Volume I Part 37 (1/2)

The horses were announced, and I was obliged to break off my account of Terni and resume it here, where I arrived after a tedious journey of forty hours, froed up the mountain by _bovi_, see the upper part of the fall, and walk down But as the _bovi_ were not at hand, I reversed the usual order, walked to the bottom, and then toiled to the top The walk, which is lovely, lies through the grounds of a count, who has a house close to the Nera (the Nera (Nar) is the river into which the Velino runs, and in which there is very good trout fishi+ng), where the Queen of England once lived for a month At the different points of view are little cabins (which would be very picturesque if they were less rudely constructed) for the accoentleot a house which he reserves for the use of artists, of which there are always several on the spot during the su for the accooes away; and by thiscollection, of the scenery of Terni Nothing can be more accurate, as well as beautiful, than Byron's description of the cascade, and it is wonderful in his ination within the bounds of truth, and neither added a circumstance nor lavished an epithet to which it is not entitled

Horribly beautiful! but on the verge Fro e, Like Hope upon a death-bed, and, unworn Its steady dyes, while all around is torn By the distracted waters, bears serene Its brilliant hues with all their bea, ' Madness with unalterable mien

The rainbows are very various, seen from different points: froreat fall to plunge into another, the stream appears to be painted with a broad layer of divers colours, never broken or led with it in a thousand variegated sparkles Above, an iris bestrides the reen hill which rises by the side of the fall; and, as the spray is whirled up in greater or less abundance, it perpetually and rapidly changes its colours, now disappearing altogether, and now beaht the moon forerous coolness all about the cascade All the scenery about is as beautiful as possible Just above the great fall is the Velinus tearing along in the same channel, which was first o--

Velino cleaves the orn precipice--

and there, the guide toldand beautiful wife of whom he was jealous He took her to see the cascade, and when he got to this part (which is at the end of a narrow path overhung with brushwood) he got rid of the boys who always follow visitors, and after some delay returned alone, and said the woman had fallen in One scream had been heard, but there was nobody to witness the truth The led body was found in the strea a reat haste to the ot back I heard that he was escaping from justice (into the Abruzzi, which are in the Neapolitan do stabbed his brother-in-law a few moments before out of jealousy of his wife

The wounded man was still alive, but badly hurt The murderer was _un bravo one h which the present path is cut has been formed entirely by petrified deposits, and there are marks in various parts of former cascades, from which the water has been turned away Clement VIII (Aldobrandini) turned the water into its present course At the bottom the old outlet of the Romans is dry, but is marked with that solidity which defies time, like all their works of this kind Great part of the road froes appear to be in much better condition than on the other road Some of them perched on the na, June 14th, 1830 {p402}

I went yesterday enius of the Apennines, by John of Bologna, six miles from Florence Pratolino was the favourite residence of the famous Bianca Capello The house has been pulled down It is in a very pretty English garden belonging to the Grand Duke, and, I think, a over a duck pond

They told me that if he stood up (and he looks as if he could if he would) he would be thirty _braccia_ in height I went into his head, and surveyed hiht to be placed over some torrent, or on the side of a mountain; but as he is, from a little distance (whence the ducks and their pond are not visible) he is sublime Myriads of fire-flies sparkled in every bush; they are beautiful in a night journey, flitting about like e Head: MEZZOFANTI]

Dined with Lady Norht, and arrived here at nine thisI did was to present my letter to Mada, who received raciously and asked me to dinner; the next to call on Mezzofanti at the public library, whoreatHe received me very civilly, and al conversation with hie, short, pale, and thin, and not at all relish with extraordinary fluency and correctness, and with a very slight accent I endeavoured to detect soh perhaps his phraseology was occasionally ave es, which he did not do till he was of a e The first he mastered were the Greek and Hebrew, the latter on account of divinity, and afterwards he began thethe idioue He said that he had no particular disposition that hen a child, and I was surprised when he said that the knowledge of several languages was of no assistance to hi others; on the contrary, that when he set to work at a fresh language he tried to put out of his head all others I asked hies which he preferred, and which he considered the richest in literature He said, 'Without doubt the Italian' He then discussed the genius of the English language, and the merits of our poets and historians, read, and lish book, and then exay and pronunciation of several words He has never been out of Italy, or further in it than Leghorn, talks of going to Rome, but says it is so difficult to leave his library He is very pleasing, simple, and communicative, and it is extraordinary, with his wonderful knowledge, that he should never have written and published any work upon languages

He asked na The library has a tolerable suite of apart to about 80,000 volumes, are in excellent order One thousand crowns a year are allowed for the purchase of new books

The Bolognese jargon is unintelligible A man cae that was quite strange to nese, and that, though not harallery, which contains the finest pictures in Italy, though only a few: the Guidos and Domenichinos are splendid I think Domenichino the finest painter that ever existed

June 15th, 1830 {p404}

Dined yesterday with Mada dirty and uncomfortable, except one or two rooallery of pictures, all of which are for sale Seven or eight Italians came to dinner, whose names I never discovered After dinner she took me to the Certosa, to see the Campo Santo, which is a rereeably lodged at Bologna than the living I had much rather die here than live here It is very unlike the Caly cheerful Guido's skull is kept here

Went again to the gallery, and the Zaood pictures, but not many All the pictures in all the palaces are for sale

[Page Head: FERRARA]

_In the ferry, crossing the Po_ (ie written in the ferry)--Called on Madame de Marescalchi to take leave Set off at half-past one, and in clouds of dust arrived at Ferrara It is curious to see this town, so large, deserted, and ht have swept over it, for there seems no life in it, and hardly a soul is to be seen in the streets It is eight and a half miles round, and contains 24,000 inhabitants, of which 3,000 are Jews, and their quarter is the only part of the tohich seems alive They are, as usual, cra allotted to theate that is closed at nine o'clock, when the Jews are shut in for the night The houses are filthy, stinking, and out of repair The Corso is like a street in an English town, broad, long, the houses low, and with a _trottoir_ on both sides The Castle, surrounded by a looate I went to see the dungeon in which Tasso was confined; and the library, where they show Ariosto's chair and inkstand, a medal found upon his body when his tomb was opened, two books of his manuscript poetry; also the manuscript of the 'Gerusalemme,' with the alterations which Tasso inal manuscript of Guarini's 'Pastor Fido' The _custode_ toldthe library was full of readers, which I did not believe There are soh the idea of gaiety seems inconsistent with Ferrara, they have an opera, corso, and the same round of festivals and merriment as other Italian towns, but I never saw so dise Head: VENICE]

Venice, June 16th, 1830 {p405}

We crossed the Po, and afterwards the Adige, in boats The country is flat, and reht, but awoke in time to see some of the villas on the banks of the Brenta Of Padua I was unconscious Eondola at Fusina, and arrived at this reloo Venice no ns of ruin and blasted grandeur, palaces half decayed, and the s boarded up The approach to the city is certainly as curious as possible, so totally unlike everything else, and on entering the Great Canal, and finding

The death-like silence and the dread repose

of a place which was once the gayest andshoots across the ie and romantic history and its poetical associations

_Two o'clock_--I aular rainy day, and have the prospect of shi+vering through the rest of it in a room with marble floor and hardly any furniture However, it is the only bad day there has been since the beginning ofin Venice (at least in such weather as this) is the unbroken silence The gondolas glide along without noise or ondolas, one n of life I went first to the Church of Santa Maria dei Frati, which is fine, old, and adorned with painting and sculpture At Santa Maria dei Frati titian was buried Canova intended a n was executed and put up in this church, but for him, and not for titian, the reverse of 'sic vos non vobis' Here are toes, of Francis Foscari, with a ponola lies here in a wooden coffin; his head is under the stone on which it was cut off in the Piazza di San Marco He was beheaded by one of those pieces of iniquity and treachery which the Venetian Government never scrupled to use when it suited the a splendid apartilded, painted by Tintoret, and with bronze doors To the Church of Santa Maria della Salute, containing a very rich altar-piece of precious stones, which is locked up, and produced on great occasions; and in the sacristy three fine pictures by titian To the Church of St Mark and the Doge's Palace--all very interesting, antique, and splendid But the Austrians have modernised some of the rooms, and consequently spoilt thehs, and the reason (they told ners who come here are so curious to walk over it, which see it up The halls of audience and of the different councils are ilded, and contain some very fine pictures