A Tour of Inquiry through France and Italy, illustrating their present social, political and religious condition

Preface

" Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." How peculiarly applicable are these inspired words to the political events of our day. A new era has dawned on the world, a spirit of innovation — or rather let us say of social and religious improvement — has arisen, and it were as vain to attempt to arrest its progress, as to reverse the order of the seasons. Unhappily, however, for mankind, systems

PREFACE.

. VI yet survive that belong to another age, and another state of society, and which having long since outlived their time, and fulfilled their mission, still cling to the prejudices and tra ditions of the past, and paralyze the energies of the present. It is to this clashing of interests, this war of principles — advancement on one side, and an obstinately maintained stationary policy on the other — that may be attributed the political convulsions, that have so long threatened, and still continue to threaten, the peace of the world ; and it is this that has laid France, our former ally in the glorious work of civilization, prostrate beneath the iron will of the despot, the priest, and the soldier. Unbiassed by any party considerations, or religious prejudices, the author of these volumes has endeavoured to make himself acquainted with the actual condition of the people he attempts to describe ; his sole object, the

PREFACE.

. VII cause of truth ; his only fear, the imputation of falsehood, or of being considered other than what he is, and ever has been — the friend of monarchical government, of rational liberty, and religious freedom ; the enemy of despot ism, bigotry, and intolerance, in any part of the world. The present state of Italy has especially engaged his attention ; and it is chiefly to plead her cause at the bar of public opinion that the following pages have been written, trusting that, notwithstanding the feebleness of the advocate, they may advance the interests of so noble a people. In this hope, he confidently leaves his work to the enlightened and impartial reader, certain that every indulgence will be accorded to a writer whose only aim is to enlist the sympathies of the generous sons of free England in favour of a country — once the cradle of the arts, the home of science, literature, and learning — which has so long

PREFACE.

. been overrun by foreign armies, torn by domestic dissensions, and oppressed by the intolerant rule of priestcraft and despotism. E. S. DECEMBER 21, 1852. CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

Chapter I

Journey to Italy — Landing at Boulogne — First impressions — Passports and Custom-house officers — Pilgrimage to the shrine of Notre Dame de Boulogne — Her legend — Boulogne as a residence — French and English railroads — Route to Paris — The Octroi and universal suffrage — Paris and London contrasted — Modern improvements in Paris — The Gauls and Anglo-Saxons — How necessary to each other . 1

Chapter II

The Biffins of Paris — Their social, religious, and moral character — Destitution — Misery and mode of living — Concluding remarks . . . . .29 CONTENTS. X COPTER III. Departure for Chalons-sur-Sa&ne — Central France — Aspect of the country — Travelling companions — Religion and politics — Opinion of a French Bishop on England— Arrival at Chalons — Steam-boats on the Saone and the Rhone— Voyage down the Saone to Lyons — Characteristics of Lyons — Scenery on the banks of the Saone and the Rhone — Steamer aground — Novel mode of fleecing travellers — Arrival at Avignon — Historical reminiscences . 46

Chapter IV

Provence — Excursion in the Vaucluse Mountains — Visit to Saint Saturnin — Rose Tamisier : the modern saint of Provence — Her miracle of the bleeding picture — Sketch of her history — Piety and European fame — Visit of the Archbishop of Avignon, and the public authorities of Provence to Rose Tamisier — Their recognition of the miracle— Singular discovery of the imposture — State of public feeling — Trial and condemnation of Rose Tamisier . . . .72

Chapter V

State of religion in the south of France— Infidelity and superstition — Appearance of the Virgin Mary on CONTENTS. XI Mount Salette — Romantic details of the miracle — Connivance of the Government and the superior clergy in the imposture — Indignant expression of public opinion — Schism in the Gallic Church — New religious sect of the Saint Esprit Brotherhood — Some accounts of their tenets — Character of the founder — Ne,w dogma of the divinity of the Virgin Mary — Its adoption by the Romish Church — Observations on the character, influence, opinions, and conduct of the clergy of the Gallic Church — Louis Napoleon and the Parti Tritre 94

Chapter VI

Tour through Provence — Cannes and Lord Brougham — English residents — The benefits they confer on the inhabitants — Route from Cannes to Nice — Description of Nice — Its advantages as a place of residence — The good effects of a constitutional government . 140

Chapter VII

Departure from Nice — Journey across the maritime Alps — Beautiful scenery — Travelling companions — Adventure at Oneglia — Italian towns — Arrival at Genoa — Sketch of its ancient and modern history — Illustrious men of Genoa — Increasing prosperity of the town . . . . . . .157 CONTENTS.

Chapter VIII

The Mediterranean steamers — Arrival at Leghorn — Some account of that town — Austrian police — Insolence of Austrian officers — Civita Vecchia — Annoyances of the passport system — Coasting voyage — Passengers in the Neapolitan steamer — Swiss officers and their recruits — Account of the Neapolitan and Sicilian insurrections — Dangerous tempest — Arrival at Naples 179

Chapter IX

Naples — Its origin — Its oppressive government — Sketch of Naples under the rule of the Spaniards and the French — Observations on the Government — The late insurrection — General discontent of the people — National character — Neapolitan beggars — Popular superstitions — Manners and customs of the people — State of religion at Naples — Total neglect of public instruction — Laxity of morals — Pantomimic communication ....... 201

Chapter X

Neapolitan patois — Story-tellers and street preachers — The modern San Martino — His celestial vision and sermon — Singular superstition respecting the Pope's CONTENTS. XIII shirt — Tomasso of the Evil Eye — His history — Superstitious belief of the Neapolitans in the Evil Eye — Characteristics of Naples — General observations . . . . . i . . . 238

Chapter XI

Preparations for leaving Naples — Railroad to Capua — Neapolitan officers — A female Jesuit — i\.n embarrassing position — Sketches of a tour from Capua to Gaeta — Account of Gaeta — Miraculous efficacy attributed to the chair of Pio Nono at Gaeta — Visit to the Monastery of St. Benedict — The birth-place of Cicero — Interesting ruins at Arpino — Tomb of Cicero — Itri and its supper of thrushes— Fondi — Arrival in the Papal States — Passports and Custom-house officers — American firmness opposed to Papal police — Sketch of Terracina and its environs — Characteristics of the mountaineers — Insalubrity of the marshes . . . . . . . 259

Chapter XII

Journey to Rome — The Pontine Marshes — Causes which led to the insalubrity of this district — Some account of its ancient inhabitants, the Volsci — Defeat of the Neapolitan army at Velletri by the Roman insurgents — Sketches of the country between Velletri CONTENTS. XIV and Albano — Ascent of Monte Cavo — Rocca di Papa — Doubtful character of the inhabitants — Visit to Frascati and Palestrina — Desolate character of the country — Monasteries and nunneries — Their influence in destroying the industry and morality of the people — Observations on Papal misgovernment . . 285

Chapter XIII

Visit to the ruins of Adrian's Villa — Remains of the country-house of Horace — The Emperor and the Poet — Insalubrity of the country — The Villa d'Este — Tivoli — Inquiry as to the origin of the first inhabitants of Rome — Arrival in the Eternal City — Table-d'hote — French Revolution — Dangerous excitement at Rome — Tranquillity re-established — Jubilee of the Papal Church — Grand procession . . THROUGH FRANCE AND ITALY.

Chapter I

Journey to Italy — Landing at Boulogne — First impressions — Passports and Custom-house officers — Pilgrimage to the shrine of Notre Dame de Boulogne — Her legend — Boulogne as a residence — French and English railroads — Route to Paris — The Octroi and universal suffrage — Paris and London contrasted — Modern improvements in Paris — The Gauls and Anglo-Saxons — How necessary to each other. To a man who has once imbibed a predilection for the life of a wanderer, a slight apology will suffice for indulging his inclination, and now on my return from the land of the Osmanli, the Greek, the Albanian, and the Slavonian, VOL. I. u having met at the " World's Fair," with several old friends from Italy, their solicitations easily induced me to revisit a country in which I had passed some of the happiest days of early youth.

Recent events also having invested the beautiful peninsula with more than ordinary interest, I was especially desirous to note the changes which time had wrought among a noble people, to whose genius mankind have been so deeply indebted for that civilizing process which has gone on redeeming the world from barbarism. Other lands, it is true, have their attractions, but there is no country in Europe that has more constantly occupied the attention of mankind in every age, than the classic soil of Italy ; none, even in the present day, that possess so many varied and absorbing claims to the consideration of the traveller, linked as it is with some of the most remarkable events recorded in the history of the world ; where every city, town, and vil lage, nay, its very Alps and mountains, hills and valleys, seas and rivers, speak of the illus trious dead.

We will, therefore, at once cross the Channel, and commence our narrative in the land of the Gaul. The first view of Boulogne, with its citadel and fortifications, its i\nejete'e, custom-house and spacious harbour, lined with hotels and coffee houses, billiard-rooms and restaurants, decorated in all the attractive gaiety of a French town, presents to the traveller an agreeable contrast to the dull little sea-port of Folkestone. Boulogne, however, does not improve on a more intimate acquaintance : with the exception of the port, and one or two of the principal thoroughfares, the streets are narrow and badly paved ; and in so large and old a city, it is remarkable, we do not find a single public or private building deserving notice ; and equally so, notwithstanding the number of English families who have made it their home, and the still greater number attracted hither during the bathing season, it is in every respect a thoroughly French town.

A proof that the Celtic Gauls, like our own Celtic Irish, do not easily amalga- B mate with any other race — above all, with the Anglo-Saxon. Perhaps this is more striking to the English traveller who arrives here for the first time, when he finds everything animate and inanimate, on which he rests his eye, so new and foreign, that he might fancy he had been transported by the wand of a magician to a hemisphere a thousand miles distant. Intermingled with a gay, animated multitude, who appear to have no other way of passing their time than in the dolce far niente, he sees priests, monks, friars and nuns of every order habited in their re spective costumes, with gensdarmes, troops of the line, custom-house officers, coast-guards and police, all in uniform, and armed to the teeth, as if they momentarily expected an insurrection, or an invasion of their old enemies, the sea-wolves of perfide Albion.

Even the peasants in their wooden shoes, the fish-women in their short red petticoats, white caps, and long gold ear-rings, assist in imparting to the picture an air of continental life, entirely different from anything he has left on the other side of the Channel. Again that the English traveller might not forget he had quitted the land of freedom and independence, he is made a prisoner by the police and custom-house officers, the moment he touches French soil, in whose custody he must remain till he has proved to their satisfaction, that he is not a smuggler, a red-republican in disguise, or, in short, a suspicious character. But this is not the only indignity to which a proud son of free England is obliged to submit, for after he has succeeded in satisfying the inquisitorial interrogatories of the despot of the passport bureau, he is unceremoniously pushed forward through a narrow passage, lined with custom-house officers, whose duty it is to ascer tain by passing their hands over his person, that he is not carrying illicit merchandize, or any prohibited publication, political or religious.

Then his baggage must be examined, and such an examination! Throughout the whole of France the search is extremely rigorous, but here, when the traveller does not employ a commissioner, who probably divides his profits with the custom-house officer, his trunks after being almost, and in some cases entirely unpacked, are passed over the table to an.out ward room, filled with fish-women, authorised by superior authority to monopolise the privilege of custom-house porters ; and to make matters worse, before it is possible for him to regain his trunks and their contents, he is obliged to make the circuit of the table, and pass through a side door, affording sufficient time, should these fair mermaids feel inclined, to purloin any small article or trinket they may particularly admire. Every place, however insignificant, has its lions ; the most celebrated in Boulogne, is the column erected by the first Napoleon, to com memorate the conquest of England ! and that this well-authenticated event should be sufficiently attested, a medal was struck on the occasion, one of which the traveller may find deposited at the museum in the Lower Town.

We have also the cathedral tower, erected by the Abbe Haffringue, to which, as it inclines from the perpendicular, these sarcastic Gauls have given the soubriquet of " The Leaning Tower of Boulogne !" Every town and city in France reposes under the protection of some celestial being ; and Boulogne, in having selected the Queen of Heaven as its patroness, ought to be doubly prosperous and happy, especially as here her Majesty is not an ideal personage. There is the very image herself to be seen, chiselled from life by the hand of the Evangelist St. Luke, brought from the Holy Land by a gallant crusader, and presented to his native town in the days of the good old King St. Louis. Without entering into the details of the interesting, legend connected with this celebrated image, its adventures by sea and land, and the number of extraordinary miracles it is said to have performed from time to time, we will merely relate one of its most surprising and well-attested exploits.

It appears that our Harry the Eighth had it conveyed to England, as a trophy of his victory over the French at Boulogne, and deposited in a monastery at Canterbury. The lady seems to have submitted with exemplary resignation to her abduction so long as the monarch remained steadfast to the true faith ! But when his heretical perversion had drawn down upon him the anathema of his Holiness the Pope, she quitted the accursed land ; and one fine summer's morning was found in a boat, irradiated by heavenly glory, entering the port of Boulogne ! Those among our readers who may doubt the truth of this narrative, have only to cross the Channel to Boulogne, where they can exa mine the document itself, attested by the signa ture of the bishop and the clergy, together with that of the governor and the notables of the town at that period.

They may also see the image herself most gorgeously attired in the church of Notre Dame in the Upper Town ; and if we may judge from the costly offerings of the faithful, she is still held in high estimation. Among the splendid ornaments, the sacristan pointed out to us, with great pride, a petticoat embroidered by the fair hands of the ex-Queen of France, a crown of diamonds presented by Charles X., a necklace of the same description, the gift of Louis XVIII., besides other jewels equally magnificent, the pious donations of private individuals. The crypt of the old cathedral we, however, thought far more deserving admiration than the treasury of Our Lady of Boulogne. This subter ranean church was discovered a few years since by the Abbe Haffringue ; and would be far more interesting as a memorial of the early Christians, had not modern art been employed in its decoration, with a view of making it more attractive as a public exhibition.

Taken altogether, either as a residence or a sea-bathing place, Boulogne is one of the pleasantest towns in France ; it is also far more cleanly than French towns are in general, and the surrounding country is not without picturesque beauty. But the harbour, as a naval and commercial station, may be deemed a failure, notwithstanding the large sums of money that have been expended upon it from time to time by the French government, and must remain so until the jete'e is carried out further into the sea, so as to be able to receive vessels at low water ; and certainly one of the chief desagre'mens of this town is the offensive miasma arising from the mud in the harbour when the tide is out, and which aggravated the virulence of the cholera when that pestilence visited the town in 1849. We left Boulogne in the train for Amiens ■ and now that the rail has become a necessity to the traveller, we must pause to remark that the railroad-carriages in France are better con structed and far more commodious than those in England, and the fares much less expensive ; the servants are also more civil and anxious to render any assistance in their power to the passengers.

Lamps are provided for every carriage on passing through a tunnel, or during the night, not even excepting those of the third class, which had also the advantage of being covered, so as to protect the poor man from the inclemency of the weather. From whatever causes it may arise, the auto crats of our railroads have much to learn in their management. There is everywhere a visible want of systematic government in their regulation, apparently at variance with the practical good sense of an Englishman, occa sioning those dreadful accidents which are now of almost daily occurrence in England, but which are happily becoming very rare not only in France, but in all other parts of the con tinent. After leaving the environs of Boulogne, and the pretty landscape of the Liane, dotted with the neat country-houses of the citizens, we tra versed a succession of swamps, with an embank ment of sandy heights, which entirely excluded any view of the sea; and this continued with little intermission till we came to the Somme, when we caught a glimpse of the pretty town of St. Vallery rising up in the midst of its forests and well-cultivated fields.

How many remembrances does not this town revive in the mind of the English traveller ! It was here that our own Saxon king, the fearless and confiding Harold, was caught in the snares of the wily Norman ; and in later days the conquered and the conquerors, having forgot their ancient feud and become one people, humbled the proudest chivalry of France on the hard -fought fields of Cressy and A gin court. At Amiens we exchanged the carriages of the Boulogne line for those of the Northern ; and King Rothschild of Paris, who rules this with absolute sway, seems to have taken his system of government from the despots of the English railway, for we found his carriages very inferior to those we had just left, still the poor man has the advantage of a cover to protect him from the storm ; but now that the Amiens line and the Northern have become united, and subject to the same jurisdiction, no doubt we shall see sackcloth adopted as a substitute for windows.

So much for mono polies ! On leaving behind us the swamps and bogs that lay extended to the right of the railroad, on quitting the city of Amiens, the country improved in beauty and fertility. We also now for the first time, beheld the vine which continued to increase in luxuriance as we advanced towards Paris, which our French fellow travellers were pleased to designate as the metropolis of the civilized world ! Truly the prospect was grand and imposing, as it embraced the ancient town and time-worn cathedral of St. Denis, the picturesque heights of Mont martre, and a long line of fortifications, over which might be seen rising a great and populous city ; but hearing no other sound, as we entered the city of the Gauls, more civilized than the roll of the noisy drum, and seeing the streets filled with soldiers marching and counter marching with fixed bayonets, we fancied we were passing through the capital of some military despot, rather than the seat of com merce, the arts and sciences, and every species of industry that can ennoble man in a high state of civilization and industry.

On arriving at the de'barcadere, we were forcibly reminded of the fact, that our neighbours are neither by genius nor education a commercial people. Our unhappy trunks, parcels and carpet-bags, which had already undergone a lengthened and laborious investi gation at Boulogne, were again examined here by the officers of the Paris octroi with as much minuteness as if we had entered the territory of another state. We cannot but feel surprised that the commercial classes in France, shrewd as they are, and with the example of England before them, should not have combined to destroy a system which, while it exhausts the time and patience of a man of business, cannot materially benefit the revenue, when we remember the expense of maintaining the numerous body of officials employed to enforce the regula tions.

The system no doubt has been found ser viceable in a political point of view, especially in the present day, since it secures to the govern ment the votes of a large body of electors ; and be it remembered every large town in France has its octroi. In addition to these there is the passport-bureaucracies and the douaniers, the military and the police, together with an immense body of employe's of every description spread over every part of France, and through all classes of society, forming altogether a vast army fully equipped and disciplined to take the field at a moment's warning. What then becomes of the liberty of a people, with universal suffrage the law of the land, when it has to contend against such a multitude of placemen as this, whose patriotism is confined to how they can best keep their places, and get their salaries?

Truly the exercise of an elective franchise under such circumstances must be considered a farce, and the aggregate votes of the electors a machine, at the disposal of what ever ruler holds the reins of power, provided he knows how to take advantage of his position. It must also be observed in a Roman Catholic country like France, the whole of the clergy, from the simple cure up to the archbishop, are paid by the government. May we not, there fore, anticipate when France has finished experi menting in the science of legislating, the despotic governments of Europe, profiting by her lessons and example, will be able to construct model constitutions which shall leave nothing to be desired ? At length having obtained our luggage from the gentlemen of the octroi, we were at liberty to depart ; and here we must again do justice to the admirable arrangements of the railway directors in France to protect the traveller from being preyed upon by the crowds of harpies who usually attack him when he first arrives.

For instance, if a stranger informs any one of the servants of the railroad the name of his hotel or place of residence, stating his wish to be conveyed thither, and also mentioning whether he desires omnibus, hackney coach, or cabriolet, his luggage is transferred to it with out delay ; and if a foreigner, he is attended by a civil intelligent porter who speaks his language, and whose duty it is to aid and assist him, and see that no mistake nor dispute should arise respecting the sum to be paid : the fare, however, is always trifling, and inscribed in the interior of the vehicle. The traveller who wishes to form a correct estimate of the national character of the French, must come to Paris. A town that influences all, rules all, and whose decrees in fashion, manners, customs and politics are as binding with every son and fair daughter of France, as the laws of the Medes and Persians.

London is quite the reverse of this, and exercises but a feeble sway over the provinces, beyond that of being the capital and seat of government. Still the two cities may be taken as types of the national character. In the one the spirit of utility pervades everything, and in the other everything is influenced by a regard to general effect. VOL. I. C The noble Thames, filled w7ith the vessels of every commercial nation in the world, flows between a range of gloomy warehouses, whose contents might purchase an imperial diadem ; while the Seine, an insignificant shallow stream, being lined with spacious quays and fine houses built of stone, owes all its grandeur to the edifices that adorn its banks. Again, architecture has done little for the embellishment of London, in Paris everything ; and no city in the world presents so imposing a quadrangle as that viewed from the Egyptian Obelisk, in the centre of the Place de la Concorde, embracing as it does the Palace of the Tuileries, with its gardens, the long line of the Champs Elysees, crowned by the Arc de Triomphe, the Chamber of Deputies, with the bridge over the Seine, and the vista of the Boulevards, including the beautiful Church of the Madeleine.

When I stood in the centre of this noble square, and examined in detail these splendid monuments of French art, erected in a style of elaborate ornament, all harmonizing with the general effect, even to the tastefully designed lamps ; the two noble fountains rising to a height of more than fifty feet, from which descended streams of the purest water ; the lofty obelisk imported from the distant land of Egypt; and pictured to my imagination the various monuments of bad taste in our own capital, erected at the cost of millions of the public money ; the conviction would force itself upon my mind that, however much we may excel our neighbours in industry and works of utility, we have much to learn both with regard to design and execution in the embellishment of a capital. If we extend our promenade from the Place de la Concorde towards the Boulevards, which in days of yore enclosed the city as in a belt, we see before us the noblest and certainly the gayest street in the world ; the favourite locale for hotels, restaurants, theatres, and coffee houses, decorated with all that French ingenuity can invent to render them attractive.

The c Boulevards, however, to be appreciated as it deserves, should be seen of a fine summer's evening, when we shall find it crowded with every class of society, from the haughty patrician of the Faubourg St. Germain, down to the ragged chiffonnier of the Faubourg St. Marceau, forming an ambulatory panorama for the tra veller who may be desirous to study the charac teristics of the French people, and where he will find, whether by day or night, a never-ceasing succession of subjects for his pencil. The Boulevards may also be compared to a perpetual fair, where itinerant showmen of every description may be seen, together with mounte banks, fortune-tellers, orators, jugglers, tumblers, newspaper-vendors, flower-girls, and an endless variety of trifling fancy articles exposed for sale. Then the crowds of pedestrians, the multitude of equestrians and carriages hurrying to and fro, the gay, vivacious, talkative people, appearing as if they existed solely for amusement, leave on the memory of a grave serious islander from the other side of the Channel, who has seen them for the first time, an impression not easily effaced.

Paris, however, requires sunshine ; a shower of rain disperses the multitude, swells the gutters to torrents, over which it is impossible to step, obliging the pedestrian either to be carried over on the broad shoulders of a porter, or pay a few sous for the accommodation of a plank, thereby offering another illustration of the character of two races, who, although divided merely by a narrow strait, have scarcely a single trait in common. The prudent foresight of the Anglo- Saxon, to secure himself from this nuisance, buries millions of money in constructing gigantic sewers, while his more showy neighbour is con tent with his gutters, and never expends his francs unless to gratify his vanity and taste for an imposing exterior. Paris has been frequently compared to a brilliant theatre, and its inhabitants the per formers.