Part 23 (1/2)

--ED.

[111] She was no more than sixty-two at that time.--ED.

[112] To present the calumet is an offer of peace and amity among the aborigines of North America and to refuse it is regarded as the greatest insult.

[113] Frye gives only the initial of the name, which I have completed from the _Almanach de Gotha_, 1818.--ED.

[114] The Interior of the Convent of the Capucini was first painted by Granet in the year 1811. None of the numerous replicas are in the Louvre, but there is one in London (Buckingham Palace) and one at Chatsworth.--ED.

[115] The author may have meant ”old Herodotus.”--ED.

[116] Virgil, _Georg._, II, 146.--ED.

CHAPTER XV

APRIL-JULY, 1818

Journey from Florence to Pisa and from thence by the Appennines to Genoa--Ma.s.sa-Carrara--Genoa--Monuments and works of art--The Genoese--Return to Florence--Journey from Florence through Bologna and Ferrara to Venice--Monument to Ariosto in Ferrara--A description of Venice--Padua--Vicenza--Verona--Cremona--Return to Milan--The Scala theatre--Verona again--From Verona to Innspruck.

It is the custom for most travellers going to Genoa to embark on board of a _felucca_ at Spezia, which lies on the sea coast, not far from Sarzana: but I preferred to go by land, and I cannot conceive why anyone should expose himself to the risks, inconveniences and delays of a sea pa.s.sage, when it is so easy to go by land thro' the Appennines. I started accordingly the following morning, mounted on a mule, and attended by a muleteer with another mule to convey my portmanteau. I found this journey neither dangerous nor difficult, but on the contrary agreeable and romantic. The road is only a bridle road. I paid forty-eight franks for my two mules and driver, and started at seven in the morning from Sarzana. The wild appearance of the Appennines, the aweful solitudes and the highly picturesque points of view that present themselves at the various sinuosities of the mountains and valleys; the view of the sea from the heights that tower above the towns of Oneglia and Sestri Levante, rendered this journey one of the most interesting I have ever made. I stopped to dine at Borghetto and brought to the night at Sestri Levante, breakfasted the next morning at Rapallo, and arrived the same evening at four o'clock in Genoa. Borghetto is a little insignificant town situate in a narrow valley surrounded on all sides by the lofty crags of the Appennines. Sestri Levante is a long and very straggling town, part of it being situated on the sea sh.o.r.e, and the other part on the gorge of the mountain descending towards the sea beach; so that the former part of the town lies nearly at right angles with the latter, with a considerable s.p.a.ce intervening. The road for the last four miles between Borghetto and Sestri Levante is a continual descent. The inn was very comfortable and good at Sestri Levante.

The beginning of the road between Sestri and Rapallo is on the beach till near Rapallo, when it strikes again into the mountains and is of considerable ascent. Rapallo is a very neat pretty place, situate on an eminence commanding a fine view of the sea. The greater part of the road between Rapallo and Genoa is on the sea-coast, but cut along the mountains which here form a bluff with the sea. Villas, gardens and vineyards line the whole of this route and nothing can be more beautiful. The neatness of the villas and the abundance of the population form a striking contrast to the wild solitudes between Sarzana and Sesto, where (except at Borghetto) there is not a house to be seen and scarce a human creature to be met, and where the eagle seems to reign alone the uncontrolled lord of the creation.

GENOA, 23rd April.

The view of Genoa from the sea is indisputably the best; for on entering by land from the eastern side, the ramparts are so lofty as to intercept the fine view the city would otherwise afford. From the sea side it rises in the shape of an amphitheatre; a view therefore taken from the sea gives the best idea of its grandeur and of the magnificence of its buildings, for everybody on beholding this grand spectacle must allow that this city well deserves its epithet of _Superba_.

I observe in my daily walks on the _Esplanade_ a number of beautiful women.

The Genoese women are remarkable for their beauty and fine complexions.

They dress generally in white, and their style of dress is Spanish; they wear the _mezzara_ or veil, in the management of which they display much grace and not a little coquetry. Instead of the fan exercise recommended to women by the _Spectator_, the art of handling the _mezzara_ might be reduced to a manual and taught to the ladies by word of command.

I put up at the house of a Spanish lady on the _Piazza St Siro_, and here for four _livres_ a day I am sumptuously boarded and lodged. There are three princ.i.p.al streets in Genoa, viz., _Strada Nuova_, _Balbi_, and _Nuovissima_. Yet these three streets may be properly said to form but one, inasmuch as they lie very nearly in a right line. These streets are broad and aligned with the finest buildings in Genoa. This street or streets are the only ones that can be properly called so, according to the idea we usually attach to the word. The others deserve rather the names of lanes and alleys, tho' exceedingly well paved and aligned with excellent houses and shops. In fact the streets _Nuova_, _Nuovissima_ and _Balbi_ are the only ones thro' which carriages can pa.s.s. The others are far too narrow to admit of the pa.s.sage of carriages. The houses on each side of them are of immense height, being of six or seven stories, which form such a shade as effectually to protect those who walk thro' these alleys from the rays of the sun. The houses diminish in height in proportion as they are built on the slant of the mountain from the bottom to the top, those at the bottom being the loftiest. Carriages are scarcely of any use in the city of Genoa, except to drive from one end of the town to another thro' the streets _Nuova_, _Balbi_ and _Nuovissima_; and accordingly a carriage with four wheels, or even with two, is a rare conveyance in Genoa. The general mode of conveyance is on a sedan chair, carried by porters, or on the backs of mules or a.s.ses. Genoa is distinguished by the beauty of the Palaces of its patricians, which are more numerous and more magnificent than those of any other city, probably, in the world.

The Ducal Palace or Palace of Government, where the Doge used to reside, claimed my first attention; yet, tho' much larger, it is far less splendid than many of the Palaces of individual patricians. In fact, the Ducal Palace is built in the Gothic taste and resembles a Gothic fortress, having round towers at each angle. The Hall, where the Grand Council used to sit, is superb, and is adorned with columns of _jaune antique_. On the _plafond_ is a painting representing the discovery of America by Columbus; for the Genoese duly appreciate, and never can forget their ill.u.s.trious countryman.

The lines of Ta.s.so, ”_Un uom della Liguria avra ardimento_,” etc., and the following stanza, _Tu spiegherai Colombo a urn nuovo polo_, etc. are in the mouth of everyone.[117] The Hall of the Petty Council is neat, but it is the recollection of the history of this once famous Republic that renders the examination of this Palace so interesting. But now Genoa's glory is gone; she has been basely betrayed into the hands of a Government she most detested. The King of Sardinia is nowhere; and he is not a little proud of being the possessor of such a n.o.ble sea port, which enables him to rank as a maritime power.

The Genoese are laborious and make excellent sailors; but now there is nothing to animate them; and they will never exert themselves in the service of a domination which is so little congenial to them. They sigh for their ancient Government, of whose glories they had so often heard and whose brilliant exploits have been handed down to the present day not merely by historical writers and poets, but by _improvisatori_ from mouth to mouth. The Genoese n.o.bles, those merchant Kings, whose riches exceeded at one time those of the most powerful monarchs of Europe, who were the p.a.w.n-brokers to those Sovereigns, are now in a state of decay. Commerce can only flourish on the soil of liberty, and takes wing at the sight of military and sacerdotal chains; and tho' the present Sovereign affects to caress the Genoese _n.o.blesse_, they return his civilities with sullen indifference, and half concealed contempt and aversion. The commerce of Genoa is transferred to Leghorn, which increases in prosperity as the former decays.

The climate of Genoa is said to be exceedingly mild during the winter, being protected on the north by the Appennines, which tower above it to an immense height. Beautiful villas and grounds tastefully laid out in plantations of orange trees, pomegranates, etc., abound in the environs of this city, and everything announces the extreme industry of the inhabitants, for the soil is proverbially barren. This shews what they have done and what they could still do were they free; but now they have nothing to animate their exertions. The public promenades are on the bastions and curtains of the fortifications, on the _Esplanade_ and in the streets _Balbi_, _Nuova_ and _Nuovissima_. There is also another very delightful promenade, tho' not much used by the ladies, viz., on the Mola or Pier enveloping the harbour.

One of the most remarkable constructions in Genoa is the bridge of Carignano, which is built over an immense ravine and unites the hills Fengano and Carignano. It is so high that houses of six stories stand under its arches in the valley below. No water except in times of flood runs under this bridge and it much resembles, tho' somewhat larger, the bridge at Edinburgh which unites the old and new towns. The princ.i.p.al churches are: first, the Cathedral, which is not far from the Ducal Palace; it is richly ornamented and incrusted with black marble; the church of the Annunziata and that of St Sire. They are all in the Gothic style of architecture and loaded with that variety of ornament and diversity of beautiful marbles which distinguish the churches of Italy from those of any other country. Near the bridge of Carignano is a church of the same name, wherein are four marble colossal statues.

On the west of the city and running two miles along the sea-beach is the _faubourg_ of St Pietro d'Arena, which presents a front of well built houses the whole way; these houses are princ.i.p.ally used as magazines and store houses.

FLORENCE, 5 May.

I left Genoa on the 30th April, returned on mule-back from Genoa to Sarzana, stopping the first night at Sestri. The second evening when near Sarzana, it being very dark, I somehow or other got out of the road and my mule fell with me into a very deep ditch; but I was only slightly bruised by the fall; my clothes however were covered with dirt and wet. The road from Genoa to Sarzana might with very little expense be made fit for carriages by widening it. At present it is only a bridle road, and on some parts of it, on the sides of ravines, it is I think a little ticklish to trust entirely to the discretion of one's _monture_; at least I thought so and dismounted twice to pa.s.s such places on foot. A winding stream is to be forded in two or three places, but it is not deep except after rains; and then I think it must be sometimes dangerous to pa.s.s, till the waters run off. Those, who are fond of mountain scenery will, like myself, be highly gratified in making this journey; for it is thro' the loftiest, wildest and most romantic part of the Appennines. From Sarzana I hired a cabriolet to return to Pisa and from thence I took the diligence to Florence.

FERRARA.