Part 17 (1/2)

This lady is, it seems, a great proficient in painting.

Here too are the moulds of the different statues made by Canova, the statues themselves having been finished long ago and disposed of; viz., of the Empress Maria Louisa of France; of the mother of Napoleon (_Madame Mere_ as she is always called) in the costume and att.i.tude of Agrippina; of a colossal statue of Napoleon (the statue itself is, I believe, in the possession of Wellington.[92]) Here too is the bust of Canova by Canova himself, besides a great variety of bas-reliefs and busts of individuals, models of monuments, etc.

And now, my friend, I have given you a _precis_ not of all that I have seen, but of what has most interested me and made on my mind impressions that can never be effaced. I trust entirely to my memory, for I made no notes on the spot. Many of the things I have seen too much in a hurry to form accurate ideas and judgment thereon; most of what we see here is shewn to us like the figures in a _lanterna magica_, for in the various _palazzi_ and villas the servants who exhibit them hurry you from room to room, impatient to receive your fee and to get rid of you. I am about to depart for Naples. On my return to Rome I shall not think of revisiting the greater number of the _palazzi_, villas and churches; but there are some things I shall very frequently revisit and these are the two Museums of the Vatican and of the Capitol, St Peter's, the Coliseum and antiquities in its neighbourhood, the Pantheon, and last but not least the atelier of the incomparable Canova.

You may perhaps be unwilling to let me depart from Rome without some information as to theatricals. With regard to these, Rome must hang down her head, for the pettiest town in all the rest of Italy or France is better provided with this sort of amus.e.m.e.nt than Rome. There is a theatre called _Teatro della Valle_, where there is a very indifferent set of actors, and this is the only theatre which is open throughout the year.

Comedies only and farces are given. The theatres Aliberti and Argentino are open during the Carnaval only. Operas are given at the Argentino, and masquerades at the Aliberti. But in fact the lovers of Operas and of the Drama must not come to Rome for gratification. It is not considered conformable to the dignity and sanct.i.ty of an ecclesiastical government to patronize them; and it is not the custom or etiquette for the Pope, Cardinals or higher Clergy ever to visit them. The consequence is that no performer of any consideration or talent is engaged to sing at Rome, except one or two by chance at the time of the Carnaval. In amends for this you have a good deal of music at the houses of individuals who hold _conversazioni_ or a.s.semblies; in which society would flag very much but for the music, which prevents many a yawn, and which is useful and indispensable in Italy to make the evening pa.s.s, as cards are in England.

I intend to stop several days here on my return from Naples, for which place I shall start the day after to-morrow having engaged a place in a _vettura_ for two and half _louis d'or_ and to be _spesato_. I am not to be deterred from my journey by the many stories of robberies and a.s.sa.s.sinations which are said to occur so frequently on that road.

By the bye, talking of robberies and murders, a man was executed the day before yesterday on the _Piazza del Popolo_ for a triple murder. I saw the guillotine, which is now the usual mode of punishment, fixed on the centre of the _Piazza_ and the criminal escorted there by a body of troops; but I did not stop to witness the decapitation, having no taste for that sort of _pleasuring_. This man richly deserved his punishment.

[84] These lines are from Voltaire's _Henriade_, a poem which no Frenchman reads nowadays, but that Major Frye could quote from memory. The correct reading of the first verse is: _Des pretres fortunes_, etc.

(_Henriade_, canto iv. ed. Kehl, vol. x, p. 97.)--ED.

[85] Horace, _Sat_., 1, 9, 4.--ED.

[86] Lady Elizabeth Hervey, second wife of William, fifth Duke of Devons.h.i.+re (1809); died March, 1824.--ED.

[87] A singular slip of the pen; Frye must have known that the equestrian statue is a Roman work--ED.

[88] Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, x.x.xiii, 2, 4.--ED.

[89] See Lucian, _Imag._, iv; _Amores_, xv, xvi.--ED.

[90] Major Frye's description is incorrect in many particulars, on which it seemed unnecessary to draw attention.--ED.

[91] Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_, XI, 67, 6.

[92] That colossal marble statue was given to the Duke of Wellington by Louis XVIII, and is still to be seen in London, at Apsley House.--ED.

CHAPTER XI

From Rome to Naples--Albano--Velletri--The Marshes--Terracina--Mola di Gaeta--Capua--The streets of Naples--Monuments and Museums--Visit to Pompeii and ascent to Vesuvius--Dangerous ventures--Puzzuoli and Baiae--Theatres at Naples--Pulcinello--Return to Rome--Tivoli.

I started from Rome on the 26th September; in the same _vettura_ I found an intelligent young Frenchman of the name of R---- D----, a magistrate in Corsica, who was travelling in Italy for his amus.e.m.e.nt. There were besides a Roman lawyer and not a very bright one by the bye; and a fat woman who was going to Naples to visit her lover, a Captain in the Austrian service, a large body of Austrian troops being still at Naples. We issued from Rome by the _Porta Latina_ and reached Albano (the ancient Alba) sixteen miles distant at twelve o'clock. We reposed there two hours which gave me an opportunity of visiting the _Villa Doria_ where there are magnificent gardens. These gardens form the promenade of the families who come to Albano to pa.s.s the heat of the summer and to avoid the effect of the exhalations of the marshy country about Rome.

As Albano is situated on an eminence, you have a fine view of the whole plain of Latium and Rome in perspective. The country of Latium however is flat, dreary and monotonous; it affords pasture to an immense quant.i.ty of black cattle, such as buffaloes, etc.

Just outside of Albano, on the route to Naples, is a curious ancient monument called _Il sepolcro degli Orazj e Curiazj._ It is built of brick, is extremely solid, of singular appearance, from its being a square monument, flanked at each angle by a tower in the shape of a cone. It is of an uncouth rustic appearance and must certainly have been built before

_Grecia capia ferum victorem cepit et artes Intulit agresti Latio....._[93]

and I see no reason against its being the sepulchre of the Horatii and Curiatii, particularly as it stands so near Alba where the battle was fought; but be this as it may there is nothing like faith in matters of antiquity; the sceptic can have little pleasure.

The country on leaving Albano becomes diversified, woody and picturesque.

Near Gensano is the beautiful lake of Nemi, and it is the spot feigned by the poets as the scene of the amours of Mars and Rhea Silvia. Near Gensano also is the country residence of the Sovereign Pontiffs called Castel Gandolfo. La Riccia, the next place we pa.s.sed thro', is the ancient Aricia, mentioned in Horace's journey to Brundusium. We arrived in the evening at Velletri.

Velletri is a large town or rather city situated on a mountain, to which you ascend by a winding road skirting a beautiful forest. From the terrace of one of the _Palazzi_ here, you have a superb view of all the plain below as far as the rock of Circe, comprehending the Pontine marshes. There are several very fine buildings at Velletri, and it is remarkable as being the birthplace of Augustus Caesar. There is a s.p.a.cious _Piazza_ too on which stands a bronze statue of Pope Urban VIII. Velletri is twenty-eight miles from Rome.