Letters from the North of Italy, etc

Front matter

LETTERS IROM TII» NORTH OF ITALY. vol. I. London. Printed by C. Roworth, Bell-yard, Temple-bar. LETTERS FROM THE NORTH OF ITALY. ADDRESSED TO HENRY HALLAM, Esq. IN TWO VOLUMES. "With discourse that shifts and changes,, That at random roves and ranges. Hither, thither, here aud there, Over ocean, earth and air; To the pole and to the tropic, Overrunning every topic — — Tell us, is he drunk or mad ? — No, believe me, grave and sad. THE BIRDS, MS. Translatmn. VOL. I. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1819. /^TVSEVlK { BRITAN I \NJcvjfy

Introduction

Some sort of preface or introduction is con sidered as so essential to a book that I have not courage to depart from the established usage. Yet in thinking upon what I have to say, every subject which I might touch, with one exception, appears to me either unnecessary or im pertinent. 4 The single point I reserve is an explanation of the false colours under Avhich I have em barked : For it would be disingenuous to pretend that the following letters were not originally designed for publication. My reason for wrap ping my matter in the form in which they appear, Avas simply that being little accustomed to habits of serious literary composition, and still less fitted for attempting a falsetto, I sought an excuse for writing as I should speak, VI

INTRODUCTION.

. were it unfortunately the fashion to speak oc tavos. Having thus candidly confessed what the reader is probably already acquainted with, I shall make my fairness a ground for claiming his confidence in another declaration which makes more essentially for my work It appears to me to matter less, whether let ters ofthe description of those Avhich follow Avere originally designed only for private inspection or the public eye, than whether they are such as they were originally struck off, or have been retouched from after-recollection. Noav upon the first ground I can take my stand, (indeed the letters themselves will probably afford sufficient evidence of this,) and declare that, excepting two or three, I have left them as I cast them, having: bestowed no more alteration on them in their progress through the press than Avhat I suppose every one naturally and almost unwittingly makes, in reviewing a private letter. W. S. R. CONTENTS TO VOL. I.

Letter I

The Simplon — Arrangements made by Buonaparte for the safety and comfort of Travellers — neglected by his Successors, &c. — Entrance into Italy . . Page 1

Letter II

I am sent by the Austrians to Genoa — Journey thither — Description of that City, &c 15

Letter III

Departure from Genoa — Plains of Piedmont — Plains more common on the Continent than in Great Britain — Cremona — Mantua — Ridiculous and vexatious Conduct of the Austrians — Supposed Changes of Climate in modern Italy, &c 33

Letter IV

Verona — its Localities — its Gothic Monuments — Tombs of the Scaligers — This city the Cradle of many great Men — of Ippolito Pindemonte — general Character of his Poetry CONTENTS. VIII

Letter V

Padua — its Appearance — its Sights — An Accident illustrative of national Manners — My Departure for Abano 51

Letter VI

Abano — a general Description of the Place — its Etymo* logy — Classical Traditions and Accounts respecting it — Mode of applying its Muds and Waters — their Efficacy, &c. &c. — Society at Abano — Characteristic of Italian Society in general 59

Letter IX

Excursion — Badnessof the Lombard Cross-Roads — Lombard Farms — Difference of Customs in the Italian Provinces — Value of Land in Italy — Humane Treatment of Beasts by the Italians — Visit to La Battaglia — Visit to the Castle of Obizzo — Difference between the English and Italian Squirearchy, &c. 85

On the Theatres of Italy, &c

Letter I

The Simplon — Arrangements made by Buonaparte for the safety and comfort of Travellers — neglected by his Successors, fye. — Entrance into Italy. Genoa, Aug. 1817- DEAR HALLAM, You, Avho knoAV the line of march I had de termined on, Avill be surprized at the date of this letter; but all will be explained in its proper place. In the mean time, I folloAV the good precept of beginning at the beginning. My carriage, Avhich had been warranted road worthy, having nearly gone to pieces before I reached Paris, I determined to sell it there for Avhat I could get, and to proceed, by the voiturier, to the baths of Abano, near Padua, my ultimate destination. B LETTERS FROJVs THE NORTH OF ITALY. This mode of travelling, though tedious, is that Avhich bids fairest to gratify curiosity in an in teresting country.

You journey leisurely enough to see Avhatever is worth seeing; and as the voituriers take care that you shall arrive at the hours of the tables d"hote, Avhere such are kept, you see more of manners, than you can travel ling in any other mode. You Avill imagine, perhaps, that these advantages are dearly purchased by other sacrifices. I assure you it is not so. I haATe traversed a great part of the continent in both ways, and haA'e found that I Avas usually better fed, and better served Avith the voiturier, than Avhen travelling post. The reason is obvious : move with Avhat magnificence you may, the innkeeper cares little for conciliating a person Avhom he never expects to see again. On the other hand, he is very de sirous of satisfying the voiturier, and, through him, the Avhole cast, avIio are, some or other of them, continually repacing the same roads.

The voiturier, on his part, is anxious to see justice done to his travellers, because the extent of the voluntary present Avhich they make him, is generally regulated by the treatment they re ceive ; and he is anxious to obtain from them a testimonial to his good conduct, to which, if they are English, he attaches very considerable importance. He contracts (unless you choose to vary the mode of bargain) to lodge, feed, and deliver you (giving you one meal in twenty-four hours) at the place of your destination, on a given day. Thus I contracted to be delivered at Padua tAventy-one clays after leaving Paris, and should have been so, but for an accident, which I shall shortly relate ; for, to my infinite asto nishment, I crossed the Simplon, a mountain which, in its ascent and descent, contains nearly fifty Italian miles of road, in a day, though we had only three permanent mules, and a vile single provisional horse, for our ascent; so that you see even the tediousness of this mode of tra velling is exaggerated.

My voiturier, or muleteer, was a Florentine, for Florence is a prolific parent of men of this description, and was Avorthy of occupying a place in one of the novels of Le Sage. It may be remarked that the Florentine muleteers are to be preferred, as being almost always active, steady and civilized. But having described the nature of my ark, (in which you may sometimes moreover meet with very curious animals,) it is time to bring it to the top of the mountains. B Though I shall not attempt to make you dizzy by tales of precipices, Where Nature loves to sit alone, Majestic on a craggy throne ; save Avhere her solitude is broken in upon, at the hazard of her neck, by the jingle of the muleteer's bells, I cannot help digressing, to mention a proof Avhich I received here that terror is not a source of the sublime.

There is indeed no real cause for terror in passing the Simplon ; but it is impossible to look doAvn from the carriage, almost grazing the brinks of precipices, often unfurnished Avith the slightest protection, without experiencing something which comes near it. On one or tAVO of these occasions, I have got out for the purpose of re observing points of view Avhich I had passed, and found myself Avrapt in pleasure at the con templation of scenes which had previously made a painful impression. This confirms me in the idea I always entertained, that it is not terror, but a certain approach to it, Avhich is one source of the sublime. The mode in Avhich Ave are affected on these occasions may perhaps be explained in the same way by Avhich Ave explain the effects of tragedy. A moderate excitement of the passions is pleasing, Avhile an intense one is productive of pain.

But I am straying into the devious paths of metaphysics, with a beaten road before me ; it Avill not however be deviating much from this, (since their Hospice is within a few yards of it,) to make some mention of the monks and dogs of St. Bernard, Avho occupy a detached post upon this mountain. You will hear Avith pleasure, that the race of these useful beasts (I mean the dogs) is not, as I had understood in England, extinguished ; there existing a fine race of pup pies, Avho, literally speaking, promise to tread in the steps of their progenitors. The merits of these, though in themselves suf ficiently great, have however been much exaggerated. They neither carry provisions to the strayed, nor go, unaccompanied, in search of those buried in the snow. But they are en dowed, as it should appear, Avith a very extra ordinary instinct, Avhich enables them to distin guish the solid path, though covered with snow, where the deviation of a step might plunge their followers into an abyss.

They are, therefore, to be considered as the guides of the mountain, and it was in the discharge of this duty that the most experienced of the tribe found their grave. A courier, who was passing the St. Bernard, stopped at the convent for shelter, and, after a short stay, insisted on proceeding. As the weather B3 was dangerous, the good monks all but knelt to him, to divert him from his purpose: but he was an old stager, and was obstinate. They, therefore, did all they could for his protection, and furnished him with three men and three dogs for guides, these three dogs being the only ones fit for service, the rest of the family con sisting of two bitches Avho gave suck. The party had not proceeded far, when they Avere ovenvhclmed by an avalanche, and, to complete the catastrophe, the courier's brother and brother-in law, who had come out to meet and assist him, were buried in another, on the opposite side of the mountain.

To return to the dogs. — Though they do not proceed alone to disinter the buried, they do indeed, by scratching, indicate where they are to be found ; but most dogs, and particularly our sheep dogs, will do the like to carcasses of any animal, covered by the snow. The utility of the convent of St. Bernard, in the situation in which it is placed, is so obvious, that whilst Buonaparte smoked out all the drones of the plains, he left several moun tain-convents, and by endowing this Avith an additional estate in Lombardy, most considerably increased its revenues. In this he did Avell : for independently of the general hospitality which is exercised by the monks, the ordinary ex penses of the establishment must be enormous in a place Avhich is inaccessible by carriages, and Avhere a pound of wood literally bears the same price as a pound of bread.

A very diffe rent system has been followed by the successors of Buonaparte. A magnificent building which he had begun, a sort of caravansera, on the top of the Simplon, has been left half finished, but things are infi nitely Avorse on Mount Cenis. Buonaparte had there, as Avell here, constructed several houses termed refuges, at different distances, for the shelter of passengers in the dangerous months, and endoAved them with slight privileges, such as that of selling Avine and provisions duty free. — It Avas amongst the early acts of the King of Sardinia to abrogate these, and the refuges of Mount Cenis are lost to the traveller. To return to the monks of St. Bernard. — Of the mode in which they spend their revenues, as Avell as of the manner in Avhich they fulfil the object of their institution, the anecdote which follows may serve as a specimen.

An enterprizing English party, consisting of men and Avomen, took shelter in the convent during a fall of snow. The monks fed them and their horses as long as they could, giving up their b bread to the beasts, Avhen they had no more crude grain to bestow on them. The guests had then therefore no choice but to decamp. But Iioav to get the horses over the snow, which Avas yet too soft to support them ? The ingenuity and activity of the monks found an expe dient. They turned out, with their servants, and placing blankets before the animals, Avhich Avere carried forwards and extended afresh, as soon as passed over, conducted men, Avomen, and beasts in safety over their mountain. I cannot give a better proof of the moral profit which these monks have derived from the diffi culties of their situation, than their having de parted from the selfish system of policy Avhich characterizes all other elective clerical bodies.

Their present Prior is in the vigour of his age : he is, I understand, someAvhat under thirty. The barrier, or turnpike gate, on the summit ofthe mountain exacts, and very justly, considerable tolls, 1 think six franks (five shillings) a beast, and as much for the carriage. The revenue must therefore be considerable, as, independently of chance travellers, going to and returning from Italy, a Aery considerable com merce is carried on, in times of scarcity, in corn from Genoa, either the produce of Sicily or of the countries bordering on the Black Sea. The revenue thus collected goes to the canton of the Valais, in Avhich province the far greater part ofthe mountain is situated. Domo dOssola is the first town of Italy, Avhich was formerly in the occupation of Austria, but Avas ceded, you knoAV, by the last Congress to the King of Sardinia.

I observed that the toll taken on the summit, goes to the Pays du Valais. A toll is, hoAvever, taken on the Italian side of Domo d'Ossola by the King of Sardinia ; this, Avhich is collected at the passage of the river Doccia, is very reasonable : but I shall relate a little adventure Avhich took place at this barrier, because it will give a good general idea of the mode in Avhich tra vellers are treated by the agents of the different governments in Italy, Avho, for Avant of a reasonable maintenance, are almost necessitated to prey upon the stranger and to cheat their employer. The man at the bridge insisted on double toll from the muleteer, on the ground that we were foreigners. As this is a principle of taxation legalized in many states of Italy, I should not haAre advised the resistance of the demand, but for the remark of our conductor, who observed, that he had formerly, in the same circumstances, paid only half of what Avas noAv claimed.

I therefore insisted on seeing the tar's; Avhen my friend, alleging some excuse for not having it suspended in his house, as he was bound, fell instantly fifty per cent, in his demands. Having left Domo d'Ossola, I breakfasted the next morning at a small village on the banks of the Lago Maggiore, the Lacus Ver banus of the ancients. The little islands, Avhich are visible from this place, are Avell worthy the visits of those Avho have a taste for antiquated, seignorial magnificence. They present many objects of curiosity in their palaces furnished with chambers of dais, their family theatres, magnificent architectural gardens, and the utter contempt of expense, Avhich they every Avhere exhibit. The traveller sees not only orange trees trained against walls, like our peaches and nectarines, but a grove of them cultivated as standards in the open air.

He is astonished at finding so tender a plant flourishing in this northern climate, nor are his causes for wonder much diminished, when he learns that these plants are covered, in winter, by temporary houses of Avood which are warmed by stoves. Yet the Lago Maggiore may pretend to higher praises ; to that of the beautiful bordering on the sublime. Nature has indeed here given a distinct character to each of the three lakes, which lie within a small distance of each other. The next to this, the Lago di Lugano, has austerer features, and resembles more our northern lakes, whilst that of Como bears such a print of gay and festive beauty as might have justified Berni and Ariosto, in placing a Morgana or an Alcina in one of the fairy palaces Avhich skirt itsbanks. But I am speaking from old recollections.

I am now in pursuit of health and shall not willingly diverge from my course ; Minding my compass and my way, Though pleas'd to see the dolphins play. But a Avoid or two as to one of the odd fish who sported in our Avake ! Amongst a shoal of ragged urchins, half squalling and half laughing, Avho had accompanied us from the village, where Ave had stopt, one perseArering little animal, about ten years old, though the rest dropt astern, kept up Avith us for two miles, when the muleteer, in that spirit of charity which characterizes all tribes and classes of Italians, having ascertained that he Avas bound to Aronna, the tOAvn where Ave Avere ourselves to pass the night, offered him a place upon the roof of his carriage. I now fell into conversation Avith him, and having asked him the motive of his expedition, Avas told that he was going to beg at Aronna ; a place which, he imagined, afforded a better field for his operations than that Avhich he had quitted.

I naturally remonstrated Avith him on the nature of his project, and asked him why he did not attempt to procure some honest service ; but he appeared to have weighed the matter Avell, and taken his resolution upon the maturest deliberation. He told me that he had left his home on account of the poverty of his parents, that it was his intention to seek service, but, as he could pretend to little as yet, he meant to maintain himself by begging till he was of age and strength to ensure a sufficient salary. We slept at Aronna, distinguished by the bronze colossal statue of St. Carlo of Borro meo, which stands at a small distance from it. But, whilst I have been relating a fact illustra tive of the habits ofthe poor of Italy in general, I had nearly omitted one peculiarly characteristic of those of the inhabitants of the country which I have been just describing.

You know the class of Italians who wander about the Avorld Avith prints and barometers. These are considered in England as Jews, but are, in fact, generally speaking, natives of the banks of the lakes of Lombardy. All folloAV the same trade, and (what is singular) the natives of the same village usually folloAV the same beat ; so that in various Italian hamlets situated near the lakes, may be found the customs of England, Spain, or Ame rica. One ruling passion hoAvever, the love of gain, distinguishes them all. One of these men had embarked with us at Paris, as an outside passen ger, and appeared to me little short of an idiot. My servant, hoAvever, who was a Florentine, qualified my opinion, by characterising him as a shrewd oaf, Avith a coarse but expressive Italian phrase, for Avhich I have tried to give an Eng lish equh'alent.

He Avas returning home to his native village, Avith a large stock of gold, the fruit of his travels. The apparent stupidity and barbarous jargon of the man soon drew on him a tremendous fire of jokes, speculative and practical, from the two Florentines, for the muleteer, as I have said, was also of that city ; and this was kept up Avith such activity that I more than once trembled for the consequences, the lout having, at last, become desperate, and armed himself with a piece of granite, Avhich he threat ened to drive into the skull of one of his perse cutors, a threat which, but for my interference, he would probably have executed. Yet mark the persevering spirit of gain and economy which actuates this race, an object Avdiich they keep always in sight, and which predominates with them over every other earthly consideration.

The lakite had bargained to be carried to Milan, from Avhence, however, he had a day's journey to his own country. It was, therefore, evidently his interest to leave us at the Lago Maggiore, and take boat for it there; but a difference arose between him and the boatman, which turned upon a frank. I naturally thought that he would have given up the point in dispute, rather than undergo much unnecessary fatigue and delay, besides subjecting himself to fresh persecution, which Avas sure to be carried on by his indefatigable tormentors at bed and board, by night and by day. But I mistook my man ; he stood fast, and refused to pay the tenpence; when the voiturier, Avho apparently thought that his qualifications as a butt did not counterba lance his demerits as a bore, literally paid the disputed frank, in order to get rid of him.

This man may be fairly considered as the re presentative of his cast. But to give them honour due, though miserly, they are not dis honest, and are singularly sober, active and in dustrious.

Letter II

I am sent by the Austrians to Genoa — Journey thither — Description of that City, fye. Genoa, July, 1817- I shall not particularize the first stages of my route from Aronna, for a reason you will soon understand. Suffice that stopping to bait at a certain town, I was sent for by a man in authority, and informed that there Avas an im portant informality in my passport, and that he must therefore turn me back from the Austrian states. I ansAvered that the passport Avas precisely in the same form of words Avith that which I had formerly found sufficient in the states of his Apostolic Majesty. He told me " that might be : but that there Avas noAV a new regulation, Avith Avhich I had not com plied, namely, the having the said passport visto either by the Austrian minister in London or by some other in the countries through Avhich I had passed, and that he must, therefore, turn me back, till I had fulfilled the conditions which he had specified."

There still appeared to me to be the alternative of sending to Milan, to procure a dispensation from this order, provided the guardian of the frontier Avould alloAV me to Avait there the return of my messenger. He Avas ready to grant this indulgence; but observed, that of several English travellers Avho had tried the experiment none had succeeded; that he considered it Avould only be productive of additional loss of time and money, and that I had better make up my mind to set off for Turin or Genoa, and get the deficiency in my passport supplied by the Austrian minister, or consul, at one of those capitals. I put forth all my powers of reasoning to arrest my sentence. I observed, though he stated that this rule had been communicated to the English government for the information of its subjects, I had received no intimation of it, nor did I believe any general notice had been given of it in England. — That my motive of travel Avas health, that I had lost, as he might see, the use of one side, and could not even stand Avithout a stick — that I was bound to the baths of Abano, Avhich, as every body in Italy kneAv, were only efficacious in the hot season, and that a delay Avould probably frustrate the object of my journey.

It Avas all to no purpose, and I saAv he Avas actually signing the sentence of " visto et respinto" on my passport. I naturally noAV broke into a somewhat stronger strain of remonstrance, and asked him Avhether it was possible that his government should not have ailoAved him latitude in the execution of orders, which must, in some cases, as in mine, be productive of much injury to the traveller? I added to my former arguments, that my letter of credit did not extend either to Turin or Genoa, Avhich lay out of my course ; and that I should have the greatest difficulty in getting myself transported thither, my stock of money being literally reduced to two napoleons. " Under such peculiar circumstances of hardship, could not an exception be made in my favour ?" The inspector of the police (for such he was) answered, that he acknoAVledged the severity of my case, but that, were he disposed to take on himself the responsibility of departing from his general orders with regard to foreigners, a peculiar and closely defined instruc tion respecting the English Avould render this impossible.

As I expressed some incredulity as to this, he read me a letter in Italian, as I under stood, from the Aulic chamber, which, after re peating the order for turning back all foreigners* * This was true; but I found before leaving the town that C Avhose passport had not been visto by some Aus trian minister, or diplomatic agent, particularly enforced it against the English, travelling with a passport from Lord Castlereagh. My astonish ment may easily be conceived ; but feigning not perfectly to understand this instruction, I prevailed on him to read it again. I then (though with little hopes of success) said that as I un derstood the language but indifferently, (our conversation had hitherto been carried on iiv French,) I hoped he would let me take an ex tract. My friend all but laughed in my face, put up his letter, and broke up the conference.

As to the peculiar circumstances of this trans* action, I really cannot offer even a conjecture ; but as to the Austrian government leaving ito officers Avithout rational discretionary powers, this is to be paralleled by every act of the Aulio chamber. When I was last at Venice, (and I believe things yet remain unchanged,) a ship's papers, such as her register, &c. were only granted for three years, nor Avas it permitted to an Austrian consul in a foreign port to reneAV them : so that, supposing the OAvner of a ship, Avho had cleared one exception had been made at Milan. This was in favour of a French-woman and the widow of a revolutionary general, the Duchess of Abrantes. out for Copenhagen, during the last year of scar city, to hear of wheat selling in Dantzick at ninety per cent, under the price it bore in Italy, he could not, if his register Avas near expiring, have proceeded directly to that port, but must have first returned to Venice in order to have his papers renewed.

Yet the decay of Venetian commerce is made a subject of Avonder ! To return to my own case. — I prepared, since it might no better be, for my digressive journey. Behold me then set out for Genoa, having Avith some difficulty made a contract for my con veyance thither, on the promise of paying the muleteer on my arrival. I chose Genoa, though the road to it Avas the most impracticable, because I knew nobody at Turin, Avhereas at Genoa I had friends in our minister Mr. Hill, then resident there, and the Signor Pellico, Secretary to the Governor, whom I had formerly known in another part of Italy. A new and curious scene, as contrasted Avith the former, awaited me on my return to the inn. I found the carriage surrounded by a group of loitering Italian soldiers, the men Avho, in case of necessity, were to back Avith their bayonets the orders of the prefect.

One of these had produced a snuff-box, Avith the portrait c2 of Buonaparte, Avhich Avas handed round the circle, and devoutly kissed by every one as a relic. The possessor said, " that of all men living, he had the least reason to love him, yet he gloried in being one of his most devoted ad mirers." He said, " he had just expended a small capital in the purchase of leather, in order to set up as a shoe-maker, Avhen he Avas SAvept aAvay by his conscription ;" (he must have meant that of the Cisalpine republic) — " he had served under him and been Avounded in Egypt ; but it was there that he had learned to make a due estimate of the merits of that great man, Avho visited the hospitals three times a week, tasted the provisions of the sick, and inquired into their Avants. — He considered him as a father, and was ready to die a thousand deaths in his service."

Though the two scenes Avhich this small theatre exhibited, might give rise to various reflections, I shall not indulge in them, but pro ceed, straight forwards, in my narration. I passed through Novara, Vercelli, Alessandria della Paglia, Novi, fye. to the Bocchetta, the mountain which backs the city of Genoa. The thing is soon said, but cost me four days to ac complish with mules. There is nothing so little picturesque, if we except La Valletta and Gibraltar, as a modern for tified city. I shall therefore spare you all details of glacis, bastions, &c. &c. things which you are probably as little qualified to understand as I am to describe. Nay, such has been the effect produced upon me by Avitnessing the conse quences of victory in this unfortunate country, to which ever side it might incline, that I passed over scenes of battles almost Avith indif ference ; and the field of Novi, the subject of so many pæans amongst the victors and of so much coarse pleasantry amongst the Aranquished, Begot no numbers, grave or gay.