Travels Through France And Italy by Tobias Smollett (fastest ebook reader .txt) 📕

Curfew-Bell Rung, Warning The People To Put Out Their Lights, And

Go To Bed. This Is A Very Necessary Precaution In Towns Subject

To Conflagrations; But Of Small Use In Nice, Where There Is Very

Little Combustible In The Houses.

The Punishments Inflicted Upon Malefactors And Delinquents At

Nice Are Hanging For Capital Crimes; Slavery On Board The Gallies

For A Limited Term, Or For Life, According To The Nature Of The

Transgression; Flagellation, And The Strappado. This Last Is

Performed, By Hoisting Up The Criminal By His Hands Tied Behind

His Back, On A Pulley About Two Stories High; From Whence, The

Rope Being Suddenly Slackened, He Falls To Within A Yard Or Two

Of The Ground, Where He Is Stopped With A Violent Shock Arising

From The Weight Of His Body, And The Velocity Of His Descent,

Which Generally Dislocates His Shoulders, With Incredible Pain. 

This Dreadful Execution Is Sometimes Repeated In A Few Minutes On

The Same Delinquent; So That The Very Ligaments Are Tore From His

Joints, And His Arms Are Rendered Useless For Life.

The Poverty Of The People In This Country, As Well As In The

South Of France, May Be Conjectured From The Appearance Of Their

Domestic Animals. The Draughthorses, Mules, And Asses, Of The

Peasants, Are So Meagre, As To Excite Compassion. There Is Not A

Dog To Be Seen In Tolerable Case; And The Cats Are So Many

Emblems Of Famine, Frightfully Thin, And Dangerously Rapacious. I

Wonder The Dogs And They Do Not Devour Young Children. Another

Proof Of That Indigence Which Reigns Among The Common People, Is

This: You May Pass Through The Whole South Of France, As Well As

The County Of Nice, Where There Is No Want Of Groves, Woods, And

Plantations, Without Hearing The Song Of Blackbird, Thrush,

Linnet, Gold-Finch, Or Any Other Bird Whatsoever. All Is Silent

And Solitary. The Poor Birds Are Destroyed, Or Driven For Refuge,

Into Other Countries, By The Savage Persecution Of The People,

Who Spare No Pains To Kill, And Catch Them For Their Own

Subsistence. Scarce A Sparrow, Red-Breast, Tomtit, Or Wren, Can

'Scape The Guns And Snares Of Those Indefatigable Fowlers. Even

The Noblesse Make Parties To Go A La Chasse, A-Hunting; That Is,

To Kill Those Little Birds, Which They Eat As Gibier, Or Game.

The Great Poverty Of The People Here, Is Owing To Their Religion.

Half Of Their Time Is Lost In Observing The Great Number Of

Festivals; And Half Of Their Substance Is Given To Mendicant

Friars And Parish Priests. But If The Church Occasions Their

Indigence, It Likewise, In Some Measure, Alleviates The Horrors

Of It, By Amusing Them With Shows, Processions, And Even Those

Very Feasts, Which Afford A Recess From Labour, In A Country

Where The Climate Disposes Them To Idleness. If The Peasants In

The Neighbourhood Of Any Chapel Dedicated To A Saint, Whose Day

Is To Be Celebrated, Have A Mind To Make A Festin, In Other

Words, A Fair, They Apply To The Commandant Of Nice For A

License, Which Costs Them About A French Crown. This Being

Obtained, They Assemble After Service, Men And Women, In Their

Best Apparel, And Dance To The Musick Of Fiddles, And Pipe And

Tabor, Or Rather Pipe And Drum. There Are Hucksters' Stands, With

Pedlary Ware And Knick-Knacks For Presents; Cakes And Bread,

Liqueurs And Wine; And Thither Generally Resort All The Company

Of Nice. I Have Seen Our Whole Noblesse At One Of These Festins,

Kept On The Highway In Summer, Mingled With An Immense Crowd Of

Peasants, Mules, And Asses, Covered With Dust, And Sweating At

Every Pore With The Excessive Heat Of The Weather. I Should Be

Much Puzzled To Tell Whence Their Enjoyment Arises On Such

Occasions; Or To Explain Their Motives For Going Thither, Unless

They Are Prescribed It For Pennance, As A Fore-Taste Of

Purgatory.

Now I Am Speaking Of Religious Institutions, I Cannot Help

Observing, That The Antient Romans Were Still More Superstitious

Than The Modern Italians; And That The Number Of Their Religious

Feasts, Sacrifices, Fasts, And Holidays, Was Even Greater Than

Those Of The Christian Church Of Rome. They Had Their Festi And

Profesti, Their Feriae Stativae, And Conceptivae, Their Fixed And

Moveable Feasts; Their Esuriales, Or Fasting Days, And Their

Precidaneae, Or Vigils. The Agonales Were Celebrated In January;

The Carmentales, In January And February; The Lupercales And

Matronales, In March; The Megalesia In April; The Floralia, In

May; And The Matralia In June. They Had Their Saturnalia,

Robigalia, Venalia, Vertumnalia, Fornacalia, Palilia, And

Laralia, Their Latinae, Their Paganales, Their Sementinae, Their

Compitales, And Their Imperativae; Such As The Novemdalia,

Instituted By The Senate, On Account Of A Supposed Shower Of

Stones. Besides, Every Private Family Had A Number Of Feriae,

Kept Either By Way Of Rejoicing For Some Benefit, Or Mourning For

Some Calamity. Every Time It Thundered, The Day Was Kept Holy.

Every Ninth Day Was A Holiday, Thence Called Nundinae Quasi

Novendinae. There Was The Dies Denominalis, Which Was The Fourth

Of The Kalends; Nones And Ides Of Every Month, Over And Above The

Anniversary Of Every Great Defeat Which The Republic Had

Sustained, Particularly The Dies Alliensis, Or Fifteenth Of The

Kalends Of December, On Which The Romans Were Totally Defeated By

The Gauls And Veientes; As Lucan Says--Et Damnata Diu Romanis

Allia Fastis, And Allia In Rome's Calendar Condemn'd. The Vast

Variety Of Their Deities, Said To Amount To Thirty Thousand, With

Their Respective Rites Of Adoration, Could Not Fail To Introduce

Such A Number Of Ceremonies, Shews, Sacrifices, Lustrations, And

Public Processions, As Must Have Employed The People Almost

Constantly From One End Of The Year To The Other. This Continual

Dissipation Must Have Been A Great Enemy To Industry; And The

People Must Have Been Idle And Effeminate. I Think It Would Be No

Difficult Matter To Prove, That There Is Very Little Difference,

In Point Of Character, Between The Antient And Modern Inhabitants

Of Rome; And That The Great Figure Which This Empire Made Of Old,

Was Not So Much Owing To The Intrinsic Virtue Of Its Citizens, As

To The Barbarism, Ignorance, And Imbecility Of The Nations They

Subdued. Instances Of Public And Private Virtue I Find As

Frequent And As Striking In The History Of Other Nations, As In

The Annals Of Antient Rome; And Now That The Kingdoms And States

Of Europe Are Pretty Equally Enlightened, And Ballanced In The

Scale Of Political Power, I Am Of Opinion, That If The Most

Fortunate Generals Of The Roman Commonwealth Were Again Placed At

The Head Of The Very Armies They Once Commanded, Instead Of

Extending Their Conquests Over All Europe And Asia, They Would

Hardly Be Able To Subdue, And Retain Under Their Dominion, All

The Petty Republics That Subsist In Italy.

But I Am Tired With Writing; And I Believe You Will Be Tired With 

Reading This Long Letter Notwithstanding All Your Prepossession

In Favour Of--Your Very Humble Servant.

Dear Doctor,--In My Enquiries About The Revenues Of Nice, I Am

Obliged To Trust To The Information Of The Inhabitants, Who Are

Much Given To Exaggerate. They Tell Me, The Revenues Of This Town

Amount To One Hundred Thousand Livres, Or Five Thousand Pounds

Sterling; Of Which I Would Strike Off At Least One Fourth, As An

Addition Of Their Own Vanity: Perhaps, If We Deduct A Third, It

Will Be Nearer The Truth. For, I Cannot Find Out Any Other Funds

They Have, But The Butchery And The Bakery, Which They Farm At So

Much A Year To The Best Bidder; And The Droits D'entree, Or

Duties Upon Provision Brought Into The City; But These Are Very

Small. The King Is Said To Draw From Nice One Hundred Thousand

Livres Annually, Arising From A Free-Gift, Amounting To Seven

Hundred Pounds Sterling, In Lieu Of The Taille, From Which This

Town And County Are Exempted; An Inconsiderable Duty Upon Wine

Sold In Public-Houses; And The Droits Du Port. These Last Consist

Of Anchorage, Paid By All Vessels In Proportion To Their Tonnage,

When They Enter The Harbours Of Nice And Villa Franca. Besides,

All Foreign Vessels, Under A Certain Stipulated Burthen, That

Pass Between The Island Of Sardinia And This Coast, Are Obliged,

In Going To The Eastward, To Enter; And Pay A Certain Regulated

Imposition, On Pain Of Being Taken And Made Prize. The Prince Of

Monaco Exacts A Talliage Of The Same Kind; And Both He And The

King Of Sardinia Maintain Armed Cruisers To Assert This

Prerogative; From Which, However, The English And French Are

Exempted By Treaty, In Consequence Of Having Paid A Sum Of Money

At Once. In All Probability, It Was Originally Given As A

Consideration For Maintaining Lights On The Shore, For The

Benefit Of Navigators, Like The Toll Paid For Passing The Sound

In The Baltic. [Upon Further Inquiry I Find It Was Given In

Consideration Of Being Protected From The Corsairs By The Naval

Force Of The Duke Of Savoy And Prince Of Monaco.] The Fanal, Or

Lanthorn, To The Eastward Of Villa Franca, Is Kept In Good

Repair, And Still Lighted In The Winter. The Toll, However, Is A

Very Troublesome Tax Upon Feluccas, And Other Small Craft, Which

Are Greatly Retarded In Their Voyages, And Often Lose The Benefit

Of A Fair Wind, By Being Obliged To Run Inshore, And Enter Those

Harbours. The Tobacco The King Manufactures At His Own Expence,

And Sells For His Own Profit, At A Very High Price; And Every

Person Convicted Of Selling This Commodity In