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

Necessaries Of Life, And A Toll Upon Every Eatable Entered Into

This Capital. If We May Believe Leti, The Grand Duke Was Then

Able To Raise And Maintain An Army Of Forty Thousand Infantry,

And Three Thousand Horse; With Twelve Gallies, Two Galeasses, And

Twenty Ships Of War. I Question If Tuscany Can Maintain At

Present Above One Half Of Such An Armament. He That Now Commands

The Emperor's Navy, Consisting Of A Few Frigates, Is An

Englishman, Called Acton, Who Was Heretofore Captain Of A Ship In

Our East India Company's Service. He Has Lately Embraced The

Catholic Religion, And Been Created Admiral Of Tuscany.

There Is A Tolerable Opera In Florence For The Entertainment Of

The Best Company, Though They Do Not Seem Very Attentive To The

Musick. Italy Is Certainly The Native Country Of This Art; And

Yet, I Do Not Find The People In General Either More Musically

Inclined, Or Better Provided With Ears Than Their Neighbours.

Here Is Also A Wretched Troop Of Comedians For The Burgeois, And

Lower Class Of People: But What Seems Most To Suit The Taste Of

All Ranks, Is The Exhibition Of Church Pageantry. I Had Occasion

To See A Procession, Where All The Noblesse Of The City Attended

In Their Coaches, Which Filled The Whole Length Of The Great

Street Called The Corso. It Was The Anniversary Of A Charitable

Institution In Favour Of Poor Maidens, A Certain Number Of Whom

Are Portioned Every Year. About Two Hundred Of These Virgins

Walked In Procession, Two And Two Together, Cloathed In Violet-Coloured

Wide Gowns, With White Veils On Their Heads, And Made A

Very Classical Appearance. They Were Preceded And Followed By An

Irregular Mob Of Penitents In Sack-Cloth, With Lighted Tapers,

And Monks Carrying Crucifixes, Bawling And Bellowing The

Litanies: But The Great Object Was A Figure Of The Virgin Mary,

As Big As The Life, Standing Within A Gilt Frame, Dressed In A

Gold Stuff, With A Large Hoop, A Great Quantity Of False Jewels,

Her Face Painted And Patched, And Her Hair Frizzled And Curled In

The Very Extremity Of The Fashion. Very Little Regard Had

Been Paid To The Image Of Our Saviour On The Cross; But When His

Lady-Mother Appeared On The Shoulders Of Three Or Four Lusty

Friars, The Whole Populace Fell Upon Their Knees In The Dirt.

This Extraordinary Veneration Paid To The Virgin, Must Have Been

Derived Originally From The French, Who Pique Themselves On Their

Gallantry To The Fair Sex.

Amidst All The Scenery Of The Roman Catholic Religion, I Have

Never Yet Seen Any Of The Spectators Affected At Heart, Or

Discover The Least Signs Of Fanaticism. The Very Disciplinants,

Who Scourge Themselves In The Holy-Week, Are Generally Peasants

Or Parties Hired For The Purpose. Those Of The Confrairies, Who

Have An Ambition To Distinguish Themselves On Such Occasions,

Take Care To Secure Their Backs From The Smart, By Means Of

Secret Armour, Either Women's Boddice, Or Quilted Jackets. The 

Confrairies Are Fraternities Of Devotees, Who Inlist Themselves

Under The Banners Of Particular Saints. On Days Of Procession

They Appear In A Body Dressed As Penitents And Masked, And

Distinguished By Crosses On Their Habits. There Is Scarce An

Individual, Whether Noble Or Plebeian, Who Does Not Belong To One

Of These Associations, Which May Be Compared To The Freemasons,

Gregoreans, And Antigallicans Of England.

Just Without One Of The Gates Of Florence, There Is A Triumphal

Arch Erected On Occasion Of The Late Emperor's Making His Public

Entry, When He Succeeded To The Dukedom Of Tuscany: And Herein

The Summer Evenings, The Quality Resort To Take The Air In Their

Coaches. Every Carriage Stops, And Forms A Little Separate

Conversazione. The Ladies Sit Within, And The Cicisbei Stand On

The Foot-Boards, On Each Side Of The Coach, Entertaining Them

With Their Discourse. It Would Be No Unpleasant Inquiry To Trace

This Sort Of Gallantry To Its Original, And Investigate All Its

Progress. The Italians, Having Been Accused Of Jealousy, Were

Resolved To Wipe Off The Reproach, And, Seeking To Avoid It For

The Future, Have Run Into The Other Extreme. I Know It Is

Generally Supposed That The Custom Of Choosing Cicisbei, Was

Calculated To Prevent The Extinction Of Families, Which Would

Otherwise Often Happen In Consequence Of Marriages Founded Upon

Interest, Without Any Mutual Affection In The Contracting

Parties. How Far This Political Consideration May Have Weighed

Against The Jealous And Vindictive Temper Of The Italians, I Will

Not Pretend To Judge: But, Certain It Is, Every Married Lady In

This Country Has Her Cicisbeo, Or Servente, Who Attends Her Every

Where, And On All Occasions; And Upon Whose Privileges The

Husband Dares Not Encroach, Without Incurring The Censure And

Ridicule Of The Whole Community. For My Part, I Would Rather Be

Condemned For Life To The Gallies, Than Exercise The Office Of A

Cicisbeo, Exposed To The Intolerable Caprices And Dangerous

Resentment Of An Italian Virago. I Pretend Not To Judge Of The

National Character, From My Own Observation: But, If The

Portraits Drawn By Goldoni In His Comedies Are Taken From Nature,

I Would Not Hesitate To Pronounce The Italian Women The Most

Haughty, Insolent, Capricious, And Revengeful Females On The Face

Of The Earth. Indeed Their Resentments Are So Cruelly Implacable,

And Contain Such A Mixture Of Perfidy, That, In My Opinion, They

Are Very Unfit Subjects For Comedy, Whose Province It Is, Rather

To Ridicule Folly Than To Stigmatize Such Atrocious Vice.

You Have Often Heard It Said, That The Purity Of The Italian Is

To Be Found In The Lingua Toscana, And Bocca Romana. Certain It

Is, The Pronunciation Of The Tuscans Is Disagreeably Guttural:

The Letters C And G They Pronounce With An Aspiration, Which

Hurts The Ear Of An Englishman; And Is I Think Rather Rougher

Than That Of The X, In Spanish. It Sounds As If The Speaker Had

Lost His Palate. I Really Imagined The First Man I Heard Speak In 

Pisa, Had Met With That Misfortune In The Course Of His Amours.

One Of The Greatest Curiosities You Meet With In Italy, Is The

Improvisatore; Such Is The Name Given To Certain Individuals, Who

Have The Surprising Talent Of Reciting Verses Extempore, On Any

Subject You Propose. Mr. Corvesi, My Landlord, Has A Son, A

Franciscan Friar, Who Is A Great Genius In This Way.

When The Subject Is Given, His Brother Tunes His Violin To

Accompany Him, And He Begins To Rehearse In Recitative, With

Wonderful Fluency And Precision. Thus He Will, At A Minute's

Warning, Recite Two Or Three Hundred Verses, Well Turned, And

Well Adapted, And Generally Mingled With An Elegant Compliment To

The Company. The Italians Are So Fond Of Poetry, That Many Of

Them, Have The Best Part Of Ariosto, Tasso, And Petrarch, By

Heart; And These Are The Great Sources From Which The

Improvisatori Draw Their Rhimes, Cadence, And Turns Of

Expression. But, Lest You Should Think There Is Neither Rhime Nor

Reason In Protracting This Tedious Epistle, I Shall Conclude It

With The Old Burden Of My Song, That I Am Always--Your

Affectionate Humble Servant.

Dear Sir,--Your Entertaining Letter Of The Fifth Of Last Month,

Was A Very Charitable And A Very Agreeable Donation: But Your

Suspicion Is Groundless. I Assure You, Upon My Honour, I Have No

Share Whatever In Any Of The Disputes Which Agitate The Public:

Nor Do I Know Any Thing Of Your Political Transactions, Except

What I Casually See In One Of Your Newspapers, With The Perusal

Of Which I Am Sometimes Favoured By Our Consul At Villefranche.

You Insist Upon My Being More Particular In My Remarks On What I

Saw At Florence, And I Shall Obey The Injunction. The Famous

Gallery Which Contains The Antiquities, Is The Third Story Of A

Noble Stone-Edifice, Built In The Form Of The Greek Pi, The Upper

Part Fronting The River Arno, And One Of The Legs Adjoining To

The Ducal-Palace, Where The Courts Of Justice Are Held. As The

House Of Medici Had For Some Centuries Resided In The Palace Of

Pitti, Situated On The Other Side Of The River, A Full Mile From

These Tribunals, The Architect Vasari, Who Planned The New

Edifice, At The Same Time Contrived A Corridore, Or Covered

Passage, Extending From The Palace Of Pitti Along One Of The 

Bridges, To The Gallery Of Curiosities, Through Which The Grand-

Duke Passed Unseen, When He Was Disposed Either To Amuse Himself

With His Antiquities, Or To Assist At His Courts Of Judicature:

But There Is Nothing Very Extraordinary Either In The Contrivance

Or Execution Of This Corridore.

If I Resided In Florence I Would Give Something Extraordinary For

Permission To Walk Every Day In The Gallery, Which I Should Much

Prefer To The Lycaeum, The Groves Of Academus, Or Any Porch Or

Philosophical Alley In Athens Or In Rome. Here By Viewing The

Statues And Busts Ranged On Each Side, I Should Become Acquainted

With The Faces Of All The Remarkable Personages, Male And Female,

Of Antiquity, And Even Be Able To Trace Their Different

Characters From The Expression Of Their Features. This Collection

Is A Most Excellent Commentary Upon The Roman Historians,

Particularly Suetonius And Dion Cassius. There Was One

Circumstance That Struck Me In Viewing The Busts Of Caracalla,

Both Here And In The Capitol At Rome; There Was A Certain

Ferocity In The Eyes, Which Seemed To Contradict The Sweetness Of

The Other Features, And Remarkably Justified The Epithet

Caracuyl, By Which He Was Distinguished By The Antient

Inhabitants Of North-Britain. In The Language Of The Highlanders

Caracuyl