Italy and the Italians

Preface

. The following pages contain nothing like a com plete account of the country visited ; they merely touch upon certain subjects, to which attention has been hitherto but little directed. My communications, therefore, are merely an appendix to more detailed accounts, and even within their own sphere do not pretend to approach" completeness. On the other hand, through the favour of individuals in authority, and through the friendly co-operation of many well-informed men (ambassadors, public func tionaries, scholars, &c.) I have collected, within a short period, more remarkable and authentic facts than it would have been possible to do under less favourable circumstances. Some of my friends thought it advisable that I should relieve the serious character of my commu- <b~ a

PREFACE.

. nications, and give more variety and lightness to the whole, by introducing parts of my private letters. In complying with these suggestions, how ever, I have omitted every thing personal, and that related to marks of attention shown to myself. In doing this, I have not been actuated by ingratitude, but by a wish to avoid repetition; for countless were the occasions on which it would have been my duty to praise the kindness and obliging conduct which I every where experienced. For the occasional want of connection to which these omissions have unavoidably led, and for the errors of which, in spite of all my diligence, I may sometimes have been guilty, I must entreat the pardon of my readers. Those who wish to read only the one or the other half of my little work, will easily be able to ascertain from the contents, and from the headings of the letters, what they deem most likely to interest them, and they can skip what they think will prove less attractive. Berlin, 1st of January, 1840- CONTENTS or THE FIRST VOLUME.

Letter V

Italy in general — Extent of Trieste — Population — Woods — History of the City — French Domination — Return of the Austrians — Finances — Taxation — Clergy — Schools — Commerce — Exchange — Lloyd — Navigation — Commercial Treaties — Imports and Exports — Commercial Laws — Civic Institutions . . . . .36

Letter XVII

Former condition of Lombardy — Merit of the Austrian Government — Maria Theresa — Count Firmian — Extent and Division of the Country — The Viceroy — The Governor — The Departments ef Government Fiuance, and Jurisprudence .... CONTENTS. VII

Letter I

Journey from Dresden to Vienna — Don Carlos — Prince Metternich — Mendelssohn's Paul — Norma — Vienna and Berlin — Journey by way of Gratz to Trieste. Vienna, March 13, 1839. On Saturday, the 9th of March, at eleven in the forenoon, I left Dresden for Prague, the sun shin ing beautifully, and apparently announcing the approach of spring. The pine-trees lightly powdered with snow, and the more heavily laden firs, contributed to form a beautiful winter landscape. Thick rows of icicles a yard long, which fringed the thatched roofs, and the snow, drifted in many places to the height of the house-tops, I willingly accepted as accessories to the said winter land scape; and on my arrival atTeplitz, at eight in the VOL. i. B PRAGUE. evening, I ate a moderate supper, and found my self in tolerable spirits for the night that was coming on.

I was to enjoy the interior of the diligence without a rival. This, as far as elbow-room was concerned, had its advantages; but the cold was momentarily increasing, and I had to endure more from it that night than on any former occasion during my whole life. Shirts, jackets, great-coat, furs, and mackintosh, one over the other, afforded no sufficient protection ; neither did stockings, boots, galoshes, nor foot-bag. On my arrival at Prague, I crept into bed for a few hours ; but I had been so thoroughly chilled, that I scarcely found it possible to get any warmth into myself again. The next day there was only one place vacant in the open cabriolet, which I declined from motives that appeared to me quite sufficient. To remain longer in Prague, however, coincided the less with my other plans, as the weather continued to be exceedingly disagreeable.

Accordingly, after a stay of six hours at Prague, I was again wedged into a supplementary conveyance, along with two Mesdames von . I soon found out, however, that the nobility was merely Vienna imitation, or rather ancient Hebrew. They were two merchants' wives, neither of them handsome, and one as broad as she was Ion", and mother of ten children. I consoled myself with the reflexion that they were warm-blooded animals, ROUTE TO VIENNA. and well furred ; nevertheless, I had to endure much before I reached Vienna. From the afternoon of Sunday, till the forenoon of Tuesday, I saw nothing but boundless fields of dazzling snow, overhung by a grey sky. Our fare was every where bad ; and, as neither the windows nor the doors of our vehicle could be prevailed upon to close, the wind was piping in upon us all the while, as from the mouth of a bellows ; so that with all our mutual accommodation of furs, &c, we were frozen to our heart's content.

As far as Vienna, therefore, my journey is not calculated to awaken envy, unless it be on account of the flaming red of my face, my usual companion when travelling, and which I am now endeavouring to coax away with crime de Perse. Amid all these hardships, how ever, my good spirits never deserted me, and my two companions were talkative enough about dress, fashion, their genteel customers, their domestic cha grin, and the talents of their children, particularly one son, Levi by name, whom they described as a musical prodigy. Frozen as I was, it was not without a painful feeling of interest, that I heard this mother relate to me how another of her children had been poisoned by coloured sweetmeats. Should I endure the fiery ordeal in Italy, as well as I have here gone through that of frost, I shall congratulate myself on my good fortune.

The b2 VIENNA. greatest danger I have yet been exposed to, was during the last night of our journey, and was owing to my round little travelling companion. Her legs not reaching to the floor of the carriage, she gene rally sought a point d'appui against the opposite seat. On this occasion she lifted her legs a little higher than she had intended, and planted them firmly against my breast; so firmly indeed, that I was obliged to get the better of my politeness, and call her attention to the real state of affairs. At Peterswalde the searching of our baggage oc cupied little time ; but at Vienna, the official inves tigator had no mercy upon my portmanteau, un folding the most trifling article of its contents, not even sparing a false tooth that I carried with me as a precautionary reserve. This exposure of my de fect took place only in the presence of our gaping postillion, still I deemed myself justified in aveng ing the insult by withholding the intended fee of a zwanziger.

At Vienna, I put up at the City of Frankfort hotel, which appears to merit the praise 1 have so often heard bestowed on it. Room, bed, and din ner, excellent. Besides, it is to this hotel that I am indebted for all the new learning I have collected on this journey; I now know what Jlcckerlsuppc is ; I now know that roast beef and maccaroni go very well together; and that the huchcr is a fish PRINCELY ACTIVITY. 5 caught in the Danube, and is eaten with oil and vinegar. Thursday, March 14. I have at times thought myself tolerably industrious, and so you professed to think me; but the Wiener Zeitung of yesterday convinces me that I must be a mere snail or tortoise, compared with the Cesarewicz, the hereditary Grand Duke of Russia. In one forenoon he contrived to inspect the collec tion of antiquities, the cabinet of medals, the mu seum of natural history, the library, St. Stephen's Church, St. Augustine's Church, besides various charitable institutions ; nay, so completely did he master all these things, that nothing remained for him to do, so that he was able to set off again that evening.

In the evening I went to the Burg Theater, and saw three acts of Don Carlos. Independently of the notorious fact that all is fiction in this historical drama, the poetical incidents appear to me unnatural, incredible, impossible. For instance, the fabulous etiquette, along with gross violations of decorum ; the extreme reserve of the king, along with the inconsiderate talkativeness of his anxiety about the prince, and that in presence of his whole court ; the private lecture of the impracticable Posa ; the rendezvous with Eboli, &c. How such THE BURG THEATER. characters ought to be represented on the stage, it is difficult to say. Fichtner, in Carlos, did what he could to preserve a consistency in the persona tion, by uniting the disjecta membra poetœ. Korn, in Posa, an experienced actor, with a harsh unmu sical voice.

Reichel played the Queen, in a manner superior to the customary way of spouting the part. Fournier, in the Princess Eboli, fluent, and with out the little artifices that have frequently been censured ; but no actress can entirely remove the natural doubts to which the character gives rise. Does Eboli really love the Prince ? Is she merely a coquette, or is she trying whether she can make the best bargain with the father or the son ? Friday, March 15. I yesterday went first to M. Burger, author of the highly instructive Journey through Upper Italy. We conversed much together of agriculture, farm leases, state of the peasantry, &c. At twelve o'clock I was with Prince Metternich. This interview was the main object of my journey to Vienna. After all the warnings and advice I had received, in direct opposition to which I was fully determined to act, I might naturally have felt some uneasiness.

Convinced, however, that I had to do with a really great statesman, I knew that the open straightforward course was the best. In re- PRINCE METTERNICH. ply, therefore, to the prince's first question, I in formed him without reserve of the real objects of my proposed journey. My audience lasted for an hour and a half. I spoke as little as possible myself, while the prince discoursed away with the openness, clearness, practical good sense, and total absence of empty abstrac tions, which characterize the superior statesman — a style as opposite as possible to the finesse, ambi guity, and mendacity of T and his sophisti cated school. The prince asked me more than once, whether I was not of his way of thinking ? It could to him have been of very little importance whether I were or not ; but to me, I own, it afforded much gratifi cation to find, that all the positions which I had vainly endeavoured to enforce at Berlin, on the subject of our ecclesiastical difficulties, were now confirmed, on every material point, by the first statesman of Europe.

Sunday, March 17. On Friday, I received visits from Mr. B. and Mr. W. With the former I resumed my conversation on the topics already mentioned, which gra dually led us to the theologico-matrimonial question. He observed that the Austrian, in imitation of the Prussian clergy, were beginning to put forward GREEN-ROOM ANECDOTES. claims, and to lay down principles, that overstepped the letter of the law, though in many places sanctioned by custom. Upon the whole, he said, the protestant clergy here had much more influence in private families, were more active, and more strict in their general conduct, than the catholic eccle siastics. (The customary position of dissenters, with respect to the dominant church.) Conversions from protestantism, it appears, are of rare occur rence, except from worldly motives ; on the other hand, conversions to protestantism are chiefly con fined to the peasantry, who sometimes take offence at the disorderly life led by their priests.

In the evening, at Kronser Fournier's, I made the acquaintance of Mesdames Schroder and Weis senthurn, both intelligent and interesting women. There was, of course, no lack of green-room anec dotes. Accept the following as a sample. Botti ger, sitting at table opposite to Madame H., took a rose from a basket of flowers, and said : " This delicate plant is an emblem of our fair and gifted friend." At that moment, nearly all the leaves of the rose dropped from the stalk. — Madame Handel Schiitz had just been playing Maria Stuart, and complained to Schroder of exhaustion. " The poetry of the piece," observed the latter, "is cer tainly calculated to excite one's feelings very stronc ly." "Oh," replied Schiitz, "it is not the words COLD PROSPECT. that have fatigued me; but I was obliged to remain, throughout that long scene, fixed in the attitude in which Vandyke has painted the Queen."

Yesterday morning the thermometer stood at 9° below zero of Reaumur, (12° Fahrenheit), and the wind blew a hurricane. To-day the cold is less intense, but everything is white with snow. Some people maintain, that to travel to Trieste, at present, is to expose one's life to im minent peril ; on the other hand, all are agreed that the most convenient, safe, and expeditious plan, is to go with the post-office courier ; that it is pre ferable even to travelling in one's own carriage with post-horses. I recollect, on the day of the dreaded equinox, I made the passage from Rotterdam to London, and found the sea as smooth as a mirror; on the present occasion, perhaps, I may be similarly favoured, and frost and storm may pass away, out of compliment to me. Be this as it may, I shall not allow myself to be frightened ; and you, I know, are, Heaven be praised, no timid creatures, or I should hardly venture to repeat to you lamenta tions and predictions of this kind.

Monday, March 18. Yesterday was a musical day. From half-past twelve till about three, Mendelssohn's Paul was performed in the Bedoutensaal, which was lighted b5 CONCERT AND THEATRE. 10 up for the occasion. For the sake of brevity all the chorals were omitted. For my part, had I been obliged to shorten the piece, I would rather have left out a part here and there, than have lopped away a main limb, an entire branch of the composition. In every other respect, the perform ance was deserving of praise; the large building was completely full, and the audience appeared to be delighted with their entertainment. M. Krause sang the bass with a fine dignified voice, and Mademoiselle Tuczek gave her whole part, but more particularly the Jerusalem, with a voice that went at once to the heart. The choruses also were deserving of praise.

The counter-tenor was as full as it always ought to be, but seldom is; and in the treble, the higher notes (G and A) came out with softness and purity, whereas with us they are often forced or screamed out. Is this owing to a defect in our school, or to a defect in the throats of our singers? In the evening, at the Karnthnerthor Theatre, the play was Norma. Wild is now a mere ruin, and keeps up only by dint of great efforts. Stan digel's is an excellent bass voice. Madame Lutzer has more power than Madame Lowe, but less elegance and action. The composition itself I look upon as even worse than many other of Bellini's pieces. This mamma of a vestal is a STATE OF MUSIC. paltry made-up thing in comparison with Sponti ni's enduring work of art. This gurgling, jump ing up and down, and chromatic running about ; this outrageous screaming, and suppressed whisper ing; and that without distinction, whether love, complaint, hate, fury, or prayer have to be expressed ; all this to me is the non plus ultra of anti-music and of the undramatical ; a beggarly, tawdry, patch work finery !

In Vienna, where genius of the first order, where men like Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, may be said to have discovered a new world of music ; where talent like that of Salieri, Winter, and even the cheerful Wenzel Miiller, cultivated more familiar fields ; even there nothing but mere sing-song now holds sway, or at best the spurious coin passes cur rent and uncensured by the side of that of intrinsic value. I have not had leisure this time to see the curio sities and the collections of art, but Vienna itself has made upon me the same impression as formerly. Berlin, in comparison, appears as a mere upstart, that has built himself a smart house, and has fitted it up showily. Here every thing seems to rest on a sounder foundation ; the state is larger, the land more productive, the wealth far surpasses that of Prussia, and stands second only to that of England.

We brag a great deal about one thing, our wit, be- DEPARTURE FROM VIENNA. 12 cause we feel that without it we should be nothing. There are those, however, who presume to question whether this article really abounds more in Berlin than in Vienna. Besides, have not many of those who announce themselves as guardians of the Prus sian Zion done much of late years to check, crip ple, clip, intimidate, and neutralize it ? Tuesday, March 19. Even among the learned we meet with strange approximations of learning and ignorance. At Count St. Aulaire's I met a Frenchman, who had Egypt, Syria, and Constantinople at his finger's ends, and yet fancied that the nearest way from Berlin to England was by the way of Stettin, and through the Baltic ! Trieste, March 23. " A man should always be prepared for the worst," is an excellent proverb, and such I have found it.

To begin. The post-carriage (Briefeil wagen) did not indeed close hermetically ; still it was incomparably better and more convenient than those in which I had been put to the torture be tween Dresden and Vienna. Moreover, in the front seat, calculated for two, there was Mr. D., a merchant, besides myself, so that we had room enough to stretch our legs ; and then no time was lost, for ROUTE TO TRIESTE. 13 the horses went as fast as circumstances allowed. It was these very circumstances, however, that dark ened the whole picture. On starting from Vienna we found the roads bad, and as we approached the Sommering the frost had changed every thing into snow and ice, and these bore us faithful company till we were close to Trieste. Indeed, since leav ing Berlin, from the first to the 22nd of March, I have not been a day without the full enjoyment of winter ; we are now going through a course of rain, and then comes the broiling.

As for the whole road from Vienna to this town, it is the least beautiful and interesting of any that I am acquainted with. Even that by Klagenfurt is to be preferred, and that over the Brenner still more so, but all those further to the west are in finitely superior. And yet I could not help choos ing it, for it was the only one that I did not know, and that was passable at this season of the year ; because it was necessary that I should see Prince Metternich, and some other persons in Vienna, and I was desirous also of becoming acquainted with Trieste. Any one not actuated by similar motives would be wrong to choose Vienna and Griitz for his route to Italy. On Wednesday the 20th, we had beautiful wea ther ; the sun shone with such splendour upon the ice and snow, that my blue spectacles proved ex- TRIESTE. 14 tremely serviceable.

We arrived in the evening at Gratz, which lies in a spacious plain, and looks quite imposing with its castle. The handsomest object, however, that / saw there, was the maid who waited on us at the inn ; to enter into conver sation with her was a matter of some difficulty ; not so much on account of the difference between our ages, as of the much greater difference between her German and mine. From Laybach to Sessana we had snow, and then followed heavy rain. Passing over the stony desert so often described, I readied Optschina, and, though heaven and earth wore but a lugu brious aspect, I was delighted to look down again upon Italy and the Adriatic The firmly con structed road that wound down along the moun tains presented the most varied points of view. Of spring there was no trace, if I except the appearance of grass, and the blossoms of the apricot trees.

My room in the Locanda Grande has a view over the harbour and the sea, and well pleased I am to have got into port again. If those who envy me had been as handsomely jolted and kept awake as I have been, during three days and three nights, to say nothing of the inclemency of the weather, I believe most of them would feel inclined to turn back and join Nikolai's party. RECEPTION AT TRIESTE.

Letter II

Reception at Trieste. Trieste, March 25. Fbom Berlin to Trieste my journey has been none of the most pleasant, but here my real task may be said to begin ; and if I may judge of all Italy by Trieste, it is impossible to hope for abetter reception. Consuls and merchants, men of business and men of learning, nay, even ladies, are emulous to do every thing in their power to make my stay agreeable. I hear, see, and learn more in an hour, than a stranger relying on hotel-keepers and ciceroni would be able to do during a pro longed residence. My inquiries relative to Trieste have already brought me in such a rich harvest, that I feel I must digest the matter, and compare my notes with those I shall make on Venice, before I shall be able to reduce the whole into any form. In the new town, and the greater part of it is new, the streets are straight, sufficiently spacious, and extremely well paved.

Yesterday was Palm- Sunday, and crowds of country people were parad ing about, with olive branches and portogalli. The men were mostly in warm caps and brown coats. In the costume of the women I saw nothing to VIEW OF VENICE. remark, unless it be their extremely high-quartered shoes, covering nearly the whole instep, (probably a protection on the stony roads) and a white ker chief thrown over the head, and falling down he hind.

Letter III

View of Venice — Venice — St. Mark's — Pieta — Archives — Celebration of Easter — Music. Venice, March 28. On Tuesday the 26th, at eleven in the evening, the steamer started with favourable weather from Trieste. After a sound sleep, undisturbed by sickness, I was on deck at daybreak, and saw the sun rising from the sea, and making Venice glorious with his beams. Three times already, and now for the fourth time, Venice has made a mighty, an irresistible im pression upon me ; one that baffles comparison. The objects that present themselves, and the thoughts and feelings that they excite, are different here to what they are in any other place in the world. Heaven and earth, life and death, the tasteful and the tasteless, the past, the present, and the future, meet here in a way peculiar to the place.

Much is out of all rule, much contrary to all rule, VENICE. 17 but then there is so much that is beyond all rule. When the stranger coming from the Lido sees the Palace of the Doge, the columns, the Piazzetta, the Campanile, the Orologio, and St. Mark's, with the many other marvels rising from the sea ; who is there, that, in such a moment of joy, surprise, and enthusiasm, can descend to criticise columns and the position of windows ? For my own part, at least, thank Heaven ! I am no such stockfish ; as little now, as twenty-two years ago. On landing, I was forced to provide for the usual exigencies of a traveller ; and, carefully avoiding the more expensive hotels, I repaired to the Luna, recommended to me by those whose means coincided with my own. I demanded, what in Venice bears a double signification, a light room, even though it might be high up on its way towards heaven.

I was shown such a one; but so low that a person of the height of our nephew, even without the am plification of the military head-dress, could not have moved about otherwise than on his knees. I therefore lowered myself in order to heighten the room. The next that was shown me proved in every way unobjectionable. It was clean and suitably furnished, with a view over the Governor's garden, the only one within the city ; and from the window the sun might be seen every morning rising from the sea. I was in no way surprised to hear the ST. MARK'S. 18 landlord declare that this room would be a dear one; and, in spite of my enthusiasm, I was resolv ing to act with resolution, and stand out for an abatement. But when the man demanded only about two-thirds of a florin per day, all my hostile intentions evaporated, and I briefly and sincerely replied that I was satisfied.

Guided by a valet-de-place through the labyrinth of the city, I have been sowing a multitude of letters of recommendation, and hope to see them yield me an abundant harvest. Friday, March 29. I detain my letter, as you have had news of me from Trieste, and my matter for report may prove meagre, unless I write about things that are known to every body. Yet why pedantically forbear from all mention of these, when impressions and ideas come crowding upon the mind ? St. Mark's church, for instance, reminds one certainly of St. Sophia's, at Constantinople, but, on the other hand, has so much that is original, contains so many peculiar works of art, and is erected amid so many extraordinary surrounding objects, that, after all the books already written about it, abundant materials may be found for as many more.

Less imposing than St. Peter's, less solemn than the cathedral of Milan, St. Mark's may, nevertheless, say ancK io THE PIETA. son chiesal and will go unconquered, nay, in some respects unequalled, from the conflict. Yesterday evening I saw the church lighted up, and beheld in reality what is seldom seen, except as a theatrical decoration. On the one side, the pomp, solemnity, and festivity of Catholicism, together with its out ward evidences of faith, impress the mind strongly, but on the other side, I was disturbed, as I have often been before, by the chattering, the running to and fro, I may almost say the bawling, of the clergy. More purely sounded the choir as it struck in at intervals. A handsome well-dressed girl knelt before a small picture of a saint, that was preserved under a glass case.

I was about, in spite of all my protestantism, to commend, nay, to envy her zeal and faith ; but when I saw her spit upon her handkerchief, and wipe the glass, preparatory to kissing it, the whole Fata Morgana, I must own, vanished in a moment. Thence I went to the Pieta, where, according to custom, I heard some very mediocre compositions sung in a very mediocre manner. The old custom of beating timeloud enough to be heard throughout the whole church is still persevered in; and yet the first singer and her followers were seldom together. I hastened into the open air, where heaven and earth were executing more harmonious melodies. The sun had sunk in purple magnificence behind Santa PARADISE OF VENICE. 20 Maria della Salute, and the Canale Grande reflect ed more darkly and soberly the picture presented hy the sky.

In the east, the moon with her pale coronet of beams was just rising above Lido, while, by her side, Jupiter was glowing in all his brightness, and immediately over the Campanile, Venus was moving along at a measured pace. When I turned from this glorious spectacle above me, to look upon the ragged, screaming, wrangling, crowd that moved around, a feeling of humiliation came over me. Saturday, March 30. St. Mark's and the Piazzetta are the paradise of Venice ; and then follows, on almost every side, the purgatory, and that in a medicinal, much more than in a theological, sense. From the paradise, at least, the Austrians have succeeded in expelling Italian filth. 1 will not fatigue you with the names of those whom I have visited, or who have visited me. I have learned something from both, and expect to learn more.

The Easter holidays, in the mean time, have somewhat interfered with my investiga tions. The evening before last, I was agreeably entertained in the family circle of Mr. T , where I had again an opportunity of convincing myself that there are German as well as Italian dialects, which VENETIAN COOKERY. 21 are unintelligible to me. Yet I am a homo doc tissimus in comparison with some travellers whom I meet with. I saw a German here the other day, who knew very little French and no Italian ! The body fares worse here than the mind. I was directed to a trattoria, as of superior excellence, where I found the cooking so wretched that I could taste but little, and that little made me sick. In the Europa I was rather better off, but even that was nothing to boast of. To-day our bill of fare consisted of soupe maigre, flavoured with cheese ; dried fish, something like smelts; sinewy beef, with turnips; boiled mutton of a stony hardness, gar nished with sour potatoes, &c. : a plate of roast beef would have been ten times more welcome to me than the whole succession of ill-conceived, ill arranged, and ill-dressed dishes ; and for a mess of good broth, I would have cheerfully parted with my whole birthright of fame.