Part 13 (2/2)
ITALY AGAIN
In January, 1896, we left Aldershot on a raw foggy day, with the usual winter brown-paper sky, the essence of dreariness, on leave for the land I love best At Turin our train for Genoa was filled with poor young soldiers off to Abyssinia, the Italian Govern followed our example in the policy of ”expansion”; hat success was soon seen
An Italian told us that ”good coffee” was to be had frost other desirable co sent to fetch the good coffee, etc They were singing in a chorus of tenor voices as they went, after affectionately kissing the comrades who had come to see the like a great aolden haze from the sun which rose just behind it I must say the Neapolitan population struck me as very wretched; the ht see in Whitechapel any day, and dressed, like the The poor skeleton mules and horses were covered with picturesque brass-mounted harness instead of flesh, and I saw no red-sashed, brown-limbed _lazzaroni_ such as were supposed to dance _tarantelle_ on the shore Certainly there is notdescendants
January 17th was a memorable day, spent at Pompeii One h you s, Pompeii takes you by surprise The suddenness of that entrance into the City of the Dead _is_ a surprise to a newcomer, such as I was To come into the city at once by the ”Street of Tombs,” which carries you steeply upwards into the interior--no turnstiles at the gate, no ticket collectors, no leave-your-uaveinto the past The present day was non-existent Though ere three and a half hours circulating about those theatres, baths, villas, shops, through the narrow streets, with their deep ruts and stepping stones, I was so absorbed in the fascination of realising the life of those days that I never needed to rest for a s oneself through a museum, but ere here under the sky, and Vesuvius, the author of this destruction, was there in very truth, looking down on us as andered through the remnants of his victireat feast for the painter What could surpass, on a day like that, the simple beauty of those positive reds and yellows and blues of walls and pillars in that light, back-grounded by the tender blue of mountains delicately crested with the white of their snows? The positive strong foreground colours eround! The absolute silence of the place was impressive and very welcome
The Diary had better ”carry on” here: ”_Sunday, January 19th_--To Capri and Sorrento on our way to A of names! I feel I can't pronounce them to myself with adequate relish To Mass at 8, and then at 9 by stea at Sorrento on our way Three hours' passage over a very dark blue sea, which was flecked with foae and le abruptly, in places, out of the clear green water Tiberius's villa is perched on the edge of a fearful precipice that has memories connected with his cruelties which one tries to smother Indeed, all around one, in those scenes of Nature's loveliness, the detestable doings ofthe only restful pleasure
”We were driven to the Hotel Quisisana ('Here one gets well'), very high up on a steep ridge, where the village is, and were sorry to find our pleasureset down to _dejeuner_ with as repulsive a company of Teutons as one could see The perspective of those feeding faces, along the edge of the table, triedthe British as tourists in Italy nohere do their loud voices and rude manners jar upon our sensibility so painfully as in Italy The _Frau_ next to me actually sniffed at four bottles out of the cruet in succession, poking them into her nose before she satisfied herself that she had found the right sauce for her chop!
What's to be done with such people?
”We had not ive to the lovely island, for the little steamer had to take us to Sorrento at two o'clock We put up there at the Hotel Tramontano, and had a stroll at sunset, with views of the coast and Vesuvius that spread out beyond the reach of , but inadequate, pen I can't help the is of beauty I have seen It is owing to a wish to preserve such precious things in ratitude as well”
At A series of experiences of the Neapolitan Riviera The names of Amalfi, Ravello, Salerno and Paestum will be withto Naples, of course, we paid our respects to Vesuvius Our cli cone was not at all enchanting, and left my mind in a most perturbed condition There was much food for meditation when our visit was over, but at the time one had only leisure to receive i impressions at that A keen north wind blew the fuht down h the sulphur, ankle deep, and I could only think of my discomfort and probable collapse I disdained a litter I perceived several fat Germans in litters
An even deeper impression was made on my , afterriver of liquid fire oozing out of the reat rowls from the cruel monster I wonder when that wild beast will make its next pounce? And down there, far, far below, in the plain lay little Pohtful climber there was more than the sulphurous north wind to ht us up to the foot of the cone, crunching laboriously over the shoulder of the mountain, and I could not but think--”If the chain broke?” At one point the open truck see with our faces turned towards the sea and away from the cone, and (e never to be rid of them?) two corpulent Teutons faced us, hideously conspicuous, as having apparently nothing but blue air behind theing sea and sky into one Then, e alighted, we found ourselves in a restaurant with Messrs Cook & Co's waiters running about Certainly it was no ti in that medley of the prehistoric and the _fin de siecle_
I found Roed after the lapse of all those years since I was there with our fa the last et the shock I felt when, to lead off, on our arrival, I conducted reat balustrade on the Pincian overlooking the city, pro one in the far-off days, and quite beautiful Instead of the reposeful vineyards of the area facing us beyond the Tiber, fitting s bordering wide, straight, staring streets glistening with traar triumph, and I aot back to our hotel One fact, however, brought a sense of mental expansion as I surveyed that viehich should have made amends for the sensitive contraction of reat basilica yonder was mine now! A return to Rome had another touch of sadness for irls to the city he loved He seemed now to be ever by ed were seen again Leo XIII was now Pope On one particular occasion in the Sistine Chapel, at Mass, I was struck by the extraordinary effect of his white, utterly ethereal face and fragile figure as he stood at the altar, relieved against the background of Michael Angelo's exceedinglythe powerful realisation of the push which that heavy ar in menace to the condemned souls towards the Abyss on His left (I had alross conception! Ourof such a subject, a rendering suitable to the coarser fibre of the Middle Ages I could positively hate this fresco, were I not lured, as a painter, to admire its technical power
Our visit to the Empress at Cap Martin followed, on our way horace The place, of course, ideal, and the typical blue weather We were made very much at home Madame le Breton told me I was to wear a _table d'hote_ frock at dinner, and Pietri told Sir Willia suit was the order of the day
”_February 13th_--The Villa Cyrnos is in a wood of stone pines, overhanging the sea on a promontory between Mentone and Monte Carlo It is in the French Riviera style, all very white--no Italian fresco colouring Plentiful striped awnings to keep off the intense sunlight
Cool marble roorateful freshness with re reflections fro retreat Madahan, were there, who having just arrived froland, were full of accounts of the arrival of the re from Ashanti, and the funeral, at which Madame d'Arcos had represented the Empress The different episodes were minutely described by her of this, the last act of the latest tragedy in our Royal Family She had a sympathetic listener in the poor Empress
”_February 14th_--A sunny dayis in fullest activity The Eo for a little cruise in a yacht, but though the sea was calh I preferred _terra firma_, and her ladies drove me to Monte Carlo Hateful place! The lovely mountains were radiant in the low sunshi+ne of that afternoon and the sea sparkling with light, but a crowd of overdressed riff-raff was circulating about the casino and pigeon-shooting place, from which cauns I record, with loathing, one fellow I saho caentle air by a fur-lined coat which his valet took charge of while his master maimed his allotted number of clipped victims, and carefully replaced as soon as all the birds were down A black dog ran out to fetch each fluttering thing as it fell I was glad to see this hero was not an Englishas above each table bringing into relief the ugly lines of their perspiring faces The at, and the hands of these horribly absorbed people were black with clawing in their gains across the grireen baize I drank in the pure, cool air of the sunset loveliness outside when I got free, with a very certain persuasion that I would never pay a second visit, except under polite co palace of Monte Carlo
”_February 15th_--The E walk to see the corps of the '_Alpins_' at the Mentone barracks and back by the rocky paths along the shore She is very active, and is looking beautiful
”_Sunday, February 16th_--All of us to Mass at the little Mentone church The dear E the service and said, 'I want you to keep this' There is at ti about her”
I sent a small picture this year to the ”New Gallery,” instead of the Acade ”The Dawn of Waterloo” where they did the preceding year
CHAPTER XXI
THE DOVER COMMAND