Travels Through France And Italy by Tobias Smollett (fastest ebook reader .txt) π
Many Pens Have Been Burnished This Year Of Grace For The Purpose
Of Celebrating With Befitting Honour The Second Centenary Of The
Birth Of Henry Fielding; But It Is More Than Doubtful If, When
The Right Date Occurs In March 1921, Anything Like The Same
Alacrity Will Be Shown To Commemorate One Who Was For Many Years,
And By Such Judges As Scott, Hazlitt, And Charles Dickens,
Considered Fielding's Complement And Absolute Co-Equal (To Say
The Least) In Literary Achievement.
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- Author: Tobias Smollett
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Bring It For Something Less Than Three-Pence A Quart. The Nice
Wine, When Mixed With Water, Makes An Agreeable Beverage. There
Is An Inferior Sort For Servants Drank By The Common People,
Which In The Cabaret Does Not Cost Above A Penny A Bottle. The
People Here Are Not So Nice As The English, In The Management Of
Their Wine. It Is Kept In Flacons, Or Large Flasks, Without
Corks, Having A Little Oil At Top. It Is Not Deemed The Worse For
Having Been Opened A Day Or Two Before; And They Expose It To The
Hot Sun, And All Kinds Of Weather, Without Hesitation. Certain It
Is, This Treatment Has Little Or No Effect Upon Its Taste,
Flavour, And Transparency.
The Brandy Of Nice Is Very Indifferent: And The Liqueurs Are So
Sweetened With Coarse Sugar, That They Scarce Retain The Taste Or
Flavour Of Any Other Ingredient.
The Last Article Of Domestic Oeconomy Which I Shall Mention Is
Fuel, Or Wood For Firing, Which I Buy For Eleven Sols (A Little
More Than Six-Pence Halfpenny) A Quintal, Consisting Of One
Hundred And Fifty Pound Nice Weight. The Best, Which Is Of Oak,
Comes From Sardinia. The Common Sort Is Olive, Which Being Cut
With The Sap In It, Ought To Be Laid In During The Summer;
Otherwise, It Will Make A Very Uncomfortable Fire. In My Kitchen
And Two Chambers, I Burned Fifteen Thousand Weight Of Wood In
Four Weeks, Exclusive Of Charcoal For The Kitchen Stoves, And Of
Pine-Tops For Lighting The Fires. These Last Are As Large As
Pineapples, Which They Greatly Resemble In Shape, And To Which,
Indeed, They Give Their Name; And Being Full Of Turpentine, Make
A Wonderful Blaze. For The Same Purpose, The People Of These
Countries Use The Sarments, Or Cuttings Of The Vines, Which They
Part 7 Letter 19 (Nice, October 10, 1764..) Pg 177Sell Made Up In Small Fascines. This Great Consumption Of Wood Is
Owing To The Large Fires Used In Roasting Pieces Of Beef, And
Joints, In The English Manner. The Roasts Of This Country Seldom
Exceed Two Or Three Pounds Of Meat; And Their Other Plats Are
Made Over Stove Holes. But It Is Now High Time To Conduct You
From The Kitchen, Where You Have Been Too Long Detained By--Your
Humble Servant.
P.S.--I Have Mentioned The Prices Of Almost All The Articles In
House-Keeping, As They Are Paid By The English: But Exclusive Of
Butcher's Meat, I Am Certain The Natives Do Not Pay So Much By
Thirty Per Cent. Their Imposition On Us, Is Not Only A Proof Of
Their Own Villany And Hatred, But A Scandal On Their Government;
Which Ought To Interfere In Favour Of The Subjects Of A Nation,
To Which They Are So Much Bound In Point Of Policy, As Well As
Gratitude.
Part 7 Letter 20 (Nice, October 22, 1764.) Pg 178
Sir,--As I Have Nothing Else To Do, But To Satisfy My Own
Curiosity, And That Of My Friends, I Obey Your Injunctions With
Pleasure; Though Not Without Some Apprehension That My Inquiries
Will Afford You Very Little Entertainment. The Place Where I Am
Is Of Very Little Importance Or Consequence As A State Or
Community; Neither Is There Any Thing Curious Or Interesting In
The Character Or Oeconomy Of Its Inhabitants.
There Are Some Few Merchants In Nice, Said To Be In Good
Circumstances. I Know One Of Them, Who Deals To A Considerable
Extent, And Goes Twice A Year To London To Attend The Sales Of
The East-India Company. He Buys Up A Very Large Quantity Of
Muslins, And Other Indian Goods, And Freights A Ship In The River
To Transport Them To Villa Franca. Some Of These Are Sent To
Swisserland; But, I Believe, The Greater Part Is Smuggled Into
France, By Virtue Of Counterfeit Stamps, Which Are Here Used
Without Any Ceremony. Indeed, The Chief Commerce Of This Place Is
A Contraband Traffick Carried On To The Disadvantage Of France;
And I Am Told, That The Farmers Of The Levant Company In That
Kingdom Find Their Account In Conniving At It. Certain It Is, A
Great Quantity Of Merchandize Is Brought Hither Every Week By
Mules From Turin And Other Parts In Piedmont, And Afterwards
Part 7 Letter 20 (Nice, October 22, 1764.) Pg 179Conveyed To The Other Side Of The Var, Either By Land Or Water.
The Mules Of Piedmont Are Exceeding Strong And Hardy. One Of Them
Will Carry A Burthen Of Near Six Hundred Weight. They Are Easily
Nourished, And Require No Other Respite From Their Labour, But
The Night's Repose. They Are The Only Carriage That Can Be Used
In Crossing The Mountains, Being Very Sure-Footed: And It Is
Observed That In Choosing Their Steps, They Always March Upon The
Brink Of The Precipice. You Must Let Them Take Their Own Way,
Otherwise You Will Be In Danger Of Losing Your Life; For They Are
Obstinate, Even To Desperation. It Is Very Dangerous For A Person
On Horseback To Meet Those Animals: They Have Such An Aversion To
Horses, That They Will Attack Them With Incredible Fury, So As
Even To Tear Them And Their Riders In Pieces; And The Best Method
For Avoiding This Fate, Is To Clap Spurs To Your Beast, And Seek
Your Safety In Flight. I Have Been More Than Once Obliged To Fly
Before Them. They Always Give You Warning, By Raising A Hideous
Braying As Soon As They Perceive The Horse At A Distance. The
Mules Of Provence Are Not So Mischievous, Because They Are More
Used To The Sight And Society Of Horses: But Those Of Piedmont
Are By Far The Largest And The Strongest I Have Seen.
Some Very Feasible Schemes For Improving The Commerce Of Nice
Have Been Presented To The Ministry Of Turin; But Hitherto
Without Success. The English Import Annually Between Two And
Three Thousand Bales Of Raw Silk, The Growth Of Piedmont; And
This Declaration Would Be Held Legal Evidence. In Some Parts Of
France, The Cure Of The Parish, On All Souls' Day, Which Is
Called Le Jour Des Morts, Says A Libera Domine For Two Sols, At
Every Grave In The Burying-Ground, For The Release Of The Soul
Whose Body Is There Interred.
The Artisans Of Nice Are Very Lazy, Very Needy, Very Aukward, And
Void Of All Ingenuity. The Price Of Their Labour Is Very Near As
High As At London Or Paris. Rather Than Work For Moderate Profit,
Arising From Constant Employment, Which Would Comfortably
Maintain Them And Their Families, They Choose To Starve At Home,
To Lounge About The Ramparts, Bask Themselves In The Sun, Or Play
At Bowls In The Streets From Morning 'Till Night.
The Lowest Class Of People Consists Of Fishermen, Day Labourers,
Porters, And Peasants: These Last Are Distributed Chiefly In The
Small Cassines In The Neighbourhood Of The City, And Are Said To
Amount To Twelve Thousand. They Are Employed In Labouring The
Ground, And Have All The Outward Signs Of Extreme Misery. They
Are All Diminutive, Meagre, Withered, Dirty, And Half Naked; In
Their Complexions, Not Barely Swarthy, But As Black As Moors; And
I Believe Many Of Them Are Descendants Of That People. They Are
Very Hard Favoured; And Their Women In General Have The Coarsest
Part 7 Letter 20 (Nice, October 22, 1764.) Pg 180Features I Have Ever Seen: It Must Be Owned, However, They Have
The Finest Teeth In The World. The Nourishment Of Those Poor
Creatures Consists Of The Refuse Of The Garden, Very Coarse
Bread, A Kind Of Meal Called Polenta, Made Of Indian Corn, Which
Is Very Nourishing And Agreeable, And A Little Oil; But Even In
These Particulars, They Seem To Be Stinted To Very Scanty Meals.
I Have Known A Peasant Feed His Family With The Skins Of Boiled
Beans. Their Hogs Are Much Better Fed Than Their Children. 'Tis
Pity They Have No Cows, Which Would Yield Milk, Butter, And
Cheese, For The Sustenance Of Their Families. With All This
Wretchedness, One Of These Peasants Will Not Work In Your Garden
For Less Than Eighteen Sols, About Eleven Pence Sterling, Per
Diem; And Then He Does Not Half The Work Of An English Labourer.
If There Is Fruit In It, Or Any Thing He Can Convey, He Will
Infallibly Steal It, If You Do Not Keep A Very Watchful Eye Over
Him. All The Common People Are Thieves And Beggars; And I Believe
This Is Always The Case With People Who Are Extremely Indigent
And Miserable. In Other Respects, They Are Seldom Guilty Of
Excesses. They Are Remarkably Respectful And Submissive To Their
Superiors. The Populace Of Nice Are Very Quiet And Orderly. They
Are Little Addicted To Drunkenness. I Have Never Heard Of One
Riot Since I Lived Among Them; And Murder And Robbery Are
Altogether Unknown. A Man May Walk Alone Over The County Of Nice,
At Midnight, Without Danger Of Insult. The Police Is Very Well
Regulated. No Man Is Permitted To Wear A Pistol Or Dagger' On
Pain Of Being Sent To The Gallies. I Am Informed, That Both
Murder And Robbery Are Very Frequent In Some Parts Of Piedmont.
Even Here, When The Peasants Quarrel In Their Cups, (Which Very
Seldom Happens) They Draw Their Knives, And The One Infallibly
Stabs The Other. To Such Extremities, However, They Never
Proceed, Except When There Is A Woman In The Case; And Mutual
Jealousy Co-Operates With The Liquor They Have Drank, To Inflame
Their Passions. In Nice, The Common People Retire To Their
Lodgings At Eight O'clock In Winter, And Nine In Summer. Every
Person Found In The Streets After These Hours, Is Apprehended By
The Patrole; And, If He Cannot Give A Good Account Of Himself,
Sent To Prison. At Nine
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