino's large picture of the Angel shielding Innocence from a +Demon pleases me, as all his pictures do--but not perfectly: the devil +in the corner, with his fork, and hoofs, and horns, shocks my taste as +a ludicrous and vulgar idea, far removed from poetry; but the figure +of the angel stretching a shield over the infant, is charming. There +are also two fine Claudes, two Holy Families, by Raffaelle, in his +sweetest style; and one by Correggio, scarcely less beautiful. + +The Gallery of Sculpture is so rich in chef-d'oeuvres, that to +particularise would be a vain attempt. Passing over those which every +one knows by heart, the statue of Aristides struck me most. It was +found in Herculaneum; and is marked with ferruginous stains, as if by +the action of fire or the burning lava; but it is otherwise +uninjured, and the grave, yet graceful simplicity of the figure and +attitude, and the extreme elegance of the drapery, are truly Grecian. +It is the union of _power_ with _repose_--of perfect _grace_ with +perfect _simplicity_, which distinguishes the ancient from the modern +style of sculpture. The sitting Agrippina, for example, furnished +Canova with the model for his statue of Madame Letitia--the two +statues are, in point of fact, nearly the same, except that Canova has +turned Madame Letitia's head a little on one side; and by this single +and trifling alteration has destroyed that quiet and beautiful +simplicity which distinguishes the original, and given his statue at +once a modern air. + +The Flora Farnese is badly placed, in a space too confined for its +size, and too near the eye; so that the exquisite harmony and delicacy +of the figure are partly lost in its colossal proportions: it should +be placed at the end of a long gallery or vista. + +There is here a statue of Nero when he was ten years old; from which +it would seem that he was not by nature the monster he afterwards +became. The features are beautiful; and the expression all candour and +sweetness. + +One statue struck me exceedingly--not by the choice of the subject, +nor the beauty of the workmanship, but from its wonderful force of +expression. It is a dying gladiator; but very different from the +gladiator of the Capitol. The latter declines gradually, and sickens +into death; but memory and feeling are not yet extinct: and what +thoughts may pass through that brain while life is thus languishing +away! what emotions may yet dwell upon the last beatings of that +heart! it is the _sentiment_ which gives such profound pathos to that +matchless statue: but the gladiator of the Studii has only physical +expression: it is sudden death in all its horrors: the figure is still +erect, though the mortal blow has been given; the sword has dropt from +the powerless hand; the limbs are stiffening in death; the eyes are +glazed; the features fixed in an expression of mortal agony; and in +another moment you expect the figure to fall at your feet. + +The Venus, the Hercules, the Atlas, the Antinous (not equal to that in +the Capitol,) the Ganymede, the Apollo, the equestrian statues of the +two Balbi, etc. are all familiar to my imagination, from the numerous +copies and models I have seen: but the most interesting department of +the Museum is the collection of antiques from Herculaneum and Pompeii, +which have lately been removed hither from Portici. One room contains +specimens of cooking utensils, portable kitchens, tripods, instruments +of sacrifice, small bronze Lares, and Penates, urns, lamps, and +candelabras of the most elegant forms, and the most exquisite +workmanship. Another room contains specimens of ancient armour, +children's toys, etc. I remarked here a helmet which I imagine formed +part of a trophy; or at least was intended for ornament rather than +use. It is exceedingly heavy; and on it is represented in the most +exquisite relievo the War of Troy. Benvenuto Cellini himself never +produced any thing equal to the chased work on this helmet. + +In a third room is the paraphernalia of a lady's toilette: mirrors of +different sizes, fragments of combs, a small crystal box of rouge, +etc. Then follow flutes and pipes, all carved out of bone, surgical +instruments, moulds for pastry, sculptors' tools, locks and keys, +bells, etc. + +The room containing the antique glass, astonished me more than any +thing else. I knew that glass was an ancient invention: but I thought +that its application to domestic purposes was of modern date. Here I +found window panes, taken from the Villa of Diomed at Pompeii; bottles +of every size and form, white and coloured; pitchers and vases; +necklaces; imitations of gems, etc. + +There is a little jeu d'esprit of Voltaire's "La Toilette de Madame de +Pompadour," in which he wittily exalts the moderns above the ancients, +and ridicules their ignorance of the luxuries and comforts of life: +but Voltaire had not seen the museum of Portici. We can add few +distinct articles to the list of comforts and luxuries it contains: +though it must be confessed that we have improved upon them, and +varied them _ad infinitum_. In those departments of the mechanics +which are in any way connected with the fine arts, the ancients appear +to have attained perfection. To them belongs the invention of all that +embellishes life, of all the graceful forms of imitative art, varied +with such exquisite taste, such boundless fertility of fancy, that +nothing is left to us but to refine upon their ideas, and copy their +creations. With all our new invented machines, and engines, we can do +little more than what the ancients performed without them. + +I ought not to forget one room containing some objects, more curious +and amusing than beautiful, principally from Pompeii, such as loaves +of bread, reduced to a black cinder, figs in the same state, grain of +different kinds, colours from a painter's room, ear-rings and +bracelets, gems, specimens of mosaic, etc. etc. + + * * * * * + +_March 7._--Frattinto brought me to-day the last numbers of the +Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews: a great treat so far from home. Both +contain some clever essays: among them, an article on prisons, in the +Edinburgh, interested me most. + +Methinks these two Reviews stalk through the literary world, like the +two giants in Pulci's Morgante Maggiore: the one pounding, slaying, +mangling, despoiling with blind fury, like the heavy orthodox +club-armed Morgante; the other, like the sneering, witty, half-pagan, +half-baptized Margutte, slashing and cutting, and piercing through +thick and thin; _a tort et a travers_. Truly the simile is more +a-propos than I thought when it first occurred to me. + +I went the other day to a circulating library and reading-room kept +here by a little cross French-woman, and asked to see a catalogue. She +showed me, first, a list of all the books, Italian, French, and +English, she was allowed to keep and sell: it was a thin pamphlet of +about one hundred pages. She then showed me the catalogue of +prohibited books, which was at least as thick as a good sized octavo. +The book to which I wished to refer, was the second volume of +Robertson's Charles the Fifth. After some hesitation, Madame P** led +me into a back room; and opening a sliding pannel, discovered a shelf +let into the wall, on which were arranged a number of authors, chiefly +English and French. I was not surprised to find Rousseau and Voltaire +among them; but am still at a loss to guess what Robertson has done or +written to entitle him to a place in such select company. + +8th.--Forsyth might well say that Naples has no parallel on earth. +Viewed from the sea it appears like an amphitheatre of palaces, +temples and castles, raised one above another, by the wand of a +necromancer: viewed within, Naples gives me the idea of a vast +Bartholomew fair. No street in London is ever so crowded as I have +seen the streets of Naples. It is a crowd which has no pause or +cessation: early in the morning, late at night, it is ever the same. +The whole population seems poured into the streets and squares; all +business and amusement is carried on in the open air: all those minute +details of domestic life, which, in England, are confined within the +sacred precincts of _home_, are here displayed to public view. Here +people buy and sell, and work, wash, wring, brew, bake, fry, dress, +eat, drink, sleep, etc. etc. all in the open streets. We see every +hour, such comical, indescribable appalling sights; such strange +figures, such wild physiognomies, picturesque dresses, attitudes and +groups--and eyes--no! I never saw such eyes before, as I saw to-day, +half languor and half fire, in the head of a ruffian Lazzarone, and a +ragged Calabrian beggar girl. They would have _embrase_ half London or +Paris. + +I know not whether it be incipient illness, or the enervating effects +of this soft climate, but I feel unusually weak, and the least +exertion or excitement is not only disagreeable but painful. While the +rest were at Capo di Monte, I stood upon my balcony looking out upon +the lovely scene before me, with a kind of pensive dreamy rapture, +which if not quite pleasure, had at least a power to banish pain: and +thus hours passed away insensibly-- + + "As if the moving time had been + A thing as stedfast as the scene, + On which we gazed ourselves away."[N] + + +All my activity of mind, all my faculties of thought and feeling and +suffering, seemed lost and swallowed up in an indolent delicious +reverie, a sort of vague and languid enjoyment, the true "_dolce far +niente_" of this enchanting climate. I stood so long leaning on my +elbow without moving, that my arm has been stiff all day in +consequence. + +"How I wish," said I this evening, when they drew aside the curtain, +that I might view the sunset from my sofa, and sky, earth and ocean, +seemed to commingle in floods of glorious light--"how I wish I could +transport those skies to England!" _Cruelle!_ exclaimed an Italian +behind me, _otez-nous notre beau ciel, tout est perdu pour nous_. + + + + +THE LAST EVENING AT NAPLES + + Yes, Laura! draw the shade aside + And let me gaze--while yet I may, + Upon that gently heaving tide, + Upon that glorious sun-lit bay. + + Land of Romance! enchanting shore! + Fair scenes, near which I linger yet! + Never shall I behold ye more, + Never this last--last look forget! + + What though the clouds that o'er me lour + Have tinged ye with a mournful hue, + Deep in my heart I felt your power, + And bless ye, while I sigh--Adieu! + + +_Velletri, March 13._--It is now a week since I opened my little book. +Ever since the 9th I have been seriously ill: and yesterday morning I +left Naples still low and much indisposed, but glad of a change which +should substitute any external excitement, however painful, to that +unutterable dying away of the heart and paralysis of the mind which I +have suffered for some days past. When we turned into the Strada +Chiaja, and I gave a last glance at the magnificent bay and the shores +all resplendent with golden light, I could almost have exclaimed like +Eve, "must I then leave thee, Paradise!" and dropped a few natural +tears--tears of weakness, rather than of grief: for what do I leave +behind me worthy one emotion of regret? Even at Naples, even in this +all-lovely land, "fit haunt for gods," has it not been with me as it +has been elsewhere? as long as the excitement of change and novelty +lasts, my heart can turn from itself "to luxuriate with indifferent +things:" but it cannot last long; and when it is over, I suffer, I am +ill: the past returns with tenfold gloom; interposing like a dark +shade between me and every object: an evil power seems to reside in +every thing I see, to torment me with painful associations, to perplex +my faculties, to irritate and mock me with the perception of what is +lost to me: the very sunshine sickens me, and I am forced to confess +myself weak and miserable as ever. O time! how slowly you move! how +little you can do for me! and how bitter is that sorrow which has no +relief to hope but from time alone! + +Last night we reached Mola di Gaeta, which looked even more beautiful +than before, in the eyes of all but _one_, whose senses were blinded +and dulled by dejection, lassitude, and sickness. When I felt myself +passively led along the shore, placed where the eye might range at +freedom over the living and rejoicing landscape--when I heard myself +repeating mechanically the exclamations of others, and felt no ray of +beauty, no sense of pleasure penetrate to my heart--shall I own, even +to myself, the mixture of anguish and terror with which I shrunk back, +conscious of the waste within me? The conviction that now it was all +over, that the last and only pleasures hitherto left to me had +perished, that my mind was contracted by the selfishness of +despondency, and my quick spirit of enjoyment utterly subdued into +apathy, gave me for a moment a pang sharper than if a keen knife had +cut me to the quick; and then I relapsed into a kind of torpid languor +of mind and frame, which I thought was resignation, and as such +indulged it. + +From my bed this morning I stepped out upon my balcony just as the sun +was rising. I wished to convince myself whether the beauty on which I +had lately looked with such admiration and delight, had indeed lost +all power to touch my heart. The impression made upon my mind at that +instant I can only compare to the rolling away of a palpable and +suffocating cloud: every thing on which I looked had the freshness and +brightness of novelty: a glory beyond its own was again diffused over +the enchanting scene from the stores of my own imagination: the sea +breeze which blew against my temples new-strung every nerve; and I +left Mola with a heart so lightened and so grateful, that not for +hours afterwards, not till fatigue and hurry had again wearied down my +spirits, did that impression of happy thankfulness pass away. + +I am sensible I owed this sudden renovation of health solely to the +contemplation of Nature; and a true feeling for all the "maggior +pompa" she has poured forth over this glorious region. The shores of +Terracina, the azure sea, dancing in the breeze, the waves rolling to +our feet, the sublime cliffs, the fleet of forty sail stretching away +till lost in the blaze of the horizon, the Circean promontory, even +the picturesque fisherman, whom we saw throwing his nets from an +insulated rock at some distance from the shore, and whom a very +trifling exertion of fancy might have converted into some sea +divinity, a Glaucus, or a Proteus, formed altogether a picture of the +most wonderful and luxuriant beauty. In England there is a peculiar +charm in the soft aerial perspective, which even in the broadest glare +of noonday, blends and masses the forms of the distant landscape; and +in that mingling of colours into a cool neutral gray tint so grateful +to the eye. Hence it has happened that in some of the Italian pictures +I have seen in England, I have often been struck by what appeared to +me a violence in the colouring, and a sharp decision in the outline, +o'erstepping the modesty of nature--that is, of _English nature_: but +there is in this climate a prismatic splendour of tint, a glorious +all-embracing light, a vivid distinctness of outline, something in the +reality more gorgeous, glowing, and luxuriant, than poetry could dare +to express, or painting imitate. + + "Ah that such beauty, varying in the light + Of living nature, cannot be portrayed + By words, nor by the pencil's silent skill; + But is the property of those alone + Who have beheld it, noted it with care, + And in their minds recorded it with love." + + WORDSWORTH. + +And now we have left the enchanting south; myrtle-hedges, palm-trees, +orange-groves, bright Mediterranean, all adieu! How, under other +circumstances, should I regret you, with what reluctance should I +leave you, thus half explored, half enjoyed! but now other thoughts +engross me, the hard struggle to overcome myself, or at least to +appear the thing I am not.---- + + * * * * * + +Man has done what he can to deform this lovely region. The most +horrible places we have yet met with are Itri and Fondi, which look +like recesses of depravity and dirt, and the houses more like the dens +and kennels of wild beasts, than the habitations of civilized human +beings. In fact, the populace of these towns consists chiefly of the +families of the briganti. The women we saw here were bold coarse +Amazons; and the few men who appeared had a slouching gait, and looked +at us from under their eyebrows with an expression at once cunning and +fierce. We met many begging friars--horrible specimens of their +species: altogether I never beheld such a desperate set of canaille as +appear to have congregated in these two wretched towns. + +At Mola I remarked several beautiful women. Their head-dress is +singularly graceful: the hair being plaited round the back of the +head, and there fastened with two silver pins, much in the manner of +some of the ancient statues. The costume of the peasantry, there, and +all the way to Rome, is very striking and picturesque. I remember one +woman whom I saw standing at her door spinning with her distaff: her +long black hair, floating down from its confinement, was spread over +her shoulders; not hanging in a dishevelled and slovenly style, but in +the most rich and luxuriant tresses. Her attitude as she stood +suspending her work to gaze at _me_, as I gazed at her with open +admiration, was graceful and dignified; and her form and features +would have been a model for a Juno or a Minerva.[O] + +LINES. + + Quenched is our light of youth! + And fled our days of pleasure, + When all was hope and truth, + And trusting--without measure. + + Blindly we believed + Words of fondness spoken-- + Cruel hearts deceived, + So our peace was broken! + + What can charm us more? + Life hath lost its sweetness! + Weary lags the hour-- + "Time hath lost its fleetness!" + + As the buds in May + Were the joys we cherished, + Sweet--but frail as they, + Thus they passed and perished! + + And the few bright hours + Wintry age can number, + Sickly, senseless flowers, + Lingering through December! + +_Rome, March 15._--We arrived here yesterday morning about one, after +a short but delightful journey from Velletri. We have now a suite of +apartments in the Hotel d'Europe; and our accommodations are in all +respects excellent, almost equal to Schneiderf's at Florence. + +On entering Rome through the gate of the Lateran, I was struck by the +emptiness and stillness of the streets, contrasted with those of +Naples; and still more by the architectural grandeur and beauty which +everywhere met the eye. This is as it should be: the merry, noisy, +half-naked, merry-andrew set of ragamuffins which crowd the streets +and shores of Naples, would strangely misbecome the desolate majesty +of the "Eternal City." Though we now reside in the most fashionable +and frequented part of Rome, the sound of carts and carriages is +seldom heard. After nine in the evening a profound stillness reigns; +and I distinguish nothing from my window but the splashing of the +Fountain della Barchetta. + +The weather is lovely; we were obliged to close our Venetian blinds +against the heat at eight this morning, and afterwards we drove to the +gardens of the Villa Borghese, where we wandered about in search of +coolness and shade. + + * * * * * + +26.--I must now descend to the common occurrences of our every-day +life. + +For the last week we have generally spent the whole or part of the +morning, in some of the galleries of art; and the afternoon in the +gardens of the neighbouring villas. Those of the Villa Medici have +their vicinity to our inn, and their fine air to recommend them. From +the Villa Lanti, and the Monte Mario, we have a splendid view of the +whole city and Campagna of Rome. The Pope's gardens on the Monte +Cavallo, are pleasant, accessible, and very private: the gardens of +the Villa Pamfili, are enchanting; but our usual haunt is the garden +of the Villa Borghese. In this delightful spot we find shade and +privacy, or sunshine and society, as we may feel inclined. To-day it +was intensely hot; but we found the cool sequestered walks and alleys +of cypress and ilex, perfectly delicious. I spread my shawl upon a +green bank carpeted with violets, and lounged in most luxurious +indolence. I had a book with me, but felt no inclination to read. The +soft air, the trickling and murmuring of innumerable fountains, the +urns, the temples, the statues--the localities of the scene--all +dispose the mind to a kind of vague but delightful reverie to which we +"find no end, in wandering mazes lost." + +In these gardens we frequently meet the Princess Pauline: sometimes +alone, but oftener surrounded by a cortege of beaux. She is no longer +the "Venere Vincitrice" of Canova; but her face, though faded, is +pretty and intelligent; and she still preserves the "andar celeste," +and all the distinguished elegance of her petite and graceful figure. +Of the stories told of her, I suppose one half _may_ be true--and that +half is quite enough. She is rather more famous for her gallantries, +than for her bon-gout in the choice of her favourites; but it is +justice to Pauline to add, that her native benevolence of heart seems +to have survived all her frailties; and every one who speaks of her +here, even those who must condemn her, mention her in a tone of +kindness, and even of respect. She is still in deep mourning for the +Emperor. + +The Villa Pamfili is about two miles from Rome on the other side of +the Monte Gianicolo. The gardens are laid out in the artificial style +of Italian gardening, a style which in England would horrify me as in +the vilest and most old-fashioned taste--stiff, cold, unnatural, and +altogether detestable. Through what inconsistency or perversity of +taste is it then, that I am enchanted with the fantastic elegance, and +the picturesque gaiety of the Pamfili gardens; where sportive art +revels and runs wild amid the luxuriance of nature? Or is it, as I +would rather believe, because these long arcades of verdure, these +close _walls_ of laurel, pervious to the air, but impervious to the +sunshine, these broad umbrageous avenues and marble terraces, these +paved grottoes and ever trickling fountains, these gods and nymphs, +and urns and sarcophagi, meeting us at every turn with some classical +or poetical association, harmonize with the climate and the country, +and the minds of the people; and are _comfortable_ and consistent as a +well carpeted drawing-room and a warm chimney-corner would be in +England? + +"But it is all so artificial and unnatural"--Agreed;--so are our +yellow unsheltered gravel walks, meandering through smooth shaven +lawns, which have no other beauty than that of being dry when every +other place is wet; our shapeless flower-beds so elaborately +irregular, our clumps and dots of trees, and dwarfish shrubberies. I +have seen some over-dressed grounds and gardens in England, the +perpetrations of Capability Brown and his imitators, the landscape +gardeners, quite as bad as any thing I see here, only in a different +style, and certainly more adapted to England and English taste. I must +confess, that in these enchanting gardens of the Villa Pamfili, a +little less "ingenuity and artifice" would be better. I hate _mere_ +tricks and gimcrackery, of which there are a few instances, such as +their hydraulic music, jets-d'eau--water-works that play occasionally +to the astonishment of children and the profit of the gardeners--but +how different, after all, are these Italia gardens to the miserable +grandeur, and senseless, tasteless parade of Versailles! + +In these gardens an interesting discovery has just been made; an +extensive burial place, or columbarium, in singular preservation. The +skeletons and ashes have not been removed. Some of the tombs are +painted in fresco, others floored with very pretty mosaic. The +disposition of the urns is curious: they are imbedded in the masonry +of the wall with moveable lids. On a tile I found the name of Sextus +Pompeius, in letters beautifully formed, and deeply and distinctly +cut, and an inscription which I was not Latinist enough to translate +accurately, but from which it appears that these columbaria belonged +to a branch of the Pompey family. + +27.--To-day, after English chapel, I look a walk to the San Gregorio, +on the other side of the Palatine, which since I first came to Rome +has been to me a favourite and chosen spot. I sat down on the steps of +the church to rest, and enjoy at leisure the fine view of the hill +and ruins opposite. Arches on arches, a wilderness of desolation! and +mingled with massive fragments of the halls and towers of the Caesars, +were young shrubs just putting on their brightest green, and the +almond-trees covered with their gay blossoms, and the cloudless and +resplendent skies bending over all. + +I tried to sketch the scene before me, but could not form a stroke. I +cannot now take a short walk without feeling its ill effects; and my +hand shook so much from nervous weakness, that after a few vain +efforts to steady it, I sorrowfully gave up the attempt. On returning +home by the Coliseum, and through the Forum and Capitol, I met many +things I should wish to remember. After all, what place is like Rome, +where it is impossible to move a step without meeting with some +incident or object to excite reflection, to enchant the eye, or +interest the imagination? Rome may yield to Naples or Florence in mere +external beauty; but every other spot on earth, Athens perhaps alone +excepted, must yield to Rome in interest. + + * * * * * + +28.--This morning we walked down to the studio of Mr. Wagenal, to see +the AEgina marbles; which, as objects of curiosity, interested me +extremely. These statues are on a smaller scale than I expected, being +not much more than half the size of life, but of better workmanship, +and in a style of sculpture altogether different from any thing I ever +saw before. They formed the ornaments of the pediment of the Temple of +Jupiter in the island of AEgina, and represented a group of fighting +and dying warriors, with an armed Pallas in the centre: but the +subject is not known. + +The execution of these statues must evidently be referred to the +earliest ages of Grecian art; to a period when sculpture was confined +to the exact imitation of natural forms. Several of the figures were +extremely spirited, and very correct both in design and execution; but +there is no attempt at grace, and a total deficiency of ideal beauty: +in the Pallas, especially, the drapery and forms are but one remove +from the cold formal Etruscan style, which in its turn is but one +remove from the yet more tasteless Egyptian. I think it was at the +Villa Albani, I saw the singular Etruscan basso-relievo which I was +able to compare mentally with what I saw to-day; and the resemblance +in _manner_ struck me immediately. Thorwaldson is now restoring these +marbles in the most admirable style for the King of Bavaria, to whom +they were sold by Messrs. Cockerel and Linkh (the original +discoverers) for 8000_l._ + +Gibson, the celebrated English sculptor, joined us while looking at +the AEgina marbles, and accompanied us to the studio of Pozzi, the +Florentine statuary. Here I saw several instances of that affected and +meretricious taste which prevails too much among the foreign +sculptors. I remember one example almost ludicrous, a female Satyr +with her hair turned up behind and dressed in the last Parisian +fashion; as if she had just come from under the hands of Monsieur +Hyppolite. By the same hand which committed this odd solecism, I saw a +statue of Moses, now modelling in clay, which, if finished in marble +in a style worthy of its conception, and if not spoiled by some +affected niceties in the execution, will be a magnificent and sublime +work of art. + +Gibson afterwards showed us round his own studio: his exquisite group +of Psyche borne away by the Zephyrs enchanted me. The necessity which +exists for supporting all the figures has rendered it impossible to +give them the same aerial lightness I have seen in paintings of the +same subject, yet they are all _but_ aerial. Psyche was criticised by +two or three of our party; but I thought her faultless: she is a +lovely timid girl; and as she leans on her airy supporters, she seems +to contemplate her flight down the precipice, half-shrinking, though +secure. Mr. W** told me that in the original design, the left foot of +one of the Zephyrs rested upon the ground: and that Canova, coming in +by chance while Gibson was working on the model, lifted it up, and +this simple and masterly alteration has imparted the most exquisite +lightness to the attitude. + +Gibson was Canova's favourite pupil: he has quite the air of a genius: +plain features, but a countenance all beaming with fire, spirit, and +intelligence. His Psyche remains still in the model, as he has not yet +found a patron munificent enough to order it in marble; at which I +greatly wonder. Could I but afford to bestow seven hundred pounds on +my own gratification, I would have given him the order on the spot.[P] + +30.--Yesterday we dined _al fresco_ in the Pamfili gardens: and though +our party was rather too large, it was well assorted, and the day went +off admirably. The queen of our feast was in high good humour, and +irresistible in charms; Frattino very fascinating, T** was caustic and +witty, W** lively and clever, Sir J** mild, intelligent, and elegant, +V**, as usual, quiet, sensible, and self-complacent, L** as absurd and +assiduous as ever. Every body played their part well, each by a tacit +convention sacrificing to the _amour propre_ of the rest. Every +individual really occupied with his own particular _role_, but all +apparently happy, and mutually pleased. Vanity and selfishness, +indifference and ennui, were veiled under a general mask of good +humour and good breeding, and the flowery bonds of politeness and +gallantry held together those who knew no common tie of thought or +interest; and when parted (as they soon will be, north, south, east, +and west), will probably never meet again in this world; and whether +they do or not, who thinks or cares! + +Our luxurious dinner, washed down by a competent proportion of +Malvoisie and Champagne, were spread upon the grass, which was +literally _flowery turf_, being covered with violets, iris, and +anemones of every dye. Instead of changing our plates, we washed them +in a beautiful fountain which murmured near us, having first, by a +libation, propitiated the presiding nymph for this pollution of her +limpid waters. For my own peculiar taste there were too many servants +(who on these occasions are always _de trop_), too many luxuries, too +much fuss; but considering the style and number of our party, it was +all consistently and admirably managed: the grouping of the company, +picturesque because unpremeditated, the scenery round, the arcades, +and bowers, and columns, and fountains, had an air altogether quite +poetical and romantic; and put me in mind of some of Watteau's +beautiful garden-pieces, and Stothard's fetes-champetres. + +To me the day was not a day of pleasure; for the small stock of +strength and spirits with which I set out was soon exhausted, and the +rest of the day was wasted in efforts to appear cheerful and support +myself to the end, lest I should spoil the general mirth: on all I +looked with complacency tinged with my habitual melancholy. What I +most admired was the delicious view, from an eminence in the wildest +part of the gardens, over the city and Campagna to the blue Apennines, +where Frascati and Albano peeped forth like nests of white buildings +glittering upon a rich back ground, tinted with blue and purple; the +hill where Cato's villa stood, and still called the Portian Hill, and +on the highest point the ruined temple of Jupiter Latialis visible at +the distance of seventeen miles, and shining in the setting sun like +burnished gold. What I most felt and enjoyed was the luxurious +temperature of the atmosphere, the purity and brilliance of the skies, +the delicious security with which I threw myself down on the turf +without fear of damp and cold, and the thankful consciousness, that +neither the light or worldly beings round me, nor the sadness which +weighed down my own heart, had quite deadened my once quick sense of +pleasure, but left me still some perception of the splendour and +classical interest of the glorious scenes around me, combined as it +was with all the enchantment of natural beauty-- + + "----The music and the bloom + And all the mighty ravishment of spring." + +TOLSE AI MARTIRI OGNI CONFIN, CHI AL CORE TOGLIER POTEO +LA LIBERTA DEL PIANTO! + + O ye blue luxurious skies! + Sparkling fountains, + Snow-capp'd mountains, + Classic shades that round me rise! + + Towers and temples, hills and groves, + Scenes of glory, + Fam'd in story, + Where the eye enchanted roves! + + O thou rich embroider'd earth! + Opening flowers, + Leafy bowers, + Sights of gladness, sounds of mirth! + + Why to my desponding heart, + Darkly thinking, + Sadly sinking, + Can ye no delight impart?[Q] + +_Sunday, 31._--To-day the Holy week begins, and a kind of programma of +the usual ceremonies of each day was laid on my toilette this morning. +The bill of fare for this day runs thus:-- + +"Domenica delle Palme, nel Capella Papale nel Palazzo Apostolico, +canta messa un Cardinal Prete. Il Sommo Pontefice fa la benedizione +delle Palme, con processione per la Sala Regia." + +I gave up going to the English service accordingly, and consented to +accompany R** and V** to the Pope's Chapel. We entered just as the +ceremony of blessing the palms was going on: a cardinal officiated for +the poor old pope, who is at present ill. + +After the palms had been duly blessed, they were carried in procession +round the splendid anti-chamber, called the Sala Regia; meantime the +chapel doors were closed upon them, and on their return, they (not the +palms, but the priests) knocked and demanded entrance in a fine +recitative; two of the principal voices replied from within; the choir +without sung a response, and after a moment's silence the doors were +opened, and the service went on. + +This was very trivial and tedious. Rospo said, very truly, that the +procession in Blue Beard was much better _got up_. All these +processions sound very fine in mere description, but in the reality +there is always something to disappoint or disgust; something which +leaves either a ludicrous or a painful impression on the mind. The old +priests and cardinals to-day looking like so many old beggar-women +dressed up in the cast-off finery of a Christmas pantomime, the +assistants smirking and whispering, the singers grinning at each +other between every solemn strain of melody, and blowing their noses +and spitting about like true Italians--in short, the want of keeping +in the _tout ensemble_ shocked my taste and my imagination, and, I may +add, better, more serious feelings. It is well to see these things +once, that we may not be cheated with fine words, but judge for +ourselves. I foresee, however, that I shall not be tempted to +encounter any of the more crowded ceremonies. + +I remarked that all the Italians wore black to-day. + +We spent the afternoon at the Vatican. We found St. Peter's almost +deserted; few people, no music, the pictures all muffled, and the +altars hung with black drapery. The scaffolding was preparing for the +ceremonies of the week; and, on the whole, St. Peter's appeared, for +the first time, disagreeable and gloomy. + +_Monday, April 1._--Non riconosco oggi la mia bella Italia! Clouds, +and cold, and rain, to which we have been so long unaccustomed, seem +unnatural; and deform that peculiar character of sunny loveliness +which belongs to this country: and, a-propos to climate, I may as well +observe now, that since the 1st of February, when we left Rome for +Naples, up to this present 1st of April, not one day has been so rainy +as to confine us to the house: and on referring to my memoranda of the +weather, I find that at Naples it rained one day for a few hours only, +and for about two hours on the morning we left it: since then, not a +drop of rain has fallen: all hot, cloudless, lovely weather. We have +been for the last three weeks in summer costume, and guard against the +heat as we should in England during the dog-days. To have an idea of +an Italian summer, Mr. W** says we must fancy the present heat +_quadrupled_. + +The day, notwithstanding, has been unusually pleasant, the afternoon, +though not brilliant, was clear and soft; and we drove in the open +carriage first to the little church of Santa Maria della Pace, to see +Raffaelle's famous fresco, the Four Sybils. It is in the finest +preservation, and combines all his peculiar graces of design and +expression. The colouring has not suffered from time and damp like +that of the frescos in the Vatican, but it is at once brilliant and +delicate. Nothing can exceed the exquisite grace of the Sibilla +Persica, nor the beautiful drapery and inspired look of the Cumana. +Fortunately, I had never seen any copy or engraving of this master +piece: its beauty was to me enhanced by surprise and all the charm of +novelty: and my gratification was complete. + +We afterwards spent half an hour in the gardens of the Villa Lanti, on +the Monte Gianicolo. The view of Rome from these gardens is superb: +though the sky was clouded, the atmosphere was perfectly pure and +clear: the eye took in the whole extent of ancient and modern Rome; +beyond it the Campagna, the Alban Hills, and the Apennines, which +appeared of a deep purple, with pale clouds floating over their +summits. The city lay at our feet, silent, and clothed with the +daylight as with a garment--no smoke, no vapour, no sound, no motion, +no sign of life: it looked like a city whose inhabitants had been +suddenly petrified, or smitten by a destroying angel; and such was the +effect of its strange and solemn beauty, that, before I was aware, I +felt my eyes fill with tears as I looked upon it. + +I saw Naples from the Castle of Saint Elmo--setting aside the sea and +Mount Vesuvius, those unequalled features in that radiant picture--the +view of the _city_ of Naples is not so fine as the view of Rome: it +is, comparatively, deficient in sentiment, in interest, and in +dignity. Naples wears on her brow the voluptuous beauty of a +syren--Rome sits desolate on her seven-hilled throne, "_the Niobe of +Nations_." + +I wish I could have painted what I saw to-day _as_ I saw it. Yet +no--the reality was perhaps too much like a picture to please in a +picture: the exquisite harmony of the colouring, the softness of the +lights and shades, the solemn death-like stillness, the distinctness +of every form and outline, and the classic interest attached to every +noble object, combined to form a scene, which hereafter, in the +silence of my own thoughts, I shall often love to recall and to dwell +upon. + +To-night I read with Incoronati, the Fourth book of Dante, and two of +Petrarch's Canzoni "I' vo pensando," and "Verdi panni," making notes +from his explanations and remarks as I went along. These two Canzoni I +had selected as being among the most _puzzling_ as well as the most +beautiful. Those are strangely mistaken, who from a superficial study +of a few of his amatory sonnets, regard Petrarch as a mere love-sick +poet, who spent his time in be-rhyming an obdurate mistress; and those +are equally mistaken who consider him as the poetical votarist of an +imaginary fair one. I know but little, even of the little that is +known of his life; for I remember being as much terrified by the +ponderous quartos of the Abbe de Sade, as I was discomfited and +disappointed by the flimsy octavo of Mrs. Dobson. I am now studying +Petrarch in his own works; and it seemeth to me, in my simple wit, +that such exquisite touches of truth and nature, such depth and purity +of feeling, such felicity of expression, such vivid yet delicate +pictures of female beauty, could spring only from a real and heartfelt +passion. We know too little of Laura: but it is probable, if she had +always preserved a stern and unfeeling indifference, she would not +have so entirely commanded the affections of a feeling heart; and had +she yielded she would not so long have preserved her influence. + + Think you if Laura had been Petrarch's wife, + He would have written sonnets all his life? + +In truth she appears to have been the most finished coquette of her +own or any other age.[R] + +3.--What a delight it would be, if, at the end of a day like this, I +had _somebody_ with whom I could talk over things--with whose feelings +and impressions I could compare my own--who would direct my judgment, +and assist me in arranging my ideas, and double every pleasure by +sharing it with me! What would have become of me if I had not thought +of keeping a Diary? I should have died of a sort of mental repletion! +What a consolation and employment has it been to me to let my +overflowing heart and soul exhale themselves on paper! When I have +neither power nor spirits to join in common-place conversation, I open +my dear little Diary, and feel, while my pen thus swiftly glides +along, much less as if I were writing than as if I were speaking--yes! +speaking to one who perhaps will read this when I am no more--but not +till _then_. + +I was well enough to _walk_ up to the Rospigliosi Palace this morning +to see Guido's Aurora: it is on the ceiling of a pavilion: would it +were not! for I looked at it till my neck ached, and my brain turned +round "like a parish top." I can only say that it far surpassed my +expectations: the colouring is the most brilliant, yet the most +harmonious, in the world: and there is a depth, a strength, a richness +in the tints, not common to Guido's style. The whole is as fresh as if +painted yesterday; though Guido must have died sometime about 1640. + +On each side of the hall or pavilion adorned by the Aurora, there is a +small room, containing a few excellent pictures. The Triumph of David, +by Domenichino, a fine rich picture; an exquisite Andromeda, by Guido, +painted with his usual delicacy and sentiment; the twelve Apostles, by +Rubens, some of them very fine; "the Five Senses," said to be by Carlo +Cignani, but if so he has surpassed himself: it is like Domenichino. +The Death of Samson, by L. Carracci, wearies the eye by the number and +confusion of the figures: it has no principal group upon which the +attention can rest. There is also a fine portrait of Nicolo Poussin, +by himself, and an interesting head of Guido. + +At three o'clock we went down to the Capella Sistina to hear the +Miserere. In describing the effect produced by this divine music, the +time, the place, the scenic contrivance should be taken into account: +the time--solemn twilight, just as the shades begin to fall around: +the place--a noble and lofty hall where the terrors of Michel Angelo's +Last Judgment are rendered more terrible by the gathering gloom, and +his sublime Prophets frown dimly upon us from the walls above. The +extinguishing of the tapers, the concealed choir, the angelic voices +chosen from among the finest in the world, and blended by long +practice into the most perfect unison, were combined to produce that +overpowering effect which has so often been described. Many ladies +wept, and one fainted. Unassisted vocal music is certainly the finest +of all: no power of instruments could have thrilled me like the +blended stream of melancholy harmony, breathed forth with such an +expression of despairing anguish, that it was almost too much to bear. + +_Good-Friday._--I saw more new, amusing, and delightful things +yesterday, than I can attempt to describe or even enumerate: but I +think there is no danger of my forgetting general impressions: if my +memory should fail me in particulars, my imagination can always recall +the whole. + +In the morning I declined going to see the ceremonies at the Vatican. +The procession of the host from the Sistine to the Pauline Chapel; the +washing of the Pilgrims' feet, etc.--all these things are less than +indifferent to me; and the illness and absence of the poor old pope +rendered them particularly uninteresting. Every body went but myself; +and it was agreed that we should all meet at the door of the Sistine +Chapel at five o'clock. I remained quietly at home on my sofa till +one; and then drove to the Museum of the Vatican, where I spent the +rest of the day; it was a grand festa, and the whole of the Vatican, +including the immense suite of splendid libraries, was thrown open to +the public. All the foreigners in Rome having crowded to St. Peter's, +or the chapels, to view the ceremonies going on, I was the only +stranger amidst an assemblage of the common people and peasantry, who +had come to lounge there till the lighting up of the Cross. I walked +on and on, hour after hour, lost in amazement, and wondering where and +when this glorious labyrinth was to end; successive galleries fitted +up with the gay splendour of an Oriental Haram, in which the books and +manuscripts are all arranged and numbered in cases; the beautiful +perspective of hall beyond hall vanishing away into immeasurable +distance; the refulgent light shed overall; and add to this, the +extraordinary visages and costumes of the people, who with their +families wandered along in groups or singly, all behaving with the +utmost decorum, and making emphatic exclamations on the beauties +around them. "_Ah! che bella cosa! Cosa rara! O bella assai!_" all +furnished me with such ample matter for amusement, and observation, +and admiration, that I was insensible to fatigue, and knew not that in +five hours I had scarcely completed the circuit of the Museum. + +One room (the Camera del Papiri) struck me particularly: it is a small +octagon, the ceiling and ornaments painted by Raffaelle Mengs with +exquisite taste. The group on the ceiling represents the Muse of +History writing, while her book reposes on the wings of Time, and a +Genius supplies her with materials: the pannels of this room are +formed of old manuscripts, pasted up against the walls and glazed. +The effect of the whole is as singular as beautiful. + +A new gallery of marbles has lately been opened by the Pope, called +from its form the _Sala della Croce_: in splendid, classical, and +tasteful decoration, it equals any of the others, but is not, perhaps, +so remarkable for the intrinsic value of its contents. + +I never more deeply felt my own ignorance and deficiencies than I did +to-day. I saw so many things I did not understand, so much which I +wished to have explained to me, I longed so inexpressibly for someone +to talk to, to exclaim to, to help me to wonder, to admire, to be +_extasiee_! but I was alone: and I know not how it is, or why, but +when I am alone, not only my powers of enjoyment seem to fail me in a +degree, but even my mental faculties; and the multitude of my own +ideas and sensations confuse, oppress, and irritate me. + +I walked through the whole gyro of the Museum, examining the busts and +pictures particularly, with the help of Este's admirable catalogue +raisonnee, and at half-past five I reached the Sistine just in time to +hear the second Miserere: neither the music nor the effort were equal +to the first evening. The music, though inferior to Allegri's, was +truly beautiful and sublime; but the scenic pageantry did not strike +so much on repetition: the chapel was insufferably crowded, I was sick +and stupid from heat and fatigue, and to crown all, just in the midst +of one of the most overpowering strains, the cry of condemned souls +pleading for mercy, which made my heart pause, and my flesh creep--a +lady behind me whispered loudly, "Do look what lovely broderie Mrs. +L** has on her white satin spencer!" + +After the Miserere, we adjourned to St. Peter's, to see the +illumination of the Girandola. I confess the first glance disappointed +me; for the cross, though more than thirty feet in height, looks +trivial and diminutive, compared with the immensity of the dome in +which it is suspended; but just as I was beginning to admire the +sublime effect of the whole scene, I was obliged to leave the church, +being unable to stand the fatigue any longer. + + * * * * * + +To-day we have remained quietly at home, recruiting after the +exertions of yesterday. After dinner, Colonel ---- and Mr. W** began +to discuss the politics of Italy, and from abusing the governments +they fell upon the people; and being of very opposite principles and +parties, they soon began an argument which ended in a warm dispute, +and sent me to take refuge in my own room. How I detest politics and +discord! How I hate the discussion of politics in Italy! and, above +all, the discussion of Italian politics, which offer no point upon +which the mind can dwell with pleasure. I have not wandered to +Italy--"this land of sun-lit skies and fountains clear," as Barry +Cornwall calls it, only to scrape together materials for a quarto +tour, or to sweep up the leavings of the "fearless" Lady Morgan; or to +dwell upon the heart-sickening realities which meet me at every turn; +evils of which I neither understand the cause nor the cure. And yet +say not to Italy + + "Caduta e la tua gloria--e tu nol' vedi!" + +She does see it,--she does feel it. A spirit is silently and gradually +working its way beneath the surface of society, which must, erelong, +break forth either for good or for evil. Between a profligate and +servile nobility, and a degraded and enslaved populace, a middle class +has lately sprung up; the men of letters, the artists, the professors +in the sciences, who have obtained property, or distinction at least, +in the commotions which have agitated their country, and those who +have served at home or abroad in the revolutionary wars. These all +seem impelled by one and the same spirit; and make up for their want +of numbers by their activity, talents, enthusiasm, and the secret but +increasing influence which they exert over the other classes of +society. But on subjects like these, however interesting, I have no +means of obtaining information at once general and accurate: and I +would rather not think, nor speak, nor write, upon "matters which are +too high for me." Let the modern Italians be what they may,--what I +hear them styled six times a day at least--a dirty, demoralized, +degraded, unprincipled race,--centuries behind our thrice-blessed, +prosperous, and comfort-loving nation in civilization and morals; if I +were come among them as a resident, this picture might alarm me; +situated as I am, a nameless sort of person, a mere bird of passage, +it concerns me not. I am not come to spy out the nakedness of the +land, but to implore from her healing airs and lucid skies the health +and peace I have lost, and to worship as a pilgrim at the tomb of her +departed glories.--I have not many opportunities of studying the +national character; I have no dealings with the lower classes, little +intercourse with the higher. No tradesmen cheat me, no hired menials +irritate me, no innkeepers fleece me, no postmasters abuse me. I love +these rich delicious skies; I love this genial sunshine, which, even +in December, sends the spirits dancing through the veins; this pure +elastic atmosphere, which not only brings the distant landscape, but +almost heaven itself nearer to the eye; and all the treasures of art +and nature which are poured forth around me; and over which my own +mind, teeming with images, recollections, and associations, can fling +a beauty even beyond their own. I willingly turn from all that excites +the spleen and disgust of others; from all that may so easily be +despised, derided--reviled, and abandon my heart to that state of calm +benevolence towards all around me, which leaves me undisturbed, to +enjoy, admire, observe, reflect, remember, with pleasure, if not with +profit, and enables me to look upon the glorious scenes with which I +am surrounded, not with the impertinent inquisition of a book-maker, +nor the gloomy calculations of a politician, nor the sneering selfism +of a Smelfungus--but with the eye of the painter, and the feeling of +the poet. + +A-propos to poets!--Lady C** has just sent us tickets for Sestini's +Accademia to-morrow night. So far from the race of Improvvisatori +being extinct, or living only in the pages of Corinne, or in the +memory of the Fantastici, and the Bandinelli, the Gianas, and the +Corillas of other days,--there is scarcely a small town in Italy, as I +am informed, without its Improvvisatore; and I know several +individuals in the higher classes of society, both here, and at +Florence more particularly, who are remarkable for possessing this +extraordinary talent--though, of course, it is only exercised for the +gratification of a private circle. Of those who make a public +exhibition of their powers, Sgricci and Sestini are the most +celebrated--and of these Sgricci ranks first. I never heard him; but +Signior Incoronati, who knows him well, described to me his talents +and powers as almost supernatural. A wonderful display of his art was +the _improvvisazione_--we have no English word for a talent which in +England is unknown,--of a regular tragedy on the Greek model, with the +choruses and dialogue complete. The subject proposed was from the +story of Ulysses, which afforded him an opportunity of bringing in the +whole sonorous nomenclature of the Heathen Mythology,--which, says +Forsyth, enters in the web of every improvvisatore, and assists the +poet both with rhymes and ideas. Most of the celebrated improvvisatori +have been Florentines: Sgricci is, I believe, a Neapolitan, and his +rival Sestini a Roman. + + * * * * * + +_April 7._--Any public exhibition of talent in the Fine Arts is here +called an _Accademia_. Sestini gave his Accademia in an anti-chamber +of the Palazzo ----, I forget its name, but it was much like all the +other _palaces_ we are accustomed to see here; exhibiting the same +strange contrast of ancient taste and magnificence, with present +meanness and poverty. We were ushered into a lofty room of noble size +and beautiful proportions, with its rich fresco-painted walls and +ceiling faded and falling to decay; a common brick floor, and sundry +window panes broken, and stuffed with paper. The room was nearly +filled by the audience, amongst whom I remarked a great number of +English. A table with writing implements, and an old shattered +jingling piano, occupied one side of the apartment, and a small space +was left in front for the poet. Whilst we waited with some impatience +for his appearance, several persons present walked up to the table and +wrote down various subjects; which on Sestini's coming forward, he +read aloud, marking those which were distinguished by the most general +applause. This selection formed our evening's entertainment. A lady +sat down in her bonnet and shawl to accompany him; and when fatigued, +another fair musician readily supplied her place. It is seldom that an +improvvisatore attempts to recite without the assistance of music. +When Dr. Moore heard Corilla at Florence, she sung to the +accompaniment of two violins.[S] La Fantastici preferred the guitar; +and I should have preferred either to our jingling harpsichord. +However, a few chords struck at intervals were sufficient to support +the voice, and mark the time. Several airs were tried, and considered +before the poet could fix on one suited to his subject and the measure +he intended to employ. In general they were pretty and simple, +consisting of very few notes, and more like a chant or recitative, +than a regular air: one of the most beautiful I have obtained, and +shall bring with me to England. + +The moment Sestini had made his choice, he stepped forward, and +without further pause or preparation, began with the first subject +upon his list,--"_Il primo Navigatore_." + +Gesner's beautiful Idyl of "_The First Navigator_," supplied Sestini +with the Story, in all its details; but he versified it with +surprizing facility: and, as far as I could judge, with great spirit +and elegance. He added, too, some trifling circumstances, and several +little _traits_, the naivete of which afforded considerable amusement. +When an accurate rhyme, or apt expression, did not offer itself on the +instant it was required, he knit his brows and clenched his fingers +with impatience; but I think he never hesitated more than half a +second. At the moment the chord was struck, the rhyme was ready. In +this manner he poured forth between thirty and forty stanzas, with +still increasing animation; and wound up his poem with some beautiful +images of love, happiness, and innocence. Of his success I could form +some idea by the applauses he received from better judges than myself. + +After a few minutes' repose and a glass of water, he next called on +the company to supply him with rhymes for a sonnet. These, as fast as +they were suggested by various persons, he wrote down on a slip of +paper. The last rhyme given was "_Ostello_,"--(a common alehouse)--at +which he demurred, and submitting to the company the difficulty of +introducing so vulgar a word into an heroic sonnet, respectfully +begged that another might be substituted. A lady called out "_Avello_" +the poetical term for a grave, or a sepulchre, which expression bore +a happy analogy to the subject proposed. The poet smiled, well +pleased;--and stepping forward with the paper in his hand, he +immediately, without even a moment's preparation, recited a sonnet on +the second subject upon his list,--"_La Morte di Alfieri_."--I could +better judge of the merit of this effusion, because he spoke it +unaccompanied by music; and his enunciation was remarkably distinct. +The subject was popular, and treated with much feeling and poetic +fervour. After lamenting Alfieri as the patriot, as well as the bard, +and as the glory of his country, he concluded, by indignantly +repelling the supposition that "the latest sparks of genius and +freedom were buried in the tomb of Vittorio Alfieri." A thunder of +applause followed; and cries of "O bravo Sestini! bravo Sestini!" were +echoed from the Italian portion of the audience, long after the first +acclamations had subsided. The men rose simultaneously from their +seats; and I confess I could hardly keep mine. The animation of the +poet, and the enthusiasm of the audience, sent a thrill through every +nerve and filled my eyes with tears. + +The next subject was "_La Morte di Beatrice Cenci_;"--and this, I +think, was a failure. The frightful story of _Cenci_ is too well known +in England since the publication of Shelley's Tragedy. Here it is +familiar to all classes; and though two centuries have since elapsed, +it seems as fresh in the memory, or rather in the imagination of these +people, as if it had happened but yesterday. The subject was not well +chosen for a public and mixed assembly; and Sestini, without adverting +to the previous details of horror, confined himself most scrupulously, +with propriety, to the subject proposed. He described Beatrice led to +execution,--"_con baldanza casta e generosa_"--and the effect produced +on the multitude by her youth:--not forgetting to celebrate "_those +tresses like threads of gold whose wavy splendour dazzled all +beholders_," as they are described by a contemporary writer. He put +into her mouth a long and pious dying speech, in which she expressed +her trust in the blessed Virgin, and her hopes of pardon from eternal +justice and mercy. To my surprise, he also made her in one stanza +confess and repent the murder, or rather sacrifice,[T] which she had +perpetrated; which is contrary to the known fact, that Beatrice +_never_ confessed to the last moment of existence, nor gave any reason +to suppose that she repented. The whole was drawn out to too great a +length, and, with the exception of a few happy touches, and pathetic +sentiments, went off flatly. It was very little applauded. + +The next subject was the "_Immortality of the Soul_," on which the +poet displayed amazing pomp and power of words, and a wonderful +affluence of ideas. He showed, too, an intimate acquaintance with all +that had ever been said, or sung, upon the same subject, from Plato to +Thomas Aquinas. I confess I derived little benefit from all this +display of poetry and erudition; for, after the first few stanzas, +finding himself irretrievably perplexed by the united difficulties of +the language and the subject, I withdrew my attention, and amused +myself with the paintings on the walls, and with reveries on the past +and present, till I was roused by the acclamations that followed the +conclusion of the poem; which excited very general admiration and +applause. + +The company then furnished the _bouts-rimes_ for another sonnet: the +subject was "_L'Amor della Patria_." The title, even before he began, +was hailed by a round of plaudits; and the sonnet itself was excellent +and spirited. _Excellent_ I mean in its general effect, as an +_improvvisazione_:--how it would stand the test of cool criticism I +cannot tell; nor is that any thing to the purpose: these +extemporaneous effusions ought to be judged merely as what they +are,--not as finished or correct poems, but as wonderful exercises of +tenacious memory, ready wit, and that quickness of imagination which +can soar + + ----"al bel cimento + Sulle ali dell' momento." + +To return to Sestini. It may be imagined, that on such a subject as +"_L'Amor della Patria_," the ancient Roman worthies were not +forgotten, and accordingly, a Brutus, a Scipio, a Fabius, or a +Fabricius, figured in every line. And surely on no occasion could they +have been more appropriately introduced:--in Rome, and when addressing +Romans, who showed, by their enthusiastic applause, that though the +spirit of their forefathers may be extinct, their memory is not. + +The next subject, which formed a sort of _pendant_ to the Cenci, was +the "_Parricide of Tullia_." In this again his success was complete. +The stanza in which Tullia ordered her charioteer to "drive on," was +given with such effect as to electrify us: and a sudden burst of +approbation which caused a momentary interruption, evidently lent the +poet fresh spirits and animation. + +The evening concluded with a lively burlesque, entitled "_Il Mercato +d'Amore_" which represented Love as setting up a shop to sell "_la +Mercanzia della Gioventu_." The list of his stock in trade, though it +could not boast of much originality, was given with admirable wit and +vivacity. In conclusion, Love being threatened with a bankruptcy, took +shelter, as the poet assured us, in the bright eyes of the ladies +present. This farewell compliment was prettily turned, and intended, +of course, to be general: but it happened, luckily for Sestini, that +just opposite to him, and fixed upon him at the moment, were two of +the brightest eyes in the world. Whether he owed any of his +inspiration to their beams I know not; but the _a-propos_ of the +compliment was seized immediately, and loudly applauded by the +gentlemen round us. + +Sestini is a young man, apparently about five-and-twenty: of a slight +and delicate figure, and in his whole appearance, odd, wild, and +picturesque. He has the common foreign trick of running his fingers +through his black bushy hair; and accordingly it stands on end in all +directions. A pair of immense whiskers, equally black and luxuriant, +meet at the point of his chin, encircling a visage of most cadaverous +hue, and features which might be termed positively ugly, were it not +for the "_vago spirito ardento_" which shines out from his dark eyes, +and the fire and intelligence which light up his whole countenance, +till it almost kindles into beauty. Though he afterwards conversed +with apparent ease, and replied to the compliments of the company, he +was evidently much exhausted by his exertions. I should fear that +their frequent repetition, and the effervescence of mind, and nervous +excitement they cannot but occasion, must gradually wear out his +delicate frame and feeble temperament, and that the career of this +extraordinary genius will be short as it is brilliant.[U] + +_April 8._--As Maupertuis said after his journey to Lapland--for the +universe I would not have missed the sights and scenes of yesterday; +but, for the whole universe, I would not undergo such another day of +fatigue, anxiety, and feverish excitement. + +In the morning about ten o'clock, we all went down to St. Peter's, to +hear high mass. The absence of the Pope (who is still extremely ill) +detracted from the interest and dignity of the ceremony: there was no +general benediction from the balcony of St. Peter's; and nothing +pleased me, except the general _coup d'oeil_; which in truth was +splendid. The theatrical dresses of the mitred priests, the countless +multitude congregated from every part of Christendom, in every variety +of national costume, the immensity and magnificence of the church, and +the glorious sunshine--all these enchanted the eye; but I could have +fancied myself in a theatre. I saw no devotion, and I felt none. The +whole appeared more like a triumphal pageant acted in honour of a +heathen deity, than an act of worship and thanksgiving to the Great +Father of all. + +I observed an immense number of pilgrims, male and female, who had +come from various parts of Italy to visit the shrine of St. Peter on +this grand occasion. I longed to talk to a man who stood near me, with +a very singular and expressive countenance, whose cape and looped hat +were entirely covered with scallop shells and reliques, and his long +staff surmounted by a death's head. + +I was restrained by a feeling which I now think rather ridiculous: I +feared, lest by conversing with him, I should diminish the effect his +romantic and picturesque figure had made on my imagination. + +The exposition of the relics was from a balcony half way up the dome, +so high and distant that I could distinguish nothing but the +impression of our Saviour's face on the handkerchief of St. Veronica, +richly framed--at the sight whereof the whole multitude prostrated +themselves to the earth: the other relics I forget, but they were all +equally marvellous and equally credible. + +We returned after a long fatiguing morning to an early dinner; and +then drove again to the Piazza of St. Peter's, to see the far-famed +illumination of the church. We had to wait a considerable time; but +the scene was so novel and beautiful, that I found ample amusement in +my own thoughts and observations. The twilight rapidly closed round +us: the long lines of statues along the roof and balustrades, faintly +defined against the evening sky, looked like spirits come down to +gaze; a prodigious crowd of carriages, and people on foot, filled +every avenue: but all was still, except when a half-suppressed murmur +of impatience broke through the hushed silence of suspense and +expectation. At length, on a signal, which was given by the firing of +a cannon, the whole of the immense facade and dome, even up to the +cross on the summit, and the semicircular colonnades in front, burst +into a blaze, as if at the touch of an enchanter's wand; adding the +pleasure of surprise to that of delight and wonder. The carriages now +began to drive rapidly round the piazza, each with a train of running +footmen, flinging their torches round and dashing them against the +ground. The shouts and acclamations of the crowd, the stupendous +building with all its architectural outlines and projections, defined +in lines of living flame, the universal light, the sparkling of the +magnificent fountains--produced an effect far beyond any thing I could +have anticipated, and more like the gorgeous fictions of the Arabian +Nights, than any earthy reality. + +After driving round the piazza, we adjourned to a balcony which had +been hired for us overlooking the Tiber, and exactly opposite to the +Castle of St. Angelo. Hence we commanded a view of the fireworks, +which were truly superb, but made me so nervous and giddy with noise +and light and wonder, that I was rejoiced when all was over. A flight +of a thousand sky-rockets sent up at once, blotting the stars and the +moonlight--dazzling our eyes, stunning our ears, and amazing all our +senses together, concluded the Holy Week at Rome. + +To-morrow morning we start for Florence, and to-night I close this +second volume of my Diary. Thanks to my little ingenious Frenchmen in +the Via Santa Croce, I have procured a lock for a third volume, +almost equal to my patent _Bramah_ in point of security, though very +unlike it in every other respect. + + * * * * * + +_Viterbo_, _April 9._--"In every bosom Italy is the _second_ country +in the world, the surest proof that it is in reality the _first_." + +This elegant and just observation occurs, I think, in Arthur Young's +travels; I am not sure I quote the words correctly, but the sense will +come home to every cultivated mind with the force of a proverbial +truism. + +One leaves Naples as a man parts with an enchanting mistress, and Rome +as we would bid adieu to an old and dear-loved friend. I love it, and +grieve to leave it for its own sake; it is painful to quit a place +where we leave behind us many whom we love and regret; and almost or +quite as painful, I think, to quit a place in which we leave behind us +no one to regret, or think of us more; a feeling like this mingled +with the sorrow with which I bade adieu to Rome this morning. + +Our journey has been fatiguing, _triste_, and tedious. + + * * * * * + +_Radicofani_, _10th._--I could almost regret at this moment that I am +past the age of romance, for I am in a fine situation for mysterious +and imaginary horrors, could I but feel again as I did at gay sixteen; +but, alas! _ces beaux jours sont passes_! and here I am on the top of +a dreary black mountain, in a rambling old inn which looks like a +ci-devant hospital or dismantled barracks, in a bed-room which +resembles one of the wards of a poor-house, one little corner lighted +by my lamp, and the other three parts all lost in black ominous +darkness; while a tempest rages without as if it would break in the +rattling casements, and burst the roof over our heads; and yet, +insensible that I am! I can calmly take up my pen to amuse myself by +scribbling, since sleep is impossible. I can look round my vast and +solitary room without fancying a ghost or an assassin in every corner, +and listen to the raving and lamenting of the storm, without imagining +I hear in every gust the shrieks of wailing spirits, or the groans of +murdered travellers; only wishing that the wind were rather less cold, +or my fire a little brighter, or my dormitory less _infinitely_ +spacious; for at present its boundaries are invisible. + +The first part of our journey this morning was delightful and +picturesque; we passed the beautiful lake of Bolsena and +Montepulciano, so famous for its wine (_il Rei di Vino_, as Redi calls +it in the _Bacco in Toscana_). Later in the day we entered a gloomy +and desolate country; and after crossing the rapid and muddy torrent +of Rigo, which, as our _Guide des Voyageurs_ wittily informs us, we +shall have to cross _four_ times if we are not drowned the _third_ +time, we began to ascend the mountainous region which divides the +Tuscan from the Roman states--a succession of wild barren hills, +intersected in every direction by deep ravines, and presenting a +scene, sublime indeed from its waste and wild grandeur, but destitute +of all beauty, interest, magnificence and variety. + +I remember the strange emotion which came across me, when--on the +horses stopping to breathe on the summit of a lofty ridge, where all +around, as far as the eye could reach, nothing was to be seen but the +same unvarying, miserable, heart-sinking barrenness, without a trace +of human habitation, except the black fort or the highest point of +Radicofani--a soft sound of bells came over my ear as if brought upon +the wind. There is something in the sound of bells in the midst of a +solitude which is singularly striking, and may be cheering or +melancholy, according to the mood in which we may happen to be. + + * * * * * + +_Florence, April 14._--I have not written a word since we arrived at +Sienna. What would it avail me to keep a mere journal of suffering? O +that I could change as others do, could forget that such things have +been which can never be again! that there were not this tenacity in my +heart and soul which clings to the shadow though the substance be +gone! + +This is not a mere effusion of low spirits; I was never more cheerful. +I have just left a gay party, where Mr. Rogers (whom by special good +fortune we meet at every resting-place, and who dined with us to-day) +has been entertaining us delightfully. I disdain low spirits as a mere +disease which comes over us, generally from some physical or external +cause; to prescribe for them is as easy as to disguise them is +difficult: but the hopeless, cureless sadness of a heart which droops +with regret, and throbs with resentment, is easily, very easily +disguised, but not so easily banished. I hear every body round me +congratulating themselves, and _me_ more particularly, that we have at +last reached Florence, that we are so far advanced on our road +homewards, that soon we shall be at Paris, and Paris is to do +wonders--Paris and Dr. R** are to _set me up_ again, as the phrase is. +But I shall never be set up again, I shall never live to reach Paris; +none can tell how I sicken at the very name of that detested place; +none seem aware how fast, how very fast the principle of life is +burning away within me: but why should I speak? and what earthly help +can now avail me? I can suffer in silence, I can conceal the weakness +which increases upon me, by retiring, as if from choice and not +necessity, from all exertion not absolutely inevitable; and the change +is so gradual, none will perceive it till the great change of all +comes, and then I shall be at rest. + + * * * * * + +Florence looked most beautiful as we approached it from the south, +girt with her theatre of verdant hills, and glittering in the +sunshine. All the country from Sienna to Florence is richly +cultivated; diversified with neat hamlets, farms and villas. I was +more struck with the appearance of the Tuscan peasantry on my return +from the Papal dominions than when we passed through the country +before: no where in Tuscany have we seen that look of abject negligent +poverty, those crowds of squalid beggars which shocked us in the +Ecclesiastical States. In the towns where we stopped to change horses, +we were presently surrounded by a crowd of people: the women came out +spinning, or sewing and plaiting the Leghorn hats; the children threw +flowers into our barouche, the men grinned and gaped, but there was no +vociferous begging, no disgusting display of physical evils, filth, +and wretchedness. The motive was merely that idle curiosity for which +the Florentines in all ages have been remarked. I remember an amusing +instance which occurred when I was here in December last. I was +standing one evening in the Piazza del Gran Duca, looking at the group +of the Rape of the Sabines: in a few minutes a dozen people gathered +round me, gaping at the statue, and staring at that and at me +alternately, either to enjoy my admiration, or find out the cause of +it: the people came out of the neighbouring shops, and the crowd +continued to increase, till at length, though infinitely amused, I was +glad to make my escape. + +I suffered from cold when first we arrived at Florence, owing to the +change of climate, or rather to mere weakness and fatigue: to-day I +begin to doubt the possibility of outliving an Italian summer. The +blazing atmosphere which depresses the eyelids, the enervating heat, +and the rich perfume of the flowers all around us, are almost too +much. + +_April 20._--During our stay at Florence, it has been one of my +favourite occupations to go to the Gallery or the Pitti Palace, and +placing my portable seat opposite to some favourite pictures, minutely +study and compare the styles of the different masters. By the style of +any particular painter, I presume we mean to express the combination +of two separate essentials--first, his peculiar conception of his +subject; secondly, his peculiar method of executing that conception, +with regard to colouring, drawing, and what artists call handling. The +former department of style lies in the mind, and will vary according +to the feelings, the temper, the personal habits, and previous +education of the painter: the latter is merely mechanical, and is +technically termed the _manner_ of a painter; it may be cold or warm, +hard, dry, free, strong, tender: as we say the cold manner of Sasso +Ferrato, the warm manner of Giorgione, the hard manner of Holbein, the +dry manner of Perugino, the free manner of Rubens, the strong manner +of Carravaggio, and so forth; I heard an amateur once observe, that +one of Morland's Pig-sties was painted with great _feeling_: all this +refers merely to mechanical execution. + +I am no connaisseur; and I should have lamented, as a misfortune, the +want of some fixed principles of taste and criticism to guide my +judgment; some nomenclature by which to express certain effects, +peculiarities, and excellencies which I felt, rather than understood; +if my own ignorance had not afforded considerable amusement to myself, +and perhaps to others. I have derived some gratification from +observing the gradual improvement of my own taste: and from comparing +the decisions of my own unassisted judgment and natural feelings, with +the fiat of profound critics and connaisseurs: the result has been +sometimes mortifying, sometimes pleasing. Had I visited Italy in the +character of a ready-made connaisseur, I should have lost many +pleasures; for as the eye becomes more practised, the taste becomes +more discriminative and fastidious; and the more extensive our +acquaintance with the works of art, the more limited is our sphere of +admiration; as if the circle of enjoyment contracted round us, in +proportion as our sense of beauty became more intense and exquisite. A +thousand things which once had power to charm, can charm no longer; +but, _en revanche_, those which _do_ please, please a thousand times +more: thus what we lose on one side, we gain on the other. Perhaps, on +the whole, a technical knowledge of the arts is apt to divert the mind +from the general effect, to fix it on petty details of execution. Here +comes a connaisseur, who has found his way, good man! from Somerset +House, to the Tribune at Florence: see him with one hand passed across +his brow, to shade the light, while the other extended forwards, +describes certain indescribable circumvolutions in the air, and now he +retires, now advances, now recedes again, till he has hit the exact +distance from which every point of beauty is displayed to the best +possible advantage, and there he stands--gazing, as never gazed the +moon upon the waters, or love-sick maiden upon the moon! We take him +perhaps for another Pygmalion? We imagine that it is those parted and +half-breathing lips, those eyes that _seem_ to float in light; the +pictured majesty of suffering virtue, or the tears of repenting +loveliness; the divinity of beauty, or "_the beauty of holiness_," +which have thus transfixed him? No such thing: it is _fleshiness_ of +the tints, the _vaghezza_ of the colouring, the brilliance of the +carnations, the fold of a robe, or the fore-shortening of a little +finger. O! whip me such connaisseurs! the critic's stop-watch was +nothing to this. + +Mere mechanical excellence, and all the tricks of art have their +praise as long as they are subordinate and conduce to the general +effect. In painting as in her sister arts it is necessary + + "Che l'arte che tutto fa nulla si scuopre." + +Of course I do not speak here of the Dutch school, whose highest aim, +and highest praise, is exquisite mechanical precision in the +representation of common nature and still life: but of those pictures +which are the productions of mind, which address themselves to the +understanding, the fancy, the feelings, and convey either a moral or a +poetical pleasure. + +In taking a retrospective view of all the best collections in Italy +and of the Italian school in particular, I have been struck by the +endless multiplication of the same subjects, crucifixions, martyrdoms, +and other scripture horrors;--virgins, saints, and holy families. The +prevalence of the former class of subjects is easily explained, and +has been ingeniously defended; but it is not so easily reconciled to +the imagination. The mind and the eye are shocked and fatigued by the +succession of revolting and sanguinary images which pollute the walls +of every palace, church, gallery, and academy, from Milan to Naples. +The splendour of the execution only adds to their hideousness; we at +once seek for nature, and tremble to find it. It is hateful to see the +loveliest of the arts degraded to such butcher-work. I have often gone +to visit a famed collection with a secret dread of being led through a +sort of intellectual shambles, and returned with the feeling of one +who had supped full of horrors. I do not know how _men_ think, and +feel, though I believe many a man, who with every other feeling +absorbed in overpowering interest, could look unshrinking upon a real +scene of cruelty and blood, would shrink away disgusted and sickened +from the cold, obtrusive, _painted_ representation of the same object; +for the truth of this I appeal to men. I can only see with woman's +eyes, and think and feel as I believe every woman _must_, whatever may +be her love for the arts. I remember that in one of the palaces at +Milan--(I think it was in the collection of the Duca Litti)--we were +led up to a picture defended from the air by a plate of glass, and +which being considered as the gem of the collection, was reserved for +the last as a kind of _bonne bouche_. I gave but one glance, and +turned away loathing, shuddering, sickening. The cicerone looked +amazed at my bad taste, he assured me it was _un vero Correggio_ +(which by the way I can never believe), and that the duke had refused +for it I know not how many thousand scudi. It would be difficult to +say what was most execrable in this picture, the appalling nature of +the subject, the depravity of mind evinced in its conception, or the +horrible truth and skill with which it was delineated. I ought to add +that it hung up in the family dining-room and in full view of the +dinner-table. + +There is as picture among the chefs-d'oeuvres in the Vatican, which, +if I were pope (or Pope Joan) for a single day, should be burnt by the +common hangman, "with the smoke of its ashes to poison the air," as it +now poisons the sight by its unutterable horrors. There is another in +the Palazzo Pitti, at which I shiver still, and unfortunately there is +no avoiding it, as they have hung it close to Guido's lovely +Cleopatra. In the gallery there is a Judith and Holofernes which +irresistibly strikes the attention--if any thing would add to the +horror inspired by the sanguinary subject, and the atrocious fidelity +and talent with which it is expressed, it is that the artist was a +_woman_. I must confess that Judith is not one of my favourite +heroines; but I can more easily conceive how a woman inspired by +vengeance and patriotism could execute such a deed, than that she +could coolly sit down, and day after day, hour after hour, touch after +touch, dwell upon and almost realize to the eye such an abomination as +this. + +We can study anatomy, if (like a certain princess) we have a taste +that way, in the surgeon's dissecting-room; we do not look upon +pictures to have our minds agonized and contaminated by the sight of +human turpitude and barbarity, streaming blood, quivering flesh, +wounds, tortures, death, and horrors in every shape, even though it +should be all very _natural_. Painting has been called the handmaid of +nature; is it not the duty of a handmaid to array her mistress to the +best possible advantage? At least to keep her infirmities from view +and not to expose her too undressed? + +But I am not so weak, so cowardly, so fastidious, as to shrink from +every representation of human suffering, provided that our sympathy be +not strained beyond a certain point. To _please_ is the genuine aim of +painting, as of all the fine arts; when pleasure is conveyed through +deeply excited interest, by affecting the passions, the senses, and +the imagination, painting assumes a higher character, and almost vies +with tragedy: in fact, it _is_ tragedy to the eye, and is amenable to +the same laws. The St. Sebastians of Guido and Razzi; the St. Jerome +of Domenichino; the sternly beautiful Judith of Allori; the Pieta of +Raffaelle; the San Pietro Martire of Titian; are all so many tragic +_scenes_ wherein whatever is revolting in circumstances or character +is judiciously kept from view, where human suffering is dignified by +the moral lesson it is made to convey, and its effect on the beholder +at once softened and heightened by the redeeming grace which genius +and poetry have shed like a glory round it. + +Allowing all this, I am yet obliged to confess that I am wearied with +this class, of pictures, and that I wish there were fewer of them. + +But there is one subject which never tires, at least never tires _me_, +however varied, repeated, multiplied. A subject so lovely in itself +that the most eminent painter cannot easily embellish it, or the +meanest degrade it; a subject which comes home to our own bosoms and +dearest feelings; and in which we may "lose ourselves in all +delightfulness," and indulge unreproved pleasure. I mean the _Virgin +and Child_, or in other words, the abstract personification of what is +loveliest, purest, and dearest, under heaven--maternal tenderness, +virgin meekness, and childish innocence, and the _beauty of holiness_ +over all. + +It occurred to me to-day, that if a gallery could be formed of this +subject alone, selecting one specimen from among the works of every +painter, it would form not only a comparative index to their different +styles, but we should find, on recurring to what is known of the lives +and characters of the great masters, that each has stamped some +peculiarity of his own disposition on his Virgins; and that, after a +little consideration and practice, a very fair guess might be formed +of the character of each artist, by observing the style in which he +has treated this beautiful and favourite subject. + +Take Raffaelle for example, whose delightful character is dwelt upon +by all his biographers; his genuine nobleness of soul, which raised +him far above interest, rivalship, or jealousy, the gentleness of his +temper, the suavity of his manners, the sweetness of his disposition, +the benevolence of his heart, which rendered him so deeply loved and +admired, even by those who pined away at his success, and died of his +superiority[V]--are all attested by contemporary writers: where but in +his own harmonious character, need Raffaelle have looked for the +prototypes of his half-celestial creations? + +His Virgins alone combine every grace which the imagination can +require--repose, simplicity, meekness, purity, tenderness; blended +without any admixture of earthly passion, yet so varied, that though +all his Virgins have a general character, distinguishing them from +those of every other master, no two are exactly alike. In the Madonna +del Seggiola, for instance, the prevailing expression is a serious and +pensive tenderness; her eyes are turned from her infant, but she +clasps him to her bosom, as if it were not necessary to _see_ him, to +_feel_ him in her heart. In another Holy Family in the Pitti Palace, +the predominant expression is maternal rapture: in the Madonna di +Foligno, it is a saintly benignity becoming the Queen of Heaven: in +the Madonna del Cardellino, it is a meek and chaste simplicity: it is +the "_Vergine dolce e pia_" of Petrarch. This last picture hangs +close to the Fornarina in the Tribune,--a strange contrast! +Raffaelle's love for that haughty and voluptuous virago, had nothing +to do with his conception of ideal beauty and chastity; and could one +of his own Virgins have walked out of her frame, or if her prototype +could have been found on earth, he would have felt, as others have +felt--that to look upon such a being with aught of unholy passion +would be profanation indeed. + +Next to Raffaelle, I would rank Correggio, as a painter of Virgins. +Correggio was remarkable for the humility and gentleness of his +deportment, for his pensive and somewhat anxious disposition, and +kindly domestic feelings: these are the characteristics which have +poured themselves forth upon his Madonnas. They are distinguished +generally by the utmost sweetness, delicacy, grace, and devotional +feeling. I remember reading somewhere that Correggio had a large +family, and was a particularly fond father; and it is certain, that in +the expression of maternal tenderness, he is superior to all but +Raffaelle: his Holy Family in the Studii at Naples, and his lovely +Virgin in the gallery, are instances. + +Guido ranks next in my estimation, as a painter of Virgins. He is +described as an elegant and accomplished man, remarkable for the +modesty of his disposition, and the dignity and grace of his manner; +as delicate in his personal habits, and sumptuous in his dress and +style of living. He had unfortunately contracted a taste for gaming, +which latterly plunged him into difficulties, and tinged his mind with +bitterness and melancholy. All his heads have a peculiar expression of +elevated beauty, which has been called Guido's air. His Madonnas are +all but heavenly: they are tender, dignified, lovely:--but when +compared with Raffaelle's, they seem more touched with earthly +feeling, and have less of the pure ideal: they are, if I may so +express myself, too _sentimental_: sentiment is, in truth, the +distinguishing characteristic of Guido's style. It is remarkable, that +towards the end of his life, Guido more frequently painted the Mater +Dolorosa, and gave to the heads of his Madonnas a look of melancholy, +disconsolate resignation, which is extremely affecting. + +Titian's character is well known: his ardent cheerful temper, his +sanguine enthusiastic mind, his love of pleasure, his love of women; +and true it is, that through all his glowing pictures, we trace the +voluptuary. His Virgins are rather "_des jeunes epouses de la +veille_"--far too like his Venuses and his mistresses: they are all +luxuriant _human_ beauty; with that peculiar air of blandishment which +he has thrown into all his female heads, even into his portraits, and +his old women. Witness his lovely Virgin in the Vatican, his Mater +Sapientiae, and his celebrated Assumption at Venice, in which the eyes +absolutely float in rapture. There is nothing ideal in Titian's +conception of beauty: he paints no saints and goddesses _fancy-bred_: +his females are all true, lovely women; not like the heavenly creation +of Raffaelle, looking as if a touch, a breath would profane them; but +warm flesh and blood--heart and soul--with life in their eyes, and +love upon their lips: even over his Magdalenes, his beauty-breathing +pencil has shed a something which says, + + A misura che amo-- + Piange i suoi falli! + +But this is straying from my subject; as I have embarked in this +fanciful hypothesis, I shall multiply my proofs and examples, as far +as I can, from memory. + +In some account I have read of Murillo, he is emphatically styled _an +honest man_: this is all I can remember of his character; and _truth_ +and nature prevail through all his pictures. In his Virgins, we can +trace nothing elevated, poetical or heavenly: they have not the +_ideality_ of Raffaelle's, nor the tender sweetness of Correggio's; +nor the glowing loveliness of Titian's; but they have an individual +reality about them, which gives them the air of portraits. That +chef-d'oeuvre, in the Pitti Palace, for instance, call it a +beautiful peasant girl and her baby, and it is faultless: but when I +am told it is the "_Vergine gloriosa, del Re Eterno Madre, Figliuola, +e Sposa_," I look instantly for something far beyond what I see +expressed. All Murillo's Virgins are so different from each other, +that it is plain the artist did not paint from any preconceived idea +of his own mind, but from different originals; they are all impressed +with that general air of truth, nature, and common life, which stamps +upon them a peculiar and distinct character. + +Andrea del Sarto, who is in style as in character the very reverse of +Murillo, fascinated me at first by his enchanting colouring, and the +magical aerial depths of his chiaro-oscuro; but on a further +acquaintance with his works, I was struck by the predominance of +external form and colour over mind and feeling. His Virgins look as if +they had been born and bred in the first circles of society, and have +a particular air of elegance, an artificial grace, an attraction, +which may be entirely traced to exterior; to the cast of the features, +the contour of the form, the disposition of the draperies, the +striking attitudes, and, above all, the divine colouring: beauty and +dignity, and powerful effect, we always find in his pictures: but no +_moral_ pathos--no poetry--no sentiment--above all, a strange and +total want of devotional expression, simplicity and humility. His +Virgin with St. Francis and St. John, which hangs behind the Venus in +the Tribunes, is a wonderful picture; and there are two charming +Madonnas in the Borghese Palace at Rome. In the first we are struck by +the grouping and colouring; in the last, by a certain graceful +_lengthiness_ of the limbs and fine animated drawing in the +attitudes. But we look in vain for the "sacred and the sweet," for +heart, for soul, for countenance. + +Andrea del Sarto had, in his profession, great talents rather than +genius and enthusiasm. He was weak, dissipated, unprincipled; without +elevation of mind or generosity of temper; and that his moral +character was utterly contemptible, is proved by one trait in his +life. A generous patron who had relieved him in his necessity, +afterwards entrusted him with a considerable sum of money, to be laid +out in certain purchases; Andrea del Sarto perfidiously embezzled the +whole, and turned it to his own use. This story is told in his life, +with the addition that "he was persuaded to it by his wife, as +profligate and extravagant as himself." + +Carlo Dolce's gentle, delicate, and melancholy temperament, are +strongly expressed in his own portrait, which is in the Gallery of +Paintings here. All his pictures are tinged by the morbid delicacy of +his constitution, and the refinement of his character and habits. They +have exquisite finish, but a want of power, degenerating at times into +coldness and feebleness; his Madonnas are distinguished by regular +feminine beauty, melancholy, devotion, or resigned sweetness: he +excelled in Mater Dolorosa. The most beautiful of his Virgins is in +Pitti Palace, of which picture there is a duplicate in the Borghese +Palace at Rome. + +Carlo Marratti, without distinguished merit of any kind--unless it was +a distinguished merit to be the father of Faustina Zappi,--owed his +fortune, his title of _Cavaliere_, and the celebrity he once enjoyed, +not to any superiority of genius, but to his successful arts as a +courtier, and his assiduous flattery of the great. What can be more +characteristic of the man, than his simpering Virgins, fluttering in +tasteless, many-coloured draperies, with their sky blue back-grounds, +and golden clouds? + +Caravaggio was a gloomy misanthrope and a profligate ruffian: we read, +that he was banished from Rome, for a murder committed in a drunken +brawl; and that he died at last of debauchery and want. Caravaggio was +perfect in his gamblers, robbers, and martyrdoms, and should never +have meddled with Saints and Madonnas. In his famous _Pieta_ in the +Vatican, the Virgin is an old beggar-woman, the two Maries are +fish-wives, in "maudlin sorrow," and St. Peter and St. John, a couple +of bravoes, burying a murdered traveller: _dipinse ferocemente sempre +perche feroce era il suo carrattere_, says his biographer; an +observation, by the way, in support of my hypothesis. + +Rubens, with all his transcendent genius, had a coarse imagination: he +bore the character of an honest, liberal, but not very refined man. +Rubens painted Virgins--would he had let them alone! fat, comfortable +farmers' wives, nursing their chubby children. Then follows Vandyke in +the opposite extreme. Vandyke was celebrated in his day, for his +personal accomplishments: he was, says his biographers, a complete +scholar, courtier and gentleman. His beautiful Madonnas are, +accordingly, what we might expect--rather too intellectual and +lady-like: they all look as if they had been polished by education. + +The grand austere genius of Michel Angelo was little calculated to +portray the dove-like meekness of the _Vergine dolce e pia_, or the +playfulness of infantine beauty. In his Mater Amabilis, sweetness and +beauty are sacrificed to expression; and dignity is exaggerated into +masculine energy. In the Mater Dolorosa, suffering is tormented into +agony: the anguish is too human: it is not sufficiently softened by +resignation; and makes us turn away with a too painful sympathy. Such +is the admirable head in the Palazzo Litti at Milan; such his sublime +_Pieta_ in the Vatican--but the last, being in marble, is not quite a +case in point. + +I will mention but two more painters of whose lives and characters I +know nothing yet, and may therefore fairly make their works a test of +both, and judge of them in their Madonnas, and afterwards measure my +own penetration and the truth of my hypothesis, by a reference to the +biographical writers. + +In the few pictures I have seen of Carlo Cignani, I have been struck +by the predominance of mind and feeling over mere external form: there +is a picture of his in the Rospigliosi Palace--or rather, to give an +example which is nearer at hand, and fresh in my memory, there is in +the gallery _here_, his Madonna del Rosario. It represents a beautiful +young woman, evidently of plebeian race: the form of the face is +round, the features have nothing of the beau-ideal, and the whole head +wants dignity: yet has the painter contrived to throw into this lovely +picture an inimitable expression which depends on nothing external, +which in the living prototype we should term _countenance_; as if a +chastened consciousness of her high destiny and exalted character +shone through the natural rusticity of her features, and touched them +with a certain grace and dignity, emanating from the mind alone, which +only mind could give, and mind perceive. I have seen within the last +few days, three copies of this picture, in all of them the charming +simplicity and rusticity, but in none the exquisite expression of the +original: even the hands are expressive, without any particular +delicacy or beauty of form. An artist who was copying the picture +to-day while I looked at it, remarked this; and confessed he had made +several unsuccessful attempts to render the fond pressure of the +fingers as she clasps the child to her bosom. + +Were I to judge of Carlo Cignani by his works, I should pronounce him +a man of elevated character, noble by instinct, if not by descent, but +simple in his habits, and a despiser of outward show and ostentation. + +The other painter I alluded to, is Sasso Ferrato, a great and admired +manufacturer of Virgins, but a mere copyist, without pathos, power, or +originality; sometimes he resembles Guido, sometimes Carlo Dolce; but +the graceful harmonious delicacy of the former becomes coldness and +flatness in his hands, and the refinement and sweetness of the latter +sink into feebleness and insipidity. Were I to judge of his character +by his Madonnas, I should suppose that Sasso Ferrato had neither +original genius nor powerful intellect, nor warmth of heart, nor +vivacity of temper; that he was, in short, a mere mild, inoffensive, +good sort of man, studious and industrious in his art, not without a +feeling for the excellence he wanted power to attain.[W] + +I might pursue this subject further, but my memory fails, my head +aches, and my pen is tired for to-night. + + * * * * * + +Both here and at Rome, I have found considerable amusement in looking +over the artists who are usually employed in copying or studying from +the celebrated pictures in the different galleries; but I have been +taught discretion on such occasions by a ridiculous incident which +occurred the other day, as absurdly comic as it was unlucky and +vexatious. A friend of mine observing an artist at work in the Pitti +palace, whom, by his total silence and inattention to all around, she +supposed to be a native Italian who did not understand a word of +English, went up to him, and peeping over his shoulder, exclaimed with +more truth than discretion, "Ah! what a hideous attempt! that will +never be like, I'm sure!" "I am very sorry you think so, ma'am," +replied the painter, coolly looking up in her face. He must have read +in that beautiful face an expression which deeply avenged the cause of +his affronted picture. + +We have been twice to the opera since we arrived here. At the Pergola, +Bassi, though a woman, is the _Primo Uomo_; the rare quality of her +voice, which is a kind of rich deep counter-tenor, unfitting her for +female parts. Her voice and science are so admirable, that it would be +delicious to hear her blindfold; but her large clumsy figure +disguised, or rather _exposed_, in masculine attire, is quite +revolting. + +At the Cocomero we had the "Italiana in Algieri:" the Prima Donna, who +is an admired singer, gave the comic airs with great power and effect, +but her bold execution and her ungraceful unliquid voice disgusted me, +and I came away fatigued and dissatisfied. The dancing is execrable at +both theatres. + +From one end of Italy to the other, nothing is listened to in the way +of music but Rossini and his imitators. The man must have a transcendant +genius, who can lead and pervert the taste of his age as Rossini has +done; but unfortunately those who have not his talent, who cannot +reach his beauties nor emulate his airy brilliance of imagination, +think to imitate his ornamented style by merely crowding note upon +note, semi-quavers, demi-semi-quavers, and semi-demi-semi-quavers in +most perplexed succession; and thus all Italy, and thence all Europe, +is deluged with this busy, fussy, hurry-skurry music, which means +nothing, and leaves no trace behind it either on the fancy or the +memory. Must it be ever thus? are Paesiello, and Pergolesi, and +Cimarosa--and those divine German masters, who formed themselves on +the Italian school and surpassed it--Winter and Mozart[X] and +Gluck--are they eternally banished? must sense and feeling be for ever +sacrificed to mere sound, the human organ degraded into a mere +instrument,[Y] and the ear tickled with novelty and meretricious +ornament, till the taste is utterly diseased? + +There was a period in the history of Italian literature, when the +great classical writers were decried and neglected, and the genius of +one man depraved the taste of the age in which he lived. Marini +introduced, or at least rendered general and fashionable, that +far-fetched wit, that tinsel and glittering style, that luxurious pomp +of words, which was easily imitated by talents of a lower order: yet +in the Adonis there are many redeeming passages, some touches of real +pathos, and some stanzas of natural and beautiful description: and +thus it is with Rossini; his best operas contain some melodies among +the finest ever composed, and even in his worst, the ear is every now +and then roused and enchanted by a few bars of graceful and beautiful +melody, to be in the next moment again bewildered in the maze of +unmeaning notes, and the clash of overpowering accompaniments. + +_Lucca, April 23._--Lucca disappoints me in every respect: it was +once, when a republic, one of the most flourishing, rich, and populous +cities in Italy; it is now consigned over to the Ex-queen of Etruria; +and its fate will be perhaps the same as that of Venice, Pisa, and +Sienna, which, when they lost their independence, lost also their +public spirit, their public virtue, and their prosperity. + +It is impossible to conceive any thing more rich and beautiful, than +the country between Florence and Lucca, though it can boast little of +the elevated picturesque, and is destitute of poetical associations. +The road lay through valleys, with the Apennines (which are here +softened down into gently sunny hills) on each side. Every spot of +ground is in the highest state of cultivation; the boundaries between +the small fields of wheat or lupines, were rows of olives or +mulberries, with an interminable treillage of vines flung from tree to +tree. In England we should be obliged to cut them all down for fear of +depriving the crops of heat and sunshine, but here they have no such +fears. The style of husbandry is exquisitely neat, and in general +performed by manual labour. The only plough I saw would have excited +the amusement and amazement of an English farmer: I should think it +was exactly similar to the ploughs of Virgil's time: it was drawn by +an ox and an ass yoked together, and guided by a woman. The whole +country looked as if it had been laid out by skilful gardeners, and +the hills in many parts were cut into terraces, that not one available +inch of soil might be lost. The products of this luxuriant country are +corn, silk, wine, and principally oil: potteries abound, the making of +jars and flasks being an immense and necessary branch of trade. + +The city of Lucca has an appearance in itself of stately solemn +dulness, and bears no trace of the smiling prosperity of the adjacent +country: the shops are poor and empty, there are no signs of business, +and the streets swarm with beggars. The interior of the Duomo is a +fine specimen of Gothic: the exterior is Greek, Gothic, and Saracenic +jumbled together in vile taste: it contains nothing very interesting. +The palace is like other palaces, very fine and so forth; and only +remarkable for not containing one good picture, or one valuable work +of art. + +_Pisa, April 25._--Pisa has a look of elegant tranquillity, which is +not exactly _dulness_, and pleases me particularly: if the thought of +its past independence, the memory of its once proud name in arts, +arms, and literature, came across the mind, it is not accompanied by +any painful regret caused by the sight of present misery and +degradation, but by that philosophic melancholy with which we are used +to contemplate the mutability of earthly greatness. + +The Duomo, the Baptistry, the Leaning Tower, and the Campo Santo, +stand altogether in a fine open elevated part of the city. The Duomo +is a magnificent edifice in bad taste. The interior, with its noble +columns of oriental granite, is grand, sombre, and very striking. As +to the style of architecture, it would be difficult to determine what +name to give it: it is not Greek, nor Gothic, nor Saxon, and exhibits +a strange mixture of Pagan and Christian ornaments, not very +unfrequent in Italian churches. The Leaning Tower should be +contemplated from the portico of the church to heighten its effect: +when the perpendicular column cuts it to the eye like a plumb line, +the obliquity appears really terrific. + +The Campo Santo is an extraordinary place: it affects the mind like +the cloisters of one of our Gothic cathedrals which it resembles in +effect. Means have lately been taken to preserve the singular frescos +on the walls, which for five hundred years have been exposed to the +open air. + +I remarked the tomb of that elegant fabulist Pignotti; the last +personage of celebrity buried in the Campo Santo. + +The university of Pisa is no longer what it was when France and Venice +had nearly gone to war about one of its law professors, and its +colleges ranked next to those of Padua: it has declined in fame, in +riches, and in discipline. The Botanic Garden was a few years ago the +finest in all Europe, and is still maintained with great cost and +care: it contains a lofty magnolia, the stem of which is as bulky as a +good sized tree: the gardener told us rather poetically, that when in +blossom it perfumed the whole city of Pisa. + +_Leghorn, April 26._--So different from any thing we have yet seen in +Italy! busy streets--gay shops--various costumes--Greeks, Turks, Jews, +and Christians, mingled on terms of friendly equality--a crowded port, +and all the activity of prosperous commerce. + +Leghorn is in every sense a _free_ port: all kinds of merchandise +enter exempt from duty, all religions are equally tolerated, and all +nations trade on an equal footing. + +The Jews, who are in every other city a shunned and degraded race, are +among the most opulent and respectable inhabitants of Leghorn: their +quarter is the richest, and, I may add, the _dirtiest_ in the city: +their synagogue here is reckoned the finest in Europe, and I was +induced to visit it yesterday at the hour of worship. I confess I was +much disappointed; and, notwithstanding my inclination to respect +always what is respectable in the eyes of others, I never felt so +strong a disposition to smile. An old Rabbi with a beard of venerable +length, a pointed bonnet, and a long white veil, got up into a superb +marble pulpit and chanted in strange nasal tones, something which was +repeated after him in various and discordant voices by the rest of the +assembly. The congregation consisted of an uncouth set of men and +boys, many of them from different parts of the Levant, in the dresses +of their respective countries: there was no appearance of devotion, no +solemnity; all wore their hats, some were poring over ragged books, +some were talking, some sleeping, or lounging, or smoking. While I +stood looking about me, without exciting the smallest attention, I +heard at every pause a prodigious chattering and whispering, which +seemed to come from the regions above, and looking up I saw a row of +latticed and skreened galleries where the women were caged up like +the monkies at a menagerie, and seemed as noisy, as restless, and as +impatient of confinement: the door-keeper offered to introduce me +among them, but I was already tired and glad to depart. + + * * * * * + +We have visited the pretty English burial-ground, and the tomb of +Smollet, which in the true English style is cut and scratched all over +with the names of fools, who think thus to link their own +insignificance to his immortality. We have also seen whatever else is +to be seen, and what all travellers describe: to-morrow we leave +Leghorn--for myself without regret: it is a place with which I have no +sympathies, and the hot, languid, damp atmosphere, which depresses the +spirits and relaxes the nerves, has made me suffer ever since we +arrived. + + * * * * * + +_Lucca._--Had I never visited Italy I think I should never have +understood the word _picturesque_. In England we apply it generally to +rural objects or natural scenery, for nothing else in England _can_ +deserve the epithet. Civilization, cleanliness, and comfort are +excellent things, but they are sworn enemies to the picturesque: they +have banished it gradually from our towns, and habitations, into +remote countries, and little nooks and corners, where we are obliged +to hunt after it to find it; but in Italy the picturesque is every +where, in every variety of form; it meets us at every turn, in town +and in country, at all times and seasons; the commonest objects of +every-day life here become picturesque, and assume from a thousand +causes a certain character of poetical interest it cannot have +elsewhere. In England, when travelling in some distant county, we see +perhaps a craggy hill, a thatched cottage, a mill on a winding stream, +a rosy milkmaid, or a smock-frocked labourer whistling after his +plough, and we exclaim "How picturesque!" Travelling in Italy we see a +piny mountain, a little dilapidated village on its declivity, the +ruined temple of Jupiter or Apollo on its summit; a peasant with a +bunch of roses hanging from his hat, and singing to his guitar, or a +cotadina in her white veil and scarlet petticoat, and we exclaim "How +picturesque!" but how different! Again--a tidy drill or a hay-cart, +with a team of fine horses, is a very useful, valuable, civilized +machine; but a grape-waggon reeling under its load of purple clusters, +and drawn by a pair of oxen in their clumsy, ill-contrived harness, +and bowing their patient heads to the earth, is much more picturesque. +A spinning wheel is very convenient it must be allowed, but the +distaff and spindle are much more picturesque. A snug English villa +with its shaven lawn, its neat shrubbery, and its park, is a +delightful thing--an Italian villa is probably far less _comfortable_, +but with its vineyards, its gardens, its fountains, and statutes, is +far more picturesque. A laundry-maid at her wash-tub, immersed in +soap-suds, is a vulgar idea, though our clothes may be the better for +it. I shall never forget the group of women I saw at Terracina washing +their linen in a bubbling brook as clear as crystal, which rushed from +the mountains to the sea--there were twenty of them at least grouped +with the most graceful effect, some standing up to the mid-leg in the +stream, others spreading the linen on the sunny bank, some, flinging +back their long hair, stood shading their brows with their hands and +gazing on us as we passed: it was a _scene_ for a poet, or a painter, +or a melo-drama. An English garden, adorned at every turn with statues +of the heathen deities (although they were all but personifications of +the various attributes of nature,) would be ridiculous. Setting aside +the injury they must sustain from our damp, variable climate, they +would be _out of keeping_ with all around; here it is altogether +different; the very air of Italy is embued with the spirit of ancient +mythology; and though "the fair humanities of old religion," the +Nymphs, the Fauns, the Dryads be banished from their haunts and live +no longer in the faith of reason, yet still, whithersoever we turn, +some statue, some temple in ruins, some fragment of an altar, some +inscription half effaced, some name half-barbarized, recalls to the +fancy those forms of light, of beauty, of majesty, which poetry +created to people scenes for which mere humanity was not in itself +half pure enough, fair enough, bright enough. + +What can be more grand than a noble forest of English oak? or more +beautiful than a grove of beeches and elms, clothed in their rich +autumnal tints? or more delicious than the apple orchard in full +bloom? but it is true, notwithstanding, that the olive, and cypress, +and cedar, the orange and the citron, the fig and the pomegranate, the +myrtle and the vine, convey a different and more luxuriant feeling to +the mind; and are associated with ideas which give to the landscape +they adorn a character more delightfully, more _poetically_ +picturesque. + +When at Lord Grosvenor's or Lord Stafford's I have been seated +opposite to some beautiful Italian landscape, a Claude or a Poussin, +with a hill crowned with olives, a ruined temple, a group of peasants +seated on a fallen column, or dancing to the pipe and the guitar, and +over all the crimson glow of evening, or the violet tints of morning, +I have exclaimed with others, "How lovely! how picturesque, how very +poetical!" No one thought of saying "How _natural_!" because it is a +style of nature with which we are totally unacquainted; and if some +amateurs of real taste and feeling prefer a rural cattle scene of Paul +Potter or Cuyp, to all the grand or lovely creations of Salvator, or +Claude, or Poussin, it is perhaps, because the former are associated +in their minds with reality and familiar nature, while the latter +appear in comparison mere inventions of the painter's fertile fancy, +mere visionary representations of what may or might exist but which do +not come home to the memory or the mind with the force of truth or +delighted recollection. So when I have been travelling in Italy how +often I have exclaimed, "How like a picture!" and I remember once, +while contemplating a most glorious sunset from the banks of the Arno, +I caught myself saying, "This is truly one of Claude's sunsets!" Now +should I live to see again one of my favourite Grosvenor Claudes I +shall probably exclaim, "How natural! how like what I have seen so +often on the Arno, or from the Monte Pincio!" + +And, in conclusion, let it be remembered by those who are inclined to +smile (as I have often done) when travellers fresh from Italy _rave_ +almost in blank verse, and think it all as unmeaning as + + "Lutes, laurels, seas of milk, and ships of amber!" + +let them recollect that it is not alone the _visible_ picturesque of +Italy which thus intoxicates; it is not only her fervid skies, her +sunsets, which envelope one-half of heaven from the horizon to the +zenith, in living blaze; nor her soaring pine-clad mountains; nor her +azure seas; nor her fields, "ploughed by the sunbeams;" nor her +gorgeous cities, spread out with all their domes and towers, +unobscured by cloud or vapours;--but it is something more than these, +something beyond, and over all-- + + ----The gleam, + The light that never was on sea or land + The consecration, and the poet's dream! + +_Genoa, 30._--We arrived here late, and I should not write now, weary, +weak, sick, and down-spirited as I am, did I not know how the +impressions of one day efface those of the former; and as I cannot +sleep, it is better to scribble than to think. + +As to describing all I have seen, thought, and felt in three days, +that were indeed impossible: I think I have exhausted all my prose +eloquence, and all allowable raptures; so that unless I ramble into +absolute poetry, I dare not say a word of the scenery around Sarzana +and Lerici. After spending one evening at Sarzana, in lingering +through green lanes and watching the millions of fire-flies, sparkling +in the dark shade of the trees, and lost again in the brilliant +moonlight--we left it the next morning about sunrise, to embark in a +felucca at Lerici, as the road between Spezia and Sestri is not yet +completed. The groves and vineyards on each side of the road were +filled with nightingales, singing in concert loud enough to overpower +the sound of our carriage-wheels, and the whole scene, as the sun rose +over it, and the purple shadows drew off and disclosed it gradually to +the eye, was so enchanting--that positively I will say nothing about +it. + +Lerici is a small fishing town on the Gulf of Spezia. Here I met with +an adventure which with a little exaggeration and embellishment, such +as no real story-teller ever spares, would make an admirable morceau +for a quarto tourist; but, in simple truth, was briefly thus. + +While some of our party were at breakfast, and the servants and +sailors were embarking the carriages and baggage, I sat down to sketch +the old grey fort on the cliff above the town; but every time I looked +up, the scene was so inexpressibly gay and lovely, it was with +difficulty and reluctance I could turn my eyes down to my paper again; +and soon I gave up the attempt, and threw away both paper and pencil. +It struck me that the view _from_ the castle itself must be a thousand +times finer than the view of the castle from below, and without loss +of time I proceeded to explore the path leading to it. With some +fatigue and difficulty, and after losing myself once or twice, I +reached the top of the rock, and there a wicket opened into a walled +passage cut into steps to ease the ascent. I knocked at the wicket +with three strokes, that being the orthodox style of demanding +entrance into the court of an enchanted castle, using my parasol +instead of a dagger,[Z] and no one appearing, I entered, and in a few +moments reached a small paved terrace in front of the fortress, +defended towards the sea by a low parapet wall. The massy portal was +closed, and instead of a bugle horn hanging at the gate I found only +the handle and fragments of an old birch-broom, which base utensil I +presently applied to the purpose of a horn, viz. sounding an alarm, +and knocked and knocked--but no hoary-headed seneschal nor armed +warder appeared at my summons. After a moment's hesitation, I gave the +door a push with all my strength: it yielded, creaking on its hinges, +and I stepped over the raised threshold. I found myself in a low dark +vaulted hall which appeared at first to have no communication with any +other chamber: but on advancing cautiously to the end I found a low +door in the side, which had once been defended by a strong iron +grating of which some part remained: it led to a flight of stone +stairs, which I began to ascend slowly, stopping every moment to +listen; but all was still as the grave. On each side of this winding +staircase I peeped into several chambers, all solitary and ruinous: +more and more surprised, I continued to ascend till I put my head +unexpectedly through a trap-door, and found myself on the roof on the +tower: it was spacious, defended by battlements, and contained the +only signs of warlike preparation I had met with; _videlicet_, two +cannons, or culverins, as they are called, and a pyramidal heap of +balls, rusted by the sea air. + +I sat down on one of the cannon, and leaning on the battlements, +surveyed the scene around, below me, with a feeling of rapture, not a +little enhanced by the novelty and romance of my situation. I was +alone--I had no reason to think there was a single human being within +hearing. I was at such a vast height above the town and the shore, +that not a sound reached me, except an indistinct murmur now and then, +borne upwards by the breeze, and the scream of the sea-fowl as they +wheeled round and round my head. I looked down giddily upon the blue +sea, all glowing and trembling in the sunshine: and the scenery around +me was such, as the dullest eye--the coldest, the most _unimaginative_ +soul, could not have contemplated without emotion. I sat, I know not +how long, abandoned to reveries, sweet and bitter, till I was startled +by footsteps close to me, and turning round, I beheld a figure so +strange and fantastic, and considering the time, place, and +circumstance, so incomprehensible and extraordinary, that I was dumb +with surprise. It was a little spare old man, with a face and form +which resembled the anatomy of a baboon, dressed in an ample nightgown +of flowered silk, which hung upon him as if it had been made for a +giant, and trailed on the ground, a yard and a half behind him. He had +no stockings, but on his feet a pair of red slippers, turned up in +front like those the Turks wear. His beard was grizzled, and on his +head he wore one of the long many-coloured woollen caps usually worn +in this country, with two tassels depending from it, which nearly +reached his knees. I had full time to examine the appearance and +costume of this strange apparition as he stood before me, bowing +profoundly, and looking as if fright and wonder had deprived him of +speech. As soon as I had recovered from my first amazement, I replied +to every low bow, by as low a courtesy, and waited till it should +please him to begin the parley. + +At length he ventured to ask, in bad provincial Italian, what I did +there? + +I replied that I was only admiring the fine prospect. + +He begged to know, "_come diavolo_," I had got there? + +I assured him I had not got there by any _diabolical_ aid, but had +merely walked through the door. + +_Santi Apostoli!_ did not my excellency know, that, according to the +laws and regulations of war, no one could enter the fort, without +permission first obtained of the governor? + +I apologized politely: "And where," said I, "is the governor?" + +_Il Governatore son io per servirla!_ he replied, with a low bow. + +You! _O che bel ceffo!_ thought I--"and what, Signor Governor, is the +use of your fort?" + +"To defend the bay and town of Lerici from enemies and pirates." + +"But," said I, "I see no soldier; where is the garrison to defend the +fort?" + +The little old man stepped back two steps--"_Eccomi!_" he replied, +spreading his hand on his breast, and bowing with dignity. + +It was impossible to make any reply: I therefore wished the governor +and garrison good morning; and disappearing through my trap-door, I +soon made my way down to the shore, where I arrived out of breath, and +just in time to step into our felucca. + + * * * * * + +If there be a time when we most wish for those of whom we always +think, when we most love those who are always dearest, it must be on +such a delicious night as that we passed at Sarzana, or on such a +morning as that we spent at Lerici; and if there be a time when we +least love those we always love--least wish for them, least think of +them, it must be in such a moment as the noontide of yesterday--when +the dead calm overtook us, half way between Lerici and Sestri, and I +sat in the stern of our felucca, looking with a sort of despairing +languor over the smooth purple sea, which scarcely heaved round us, +while the flapping sails drooped useless round the masts, and the +rowers indolently leaning on their oars, sung in a low and plaintive +chorus. I sat hour after hour, still and silent, sickening in the +sunshine, dazzled by its reflection on the water, and overcome with +deadly nausea: I believe nothing on earth could have roused me at that +moment. But evening so impatiently invoked, came at last: the sun set, +the last gleam of his "golden path of rays" faded from the waters, the +sea assumed the hue of ink; the breeze sprung up, and our little +vessel, with all its white sails spread, glanced like a white swan +over the waves, leaving behind "a moon-illumined wake." Two hours +after dark we reached Sestri, where we found miserable accommodations; +and after foraging in vain for something to eat, after our day's fast, +we crept to bed, all sick, sleepy, hungry, and tired. + + * * * * * + +We leave Genoa to-morrow: I can say but little of it, for I have been +ill, as usual, almost ever since we arrived; and though my little +Diary has become to me a species of hobby, I have lately found it +fatiguing, even to write! and the pleasure and interest it used to +afford me, diminish daily. + +Genoa, though fallen, is still "Genoa the proud." She is like a noble +matron, blooming in years, and dignified in decay; while her rival +Venice always used to remind me of a beautiful courtezan repenting in +sackcloth and ashes, and mingling the ragged remnants of her former +splendour with the emblems of present misery, degradation, and +mourning. Pursue the train of similitude, Florence may be likened to a +blooming bride dressed out to meet her lover; Naples to Tasso's +Armida, with all the allurements of the Syren, and all the terrors of +the Sorceress; Rome sits crowned upon the grave of her power, widowed +indeed, and desolate, but still, like the queenly Constance, she +maintains the majesty of Sorrow-- + + "This is my throne, let kings come bow to it!" + + * * * * * + +The coup-d'oeil of Genoa, splendid as it is, is not equal to that of +Naples, even setting poetical associations aside: it is built like a +crescent round the harbour, rising abruptly from the margin of the +water, which makes the view from the sea so beautiful: to the north +the hills enclose it round like an amphitheatre. The adjacent country +is covered with villas, gardens, vineyards, woods, and olive-groves +forming a scene most enchanting to the eye and mind, though of a +character very different from the savage luxuriance of the south of +Italy. + +The view of the city from any of the heights around, more particularly +from that part of the shore called the Ponente, where we were to-day, +is grand beyond description; on every side the church of Carignano is +a beautiful and striking object. + +There is but one street, properly so called, in Genoa--the Strada +Nuova; the others are little paved alleys, most of them impassable to +carriages, both from their narrowness and the irregularity of the +ground on which the city is built. + +The Strada Nuova is formed of a double line of magnificent palaces, +among which the Doria Palace is conspicuous. The architecture is in +general fine; and when not good is at least pleasing; the fronts of +the houses are in general gaily painted and stuccoed. The best +apartments are usually at the top; and the roofs often laid out in +terraces, or paved with marble and adorned with flowers and shrubs. + +I have seen few good pictures here: the best collections are those in +the Brignolet and Durazzo palaces. In the latter are some striking +pictures by Spagnoletto (or Ribera, as he is called here). In the +Brignolet, the Roman Daughter, by Guido, struck me most. I was also +pleased by some fine pictures of the Genoese painter Piola, who is +little known beyond Genoa. + +The church of the Carignano, which is a miniature model of St. +Peter's, contains Paget's admirable statue of St. Sebastian, which +Napoleon intended to have conveyed to Paris. + + * * * * * + +Beauty is no rarity at Genoa: I think I never saw so many fine women +in one place, though I have seen finer faces at Rome and Naples than +any I see here. The mezzaro, a veil or shawl thrown over the head and +round the shoulders, is universal, and is certainly the most natural +and becoming dress which can be worn by our sex: the materials differ +in fineness, from the most exquisite lace and the most expensive +embroidery, to a piece of chintz or linen, but the effect is the same. +This costume, which prevails more or less through all Italy, but here +is general, gives something of beauty to the plainest face, and +something of elegance to the most vulgar figure; it can make +deformity itself look passable: and when worn by a really graceful +and beautiful female, the effect is peculiarly picturesque and +bewitching. + +It was a Festa to-day; and we drove slowly along the Ponente after +dinner. Nothing could be more gay than the streets and public walks, +crowded with holiday people: the women were in proportion as six to +one; and looked like groups dressed to figure in a melodrame or +ballet. + + * * * * * + +When once we have left Genoa behind us, and have taken our last look +of the blue Mediterranean, I shall indeed feel that we have quitted +Italy. Piedmont is not Italy. Cities which are only famous for their +sieges and fortifications, plains only celebrated as fields of battle +and scenes of blood, have neither charms nor interest for me. + +On Monday we set off for Turin: how I dread travelling! and the motion +of the carriage, which has now become _so_ painful! Yet a little, a +very little longer, and it will all be over. + + + FAREWELL TO ITALY. + + Mira il ciel com'e bello, e mira il sole, + Ch'a se par che n'inviti, e ne console. + + Farewell to the Land of the South! + Farewell to the lovely clime + Where the sunny valleys smile in light, + And the piny mountains climb! + + Farewell to her bright blue seas! + Farewell to her fervid skies! + O many and deep are the thoughts which crowd + On the sinking heart, while it sighs, + "Farewell to the Land of the South!" + + As the look of a face beloved, + Was that bright land to me! + It enchanted my sense, it sunk on my heart + Like music's witchery! + In every kindling pulse + I felt the genial air, + For life is _life_ in that sunny clime, + --'Tis _death_ of life elsewhere: + Farewell to the Land of the South! + + The poet's splendid dreams, + Have hallowed each grove and hill, + And the beautiful forms of ancient Faith + Are lingering round us still. + And the spirits of other days, + Invoked by fancy's spell, + Are rolled before the kindling thought, + While we breathe our last farewell + To the glorious Land of the South! + + A long--a last adieu, + Romantic Italy! + Thou land of beauty, and love, and song + As once of the brave and free! + Alas! for thy golden fields! + Alas! for thy classic shore! + Alas! for thy orange and myrtle bowers! + I shall never behold them more-- + Farewell to the Land of the South! + +_Turin, May 10th._--We arrived here yesterday, after a journey to me +most trying and painful: I thought at Novi and afterwards at Asti, +that I should have been obliged to give up and confess my inability to +proceed; but we know not what we can bear till we prove ourselves; I +can live and suffer still. + + * * * * * + +I agree with ---- who has just left me, that nothing can be more +animating and improving than the conversation of intelligent and +clever men, and that lady-society is in general very _fade_ and +tiresome: and yet I truly believe that no woman can devote herself +exclusively to the society of men without losing some of the best and +sweetest characteristics of her sex. The conversation of men of the +world and men of gallantry, gives insensibly a taint to the mind; the +unceasing language of adulation and admiration intoxicates the head +and perverts the heart; the habit of _tete-a-tetes_, the habit of +being always either the sole or the principal object of attention, of +mingling in no conversation which is not personal, narrows the +disposition, weakens the mind, and renders it incapable of rising to +general views or principles; while it so excites the senses and the +imagination, that every thing else becomes in comparison stale, flat, +and unprofitable. The life of a coquette is very like that of a +drunkard or an opium eater, and its end is the same--the utter +extinction of intellect, of cheerfulness, of generous feeling, and of +self-respect. + + * * * * * + +_St. Michel, Monday._--I know not why I open my book, or why I should +keep accounts of times and places. I saw nothing of Turin but what I +beheld from my window: and as soon as I could travel we set off, +crossed Mount Cenis in a storm, slept at Lans-le-bourg, and reached +this place yesterday, where I am again ill, and worse--worse than +ever. + +Is it not strange that while life is thus rapidly wasting, I should +still be so strong to suffer? the pang, the agony is not less acute at +this moment, than when, fifteen months ago, the poignard was driven to +my heart. The cup, though I have nearly drained it to the last, is not +less bitter now than when first presented to my lips. But this is not +well; why indeed should I repine? mine was but a common fate--like a +true woman, I did but stake my all of happiness upon one cast--and +lost! + + * * * * * + +_Lyons, 19th._--Good God! for what purpose do we feel! why within our +limited sphere of action, our short and imperfect existence have we +such boundless capacity for enjoying and suffering? no doubt for some +good purpose. But I cannot think as I used to think: my ideas are +perplexed: it is all pain of heart and confusion of mind; a sense of +bitterness, and wrong, and sorrow, which I cannot express, nor yet +quite _suppress_. If the cloud would but clear away that I might feel +and see to do what is right! but all is dark, and heavy, and vacant; +my mind is dull, and my eyes are dim, and I am scarce conscious of any +thing around me. + +A few days passed here in quiet, and kind Dr. P** have revived me a +little. + +All the way from Turin I have slept almost constantly, if that can be +called _sleep_, which was rather the stupor of exhaustion, and left me +still sensible of what was passing round me. I heard voices, though I +knew not what they said; and I felt myself moved from place to place +though I neither knew nor cared whither. + + * * * * * + +All that I have seen and heard, all that I have felt and suffered, +since I left Italy, recalls to my mind that delightful country. I +should regret what I have left behind, had I not outlived all +regrets--but one--for there, though + + I vainly sought from outward forms to win + The passion and the life whose fountains are within; + +all feeling was not yet worn out of my heart: I was not then blinded +nor stupified by sorrow and weakness as I have been since. + +There are some places we remember with pleasure, because we have been +happy there; others, because endeared to us as the residence of +friends. We love our country because it is _our country_; our home +because it is _home_: London or Paris we may prefer, as comprehending +in themselves, all the intellectual pleasures, and luxuries of life: +but, dear Italy!--we love it, simply for its own sake: not as in +general we are attached to places and things, but as we love a friend, +and the face of a friend; there it was "_luxury to be_,"--there I +would willingly have died, if so it might have pleased God. + +Till this evening we have not seen a gleam of sunshine, nor a glimpse +of the blue sky, since we crossed Mount Cenis. We entered Lyons during +a small drizzling rain. The dirty streets, the black gloomy-looking +house, the smoking manufactories, and busy looks of the people, made +me think of Florence and Genoa, and their "fair white walls" and +princely domes; and when in the evening I heard the whining organ +which some wretched Savoyard was grinding near us, I remembered even +with emotion the delightful voices I heard singing "_Di piacer mi +balza il cor_" under my balcony at Turin--my last recollection of +Italy: and to-night, when they opened the window to give me air, I +felt, on recovering, the cold chill of the night breeze; and as I +shivered, and shrunk away from it, I remembered the delicious and +genial softness of our Italian evenings-- + + * * * * * + +22.--No letters from England. + +Now that it is past, I may confess, that till now, a faint--a very +faint hope did cling to my heart. I thought it might have been just +possible; but it is over now--_all_ is over! + +We leave Lyons on Tuesday, and travel by short easy stages; and they +think I may still reach Paris. I will hold up--if possible. + +Yet if they would but lay me down on the road-side, and leave me to +die in quietness! to rest is all I ask. + +24.--St. Albin. We arrived here yesterday-- + + * * * * * + + The few sentences which follow are not legible. + + Four days after the date of the last paragraph, the writer + died at Autun in her 26th year, and was buried in the garden + of the Capuchin Monastery, near that city.--EDITOR. + + +THE END. + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote A: First published in 1826.] + +[Footnote B: It must not be forgotten that this was written ten years +ago: the aspect of Paris is much changed since then.] + +[Footnote C: By Christian Friederich Tieck.] + +[Footnote D: "Rousseau, Voltaire, our Gibbon, and De Stael, + Leman! those names are worthy of thy shore." + LORD BYRON.] + +[Footnote E: The sentence which follows is so blotted as to be +illegible.--ED.] + +[Footnote F: This was indeed ignorance! (1834.)] + +[Footnote G: Hail, O Maria, full of grace! the Lord is with thee! +blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, +even JESUS. Holy Virgin Mary, mother of God! pray for us +sinners--both now and in the hour of death! Amen.--ED.] + +[Footnote H: The family of the Cenci was a branch of the house of +Colonna, now extinct in the direct male line. The last Prince Colonna, +left two daughters, co-heiresses, of whom one married the Prince +Sciarra, and the other the Prince Barberini. In this manner the +portrait of Beatrice Cenci cane into the Barberini family. The +authenticity of this interesting picture has been disputed: but last +night after hearing the point extremely well contested by two +intelligent men, I remained convinced of its authenticity.] + +[Footnote I: TRANSLATION, EXTEMPORE. + +Love, by my fair one's side is ever seen, + He hovers round her steps, where'er she strays, + Breathes in her voice, and in her silence speaks, + Around her lives, and lends her all his arms. + +Love is in every glance--Love taught her song; + And if she weep, or scorn contract her brow, + Still Love departs not from her, but is seen + Even in her lovely anger and her tears. + +When, in the mazy dance she glides along + Still Love is near to poize each graceful step: + So breathes the zephyr o'er the yielding flower. + +Love in her brow is throned, plays in her hair, + Darts from her eye and glows upon her lip. + But, oh! he never yet approached her heart.] + +[Footnote J: Poor Schadow died yesterday. He caught cold the other +evening at the Duke of Bracciano's uncomfortable, ostentatious palace, +where we heard him complaining of the cold of the Mosaic floors: three +days afterwards he was no more. He is universally regretted.--_Author's +note._] + +[Footnote K: A chasm occurs here of about twenty pages, which in the +original MS. are torn out. Nearly the whole of what was written at +Naples has suffered mutilation, or has been purposely effaced; so that +in many parts only a detached sentence, or a few words, are legible in +the course of several pages.--EDITOR.] + +[Footnote L: Was the letter addressed 'Alla Sua Excellenza +_Seromfridevi_,' which caused so much perplexity at the Post Office +and British Museum, and exercised the acumen of a minister of state, +from Salvador to his illustrious correspondent?] + +[Footnote M: Quid times? &c.] + +[Footnote N: Wordsworth.] + +[Footnote O: Beyond Fondi I remarked among the wild myrtle-covered +hills, a wreath of white smoke rise as if from under ground, and I +asked the postilion what it meant? He replied with an expressive +gesture, "Signora,--i briganti!" I thought this was a mere trick to +alarm us; but it was truth: within twenty hours after we had passed +the spot, a carriage was attacked; and a desperate struggle took place +between the banditti and the sentinels, who are placed at regular +distances along the road, and within hearing of each other. Several +men were killed, but the robbers at length were obliged to fly.] + +[Footnote P: It is understood that this beautiful group has since been +executed in marble for Sir George Beaumont.--EDITOR.] + +[Footnote Q: Written on an old pedestal in the gardens of the Villa +Pamfili, yesterday (March 29th).] + +[Footnote R: See the admirable and eloquent "Essays on Petrarch, by Ugo +Foscolo," which have appeared since this Diary was written--EDITOR.] + +[Footnote S: Corilla (whose real name was Maddaleno Morelli) often +accompanied herself on the violin; not holding it against her +shoulder, but resting it in her lap. She was reckoned a fine performer +on this instrument; and for her distinguished talents was crowned in +the Capitol in 1779.--ED.] + +[Footnote T: Othello--Thou mak'st me call what I intend to do + A murder,--which I thought a sacrifice.--] + +[Footnote U: Sestini died of a brain fever at Paris in November, +1822.--ED.] + +[Footnote V: The allusion is to La Francia. When Raffaelle sent his +famous St. Cecilia to Bologna, it was intrusted to the care of La +Francia, who was his particular friend, to be unpacked and hung up. La +Francia was old, and had for many years held a high rank in his +profession; no sooner had he cast his eyes on the St. Cecilia, than +struck with despair at seeing his highest efforts so immeasurably +outdone, he was seized with a deep melancholy, and died shortly +after.--ED.] + +[Footnote W: Forsyth complains of some celebrated Madonnas being +_unimpassioned_: with submission to Forsyth's taste and +acumen--_ought_ they to be _impassioned_?] + +[Footnote X: Dr. Holland once told me, that when travelling in +Iceland, he had heard one of Mozart's melodies played and sung by an +Icelandic girl, and that some months afterwards he heard the very same +air sung to the guitar by a Greek lady at Salonica. Yet the son of +that immortal genius, who has dispensed delight from one extremity of +Europe to the other, and from his urn still rules the entranced senses +of millions--Charles Mozart, is a poor music master at Milan! this +should not be.] + +[Footnote Y: What Beccaria said in his day is most true of ours, "on +paie les musiciens pour emouvoir, on paie les danseurs de corde pour +etonner, et la plus grande partie des musiciens veulent faire les +danseurs de corde."] + +[Footnote Z: "With dagger's hilt upon the gate, + Who knocks so loud and knocks so late?"--SCOTT.] + + * * * * * + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + +Some minor punctuation, spelling inconsistencies, and typos have been +changed from the original publication to reflect the authors' intent: + +P. 7 oclock--o'clock (Saturday Night, 11 o'clock.) +P. 23 dissapointed--disappointed (edifices in general disappointed me) +P. 25 on--or (martyrdom, or rather assassination) +P. 28 reman--remain (by his birth should remain unchanged) +P. 30 pehaps--perhaps (perhaps after all) +P. 33 Cavigliajo--Covigliajo (Covigliajo, an uncouth dreary) +P. 44 maitresse--maitresse (fait de maitresse) +P. 50 Madonas--Madonnas (Raffaelle's Madonnas.) +P. 51 Appenines--Apennines (Apennines with light clouds) +P. 52 creatons--creations (fancy's fairest creations,) +P. 56 sungly--snugly (a drawing-room snugly carpeted) +P. 57 appeartance--appearance (the general appearance) +P. 57 rathers--rather (rather grows upon me) +P. 59 Appenines--Apennines (Apennines, rose just over Tivoli,) +P. 60 Russel--Russell (Lady Louisa Russell) +P. 65 Changed " to ' (nested quotes) ('Armis vitrumque canter,') +P. 66 chef d'oeuvre--chef-d'oeuvre (hyphenated for consistency) +P. 77 San Gioralmo--San Girolamo (San Girolamo della Carita) +P. 79 senerade--serenade (serenade was evidently) +P. 80 comtemplate--contemplate (contemplate the coliseum) +P. 81 valls--walls (walls, and the stream) +P. 90 enthusiam--enthusiasm (to whom enthusiasm is only another name) +P. 118 Wet--We (We met many begging friars) +P. 120 acessible--accessible (pleasant, accessible, and very private) +P. 126 thought--though (the afternoon, though not brilliant, was) +P. 126 amosphere--atmosphere (the atmosphere was perfectly) +P. 127 Appennines--Apennines (Alban Hills, and the Apennines) +P. 152 in--it (it affects the mind) +P. 155 Added closing quotes ("ploughed by the sunbeams;"). +P. 157 Removed unnecessary opening quotes (The little old man). + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Diary of an Ennuyee, by Anna Brownell Jameson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DIARY OF AN ENNUYEE *** + +***** This file should be named 18049.txt or 18049.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/0/4/18049/ + +Produced by Carlo Traverso, Diane Monico, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net. 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