Part 14 (1/2)

The _Corso_ or grand evening promenade for carriages and equestrians is on a place called the Cascino, p.r.o.nounced by the Florentines _Hascino_. The Cascino consists of pleasure grounds on the banks of the Arno outside the town, laid out in roads, alleys and walks for carriages, equestrians and pedestrians. There is a very brilliant display of carriages every evening.

There are _restaurants_ on the Cascino and supper parties are often formed here. This place is often the scene of curious adventures. Cicisbeism is universal at Florence, tho' far from being always criminal, as is generally supposed by foreigners. I find the Florentine women very graceful and many very handsome; but in point of beauty the female peasantry far exceed the _n.o.blesse_ and burghers. All of them however dress with taste. The handsomest woman in Florence is the wife of an apothecary who lives in the _Piazza del Duomo_ and she has a host of admirers.

On the promenade _lungo l'Arno_ near the Cascino is a fountain with a statue of Pegasus, with an inscription in Italian verse purporting that Pegasus having stopped there one day to refresh himself at this fountain, found the place so pleasant that he remained there ever since. This is a poetic nation _par excellence_. _Affiches_ are announced in sonnets and other metres; and tho' in other countries the votaries of the Muses are but too apt to neglect the ordinary and vulgar concerns of life, yet here it by no means diminishes industry, and the nine Ladies are on the best possible terms with Mr Mercury.

I shall not attempt a description of the various _palazzi_ and churches of Florence, tho' I have visited, thanks to the zeal and importunity of my _cicerone_, nearly all, except to remark that no one church in Florence, the Cathedral and Baptistery on the _Piazza del Duomo_ excepted, has its facade finished, and they will remain probably for ever unfinished, as the completion of them would cost very large sums of money, and the restored Government, however anxious to resuscitate the _ancient faith_, are not inclined to make large disburs.e.m.e.nts from their own resources for that purpose. I wish however they would finish the facade of two of these churches, viz., that of _Santa Maria Novella_ and that of _Santa Croce_.

_Santa Maria Novella_ stands in the Piazza of that name which is very large. It is a beautiful edifice, and can boast in the interior of it several columns and pilasters of _jaune antique_ and of white marble. But they have a most barbarous custom in Florence of covering these columns with red cloth on _jours de Fete_, which spoils the elegant simplicity of the columns and makes the church itself resemble a _theatre des Marionnettes_. But the Italians are dreadfully fond of gaudy colours. In the church of _Santa Croce_ what most engaged my attention was the monument erected to Vittorio Alfieri, sculptured by Canova. It is a most beautiful piece of sculpture. A figure of Italy crowned with turrets seems fully sensible of the great loss she has sustained in one who was so ardent a patriot, as well as an excellent tragic poet. This monument was erected at the expence of the Countess of Albany (Queen of England, had _legitimacy_ always prevailed, or been as much in fas.h.i.+on as it now is) as a mark of esteem and affection towards one who was so tenderly attached to her, and of whom in his writings Alfieri speaks with the endearing and affectionate appellation of _mia Donna_. The beautiful sonnet to her, which accompanies the dedication of his tragedy of _Mirra_, well deserves the monument; there is so much feeling in it that I cannot retrain from transcribing it:

Vergognando talor, che ancor si taccia, Donna, per me l'almo tuo nome in fronte Di queste omai gla troppe a te ben conte Tragedie, ond'io di folle avrommi taccia;

Or vo' qual d'esse meno a te dispiaccia Di te fregiar; benche di tutte il fonte Tu sola fosti, e'l viver mio non conte Se non dal Di, ch'al viver tuo si allaccia.

Della figlia di Ciniro infelice L'orrendo a un tempo ed innocente amore Sempre da' tuoi begli occhi il planto elice;

Prova emmi questo, ch'al mio dubbio core Tacitamente imperiosa dice, Ch'io di Mirra consacri a te il dolore.

In this sanctuary (church of the _Santa Croce_) are likewise the tombs and monuments of other great men which Italy has produced. There is the monument erected to Galileo which represents the earth turning round the sun with the emphatic words: _Eppur si muove._ Here too repose the ashes of Machiavelli and Michel Angelo. This church is in fact the Westminster Abbey of Florence.

To go from the _Piazza del gran Duca_ to the _Piazza del Duomo_, where stands the Cathedral, you have only to pa.s.s thro' a long narrow street or rather alley (for it is impervious to carriages) with shops on each side and always filled with people going to or returning from the Duomo. This Cathedral is of immense size. The architecture is singular from its being a mixture of the Gothic and Greek. It appears the most ponderous load that ever was laid on the shoulders of poor mother earth. There is nothing light in its structure to relieve the ma.s.siveness of the building, and in this respect it forms a striking contrast to the Cathedral of Milan which appears the work of Sylphs. The outside of this Duomo of Florence is decorated and incrusted with black and white marble, which increases the ma.s.siveness of its appearance. The steeple or Campanile stands by itself, altogether separate from the Cathedral, and this is the case with most of the Churches in Italy that are not of pure Gothic architecture. This _Campanile_ is curiously inlaid and incrusted on its outside with red, white and black marble. The Baptistery is another building on the same _Piazza_. It is in the same stile of building as the Duomo, but incloses much less s.p.a.ce, and was formerly a separate church, called the church of St John the Baptist. The immense bronze doors or rather gates, both of the Duomo and Battisterio, attracted my peculiar notice. On them are figured bas-reliefs of exquisite and admirable workmans.h.i.+p, representing Scripture histories. It was the symmetry and perfection of these gates that induced Michel Angelo to call them in a fit of enthusiasm _The Gates of Paradise_.

At the door of the Battisterio are the columns in red granite, which once adorned the gates of the city at Pisa, and were carried off by the Florentines in one of their wars. Chains are fastened round these columns, as a memorial of the conquest. The cupolas both of the Duomo and Battisterio are octangular. There is a stone seat on the _Piazza del Duomo_ where they pretend that Dante used occasionally to sit; hence it is called to this day _Il Sa.s.so di Dante_.

You will now no doubt expect me to give some account of the theatres. At the _Pergola_, which is a large and splendid theatre, I have seen two operas; the one, _L'Italiana in Algieri_, which I saw before at Milan last year; the other, the _Barbieri di Seviglia_ by Rossini, which afforded to my ears the most delightful musical feast they ever enjoyed. The cavatina _Una voce poco fa_ gave me inconceivable delight. The _Ballo_ was of a very splendid description and from a subject taken from the Oriental history ent.i.tled _Macbet Sultan of Delhi_. How the Mogul Sultan came to have the name of Macbet I know not. On the _plafond_ of the _Pergola_ is an allegorical painting representing the restored Kings of Europe replaced on their thrones by Valor and Justice. The decorations at this theatre are not quite so splendid as those of the _Scala_ at Milan, but living horses and military evolutions seem to be annexed to every historical _Ballo_. Horses indeed appear to be an indispensable ingredient in the _Balli_ in the large cities of Italy.

In the _Teatro Cocomera_, comedies are performed, and very generally those of the inexhaustible Goldoni. I saw the _Bugiardo_ very fairly performed at this theatre. The story is nearly the same as that of our piece, _The Liar_, which is I believe imitated from _Le Menteur_ of Corneille. The actor who did the Liar was a very good one. The actresses screamed too much and were rather coa.r.s.e. Another night at the theatre I saw a piece call'd _II furioso_, a _comedie larmoyante_ which was interesting and well given; but the voice of the prompter was occasionally too loud. Tragedies are very seldom played; the language of Alfieri could never, I will not say be given with effect, but even conceived by the modern actors. It would be like a tragedy of Sophocles performed by boys at school. There is another reason too why these tragedies are not given; they abound too much in republican and patriotic sentiments to be grateful to the ears of the Princes who reign in Italy, all of whom being of foreign extraction and unshackled by const.i.tutions, come under the denomination of those beings called by Greeks [Greek: Turannoi], I use this word in its Greek sense. Of the Tuscan Government it is but justice to say that from the days of Leopold to the present day it was and is a mild, just and paternal government, more so perhaps than any in Europe; and the only one that can any way reconcile one altogether to those lines of Pope:

For forms of Government let fools contest; Whate'er is best administer'd is best.[83]

In the time of Leopold the factious n.o.bility were kept in check, and the industrious cla.s.ses, mercantile and agricultural, encouraged. The peasantry were, and are, the most affluent in Europe; and this is no small incitement to the industry that prevails. On the elevation of Leopold to the throne of the Caesars, the present Grand Duke succeeded in Tuscany; and he followed the same system that Leopold did, and was equally beloved by his subjects.

Tuscany was the only country in Italy that did not desire a change at the period of the French conquest, and the only state wherein the French were not hailed as deliverers. The Tuscans exhibited a very honorable spirit on the occasion of Buonaparte's visit to the Grand Duke in 1797. They went together to the Theatre della Pergola, and on their entering into the Grand Ducal box, the Grand Duke was hailed with cries of _Viva il Nostro Sovrano_: now this proof of attachment at a period when Buonaparte was all-mighty in Italy, when the Grand Duke was but an inferior personage, at a time too when it was doubtful whether or not he would be dethroned, and in the very presence of the mighty conqueror, reflects great honor and credit on the Tuscan character. Buonaparte was much struck at this proof of disinterested attachment on the part of the Florentines towards their Sovereign, and told the Grand Duke very ingenuously that he had received orders to revolutionize the country, from the French Directory; but that as he perceived the people were so happy, and the Prince so beloved, he could not and would not attempt to make any change.

The applause given to the Grand Duke at this critical period is so much the more creditable to the Florentines as they in general receive their Prince, on his presenting himself at the theatre, with no other ceremonial than rising once and bowing. There is no fulsome _G.o.d save the King_ repeated even to nausea, as at the English theatres. In fact none of the Italians pay that servile adulation to their Sovereigns that the French and English do.

The changes projected in Italy at the treaty of Luneville by Napoleon then first Consul, and his further views on Italy, induced him at length to eject an Austrian Prince from the sovereignty of a country which he intended to annex to the French Empire. The Grand Duke was indemnified with a princ.i.p.ality in Germany, where he remained until the downfall of Napoleon in 1814; subsequent arrangements again restored him to the sway of the land he loved so well, and he returned to Florence as if he had only been absent on a tour, finding scarcely any change in the laws and customs and habits of the country; for tho' Tuscany was first erected into a Kingdom by the t.i.tle of Etruria, and afterwards annexed to the French Empire, the inst.i.tutions and laws laid down by Leopold and followed strictly by his successor were preserved; very little innovation took place, and the few innovations that were effected were decided ameliorations; for the Emperor Napoleon had too much tact not to preserve and protect the good he found, tho' he abolished all old abuses. The improvements introduced by the French have been preserved and confirmed by the Grand Duke on his return, for he is a man of too much good sense, and has too much love of justice, to think of abolis.h.i.+ng the good that has been done, merely because it was done by the French. Tuscany has now a respectable military force of 8,000 men well armed, clothed and equipped in the French manner.

Tuscany is the only part of Italy where the downfall of Napoleon was not regretted; the inhabitants of Leghorn indeed rejoiced at it, for the commerce of Tuscany being chiefly maritime, Leghorn suffered a good deal from the continental system. Leghorn in fact decayed in the same proportion that Milan and other inland cities rose into opulence.

The character of the Tuscan people is so amiable and pacific that crime is very rare indeed. Murder is almost unknown and the punishment of death is banished from the penal code. Where the government is good, the people are or soon become good. I know of no country in the world more agreeable for a foreigner to settle in than Tuscany.

I omitted to remark that in the street called _Borgo d'Ognissanti_ is a large house or _palazzo_ which belonged to Americo Vespucci. His bust is to be seen in the Florentine Gallery. It is curious to remark the different appellations given to the word _street_ in the different cities of Italy.

In Milan a street is called _vico_ and in Turin, _contrada_; in Florence _strada_ and in Rome, I understand, _via_.

FLORENCE, 1st Sept.

I shall start in a day or two for Rome, being very impatient to behold the Eternal City, a plan which I have had in view from my earliest days and which I have not been able hitherto to effect; for like the Abbe Delille I had sworn to visit the sacred spot where so many ill.u.s.trious men had spoke and acted, and to do hommage in person to their Manes. I was always a great admirer of the ”_Popolo Re_.”

In Florence there are a great many literary societies such as the _Infuocati, Immobili_, and the far renowned _La Crusca_.

Frequent _Academies_, for so a sitting of a litterary society in Italy is termed, are held in Florence. There are likewise two Casinos, one for the n.o.bility and the other for the merchants and burghers; the wives and daughters of the members attend occasionally; and cards, music and dancing are the amus.e.m.e.nts. Florence abounds in artists in alabaster whose workmans.h.i.+p is beautiful. They make models in alabaster of the most celebrated pieces of sculpture and architecture, on any scale you chuse: they fabricate busts too and vases in alabaster. The vases made in imitation of the ancient Greek vases are magnificent, and some of them are of immense size. Foreigners generally chuse to have their busts taken; for almost all foreigners who arrive here are or pretend to be smitten with an ardent love for the fine arts, and every one wishes to take with him models of the fine things he has seen in Italy, on his return to his native country. Here are English travellers who at home would scarcely be able to distinguish the finest piece of ancient sculpture--the Mercury, for instance, in the Florentine Gallery, from a Mercury in a citizen's garden at Highgate--who here affect to be in extacies at the sight of the Venus, Apollino, &c., and they are fond of retailing on all occasions the terms of art and connoisseurs.h.i.+p they have learned by rote, in the use of which they make sometimes ridiculous mistakes. For instance I heard an Englishman one day holding forth on the merits of the Vierge _quisouse_, as he called it.