"In the church," says the legend, "there stood a young man with his hands clasped in prayer, who, from that time, resolved to withdraw into the desert. It was he whom we now invoke as St. Bruno." (15) Ils ont la même longueur que l'église de Saint-Pierre de Rome, et ils renferment quatre cents cellules. (16) Vallombrosa, formerly called Acqua Bella. (17) The words of Ariosto. una badia Ricca -e cortesa a chiunque vi venia. (18) Ariosto and Milton. Milton was there at the fall of the leaf. (19) Not that I felt the confidence of Erasmus, when, on his way from Paris to Turin, he encountered the dangers of Mont Cenis in 1507; when, regardless of torrent and precipice, he versified as he went; composing a poem on horseback,* and writing it down at intervals as he sat in the saddle,†- - an example, I imagine, followed by few. Much, indeed, of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, as the author assured me, was conceived and executed in like manner on his journey through Greece; but the work was performed in less unfavorable circumstances; for, if his fits of inspiration were stronger, he travelled on surer ground. (20) "Many able men have served under me; but none like him. He loved glory for itself." (21) The Schreckhorn. (22) The Jung-frau. (23) The author of Lalla Rookh, a poet of such singular felicity as to give a lustre to all he touches, has written a song on this subject, called the Crystal-hunters. (24) M. Ebel mentions an escape almost as miraculous. "L'an 1790, Christian Boren, propriétaire de l'auberge du Grindelwald, eut le malheur de se jeter dans une fente du glacier, en le traversant avec un troupeau de moutons qu'il ramenoit des pâturages de Baniseck. Heureusement qu'il tomba dans le voisinage du grand torrent qui coule dans l'intérieur, il en suivit le lit par dessous les voûtes de glace, et arriva au pied du glacier. Cet homme est actuellement encore en vie." — Manuel du Voyageur. (25) Lichen geographicus. (20) Almost every mountain of any rank or condition has such a bridge. The most celebrated in this country is on the Swiss side of St. Gothard. (27) When may not our minds be said to stream into each other? for how much by the light of the countenance comes from the child to the mother before he has the gift of speech; and how much afterwards in like manner comes to console us and to cheer us in our journey through life; for when even to the last cannot we give, cannot we receive what no words can convey? And is not this the universal language, -the language of all nations from the beginning of time, which comes with the breath of life, nor goes till life itself is departing? (38) A tradition. Gesler said to him, when it was over, "You had a second arrow in "Carmen equestre, vel potius Alpestre."- Erasmus. +"Notans in charta super sellam." — Idem. your belt. What was it for?" — "To kill you," he replied, "if I had killed my son.” There is a monument in the market-place of Altorf to consecrate the spot. (29) The Eagle and Child is a favorite sign in many parts of Europe. (30) "J'aime beaucoup ce tournoiement, pourvu que je sois en sûreté." -J. J. Rousseau, Les Confessions, 1. iv. (31) "Ou il y a environ dix ans, que l'Abbé de St. Maurice, Mons. Cocatrix, a été précipité avec sa voiture, ses chevaux, sa cuisinière, et son cocher."-Descript du Valais. (32) Originally thus: I love to sail along the LARIAN Lake Under the shore- though not, where'er he dwelt, e."- Epist. ix. 7. (33) Hujus in littore plures villæ meæ." (34) Epist. i. 3, ix. 7. (35) Il lago di Garda. His peninsula he calls "the eye of peninsulas;" and it is beautiful. But, whatever it was, who could pass it by? Napoleon, in the career of victory, turned aside to see it. Of his villa there is now no more remaining than of his old pinnace, which had weathered so many storms, and which he consecrated at last as an ex-voto. (36) Commonly called Paul Veronese. (37) The lake of Catullus; and now called Il lago di Garda. Its waves, in the north, lash the mountains of the Tyrol, and it was there, at the little village of Limone, that Hofer embarked, when in the hands of the enemy and on his way to Mantua, where, in the court-yard of the citadel, he was shot as a traitor. Less fortunate than Tell, yet not less illustrious, he was watched by many a mournful eye as he came down the lake; and his name will live long in the heroic songs of his country. He lies buried at Innspruck, in the church of the Holy Cross; and the statue on his tomb represents him in his habit as he lived and as he died. (38) Petrarch, Epist. Rer. Sen. I. v. ep. 3. (39) Mastino de la Scala, the Lord of Verona. Cortusio, the ambassador and historian, saw him so surrounded. This house had been always open to the unfortunate. In the days of Can Grande all were welcome; poets, philosophers, artists, warriors. Each had his apartment, each a separate table; and at the hour of dinner musicians and jesters went from room to room. Dante, as we learn from himself, found an asylum there. 'Lo primo tuo rifugio, e'l primo ostello Their tombs in the public street carry us back into the times of barbarous virtue; nor less so do those of the Carrara Princes of Padua, though less singular and striking in themselves. Francis Carrara, the elder, used often to visit Petrarch in his small house at Arqua, and followed him on foot to his grave. (40) See the Heraclide of Euripides, v. 203, &c. (41) Originally thus: My omelet, and a trout, that, as the sun Leaped at a golden fly, had happily (42) Hist. de Gil Blas, 1. i. c. 2. After the concluding line in the MS. Zanga is the name of a beautiful villa near Bergamo, in which Tasso finished his tragedy of Torrismondo. It still belongs to his family. That evening, tended on with verse and song, Chapelle and Bachaumont fared no better at Salon, "à cause d'une comédienne, qui s'avisa d'accoucher de deux petits comédiens." (43) Originally thus: And shall I sup where JULIET at the masque An old palace of the Cappelletti, with its uncouth balcony and irregular windows, is still standing in a lane near the market-place; and what Englishman can behold it with indifference? When we enter Verona we forget ourselves, and are almost inclined to say, "Vieni a veder Montecchi, e Cappelletii." with Dante, (44) It has been observed that in Italy the memory sees more than the eye. Scarcely a stone is turned up that has not some historical association, ancient or modern; that may not be said to have gold under it. (45) Fallen as she is, she is still, as in the days of Tassoni, "La gran donna del Po." (46) From the sonnet of Filicaja, "Italia! Italia!" &c. (47) All our travellers, from Addison downward, have diligently explored the monuments of her former existence; while those of her latter have, comparatively speaking, escaped observation. If I cannot supply the deficiency, I will not follow their example; and happy shall I be if by an intermixture of verse and prose I have furnished my countrymen on their travels with a pocket companion. Though the obscure has its worshippers, as well, indeed, it may, forever changing its aspect, and now and then, if we may believe it, wearing the likeness of the sublime; I have always endeavored, with what success I cannot say, to express my thoughts and my feelings as naturally and as clearly in verse as in prose, sparing no labor, and remembering the old adage, "Le Temps n'epargne pas ce qu'on fait sans lui." It was the boast of Boileau- and how much are we indebted to him! - that he had taught Racine to write with difficulty,- -to do as others have done who have left what will live forever. "Weigh well every word, nor publish till many years are gone by," is an injunction which has descended from age to age, the injunction of one who could publish only in manuscript, and in manuscript hope to survive; though now (such the energy of his genius, such the excellence of his precept and his practice) in every country, every language, and in numbers almost numberless, our constant companion wherever we go.† What would he have said now, when many a volume, on its release from the closet, wings it way in an instant over the Old World and the New, flying from city to city during the changes of the moon; and when the words which are uttered in our senate at midnight are delivered to thousands at sunrise, and before sunset are travelling to the ends of the earth? (48) There is a French proverb that must sometimes occur to an observer in the present age: Beaucoup de mal, peu de bruit; Beaucoup de bruit, peu de mal. To Lord John Russell are we indebted for that admirable definition of a proverb, "The wisdom of many and the wit of one." (49) A mirror in the sixteenth century is said to have revealed a secret that led to less tragical consequences. John Galeazzo Visconte, Duke of Milan, becoming enamored in his youth of a daughter of the house of Correggio, his gayety, his cheerfulness left him, as all observed, though none knew why; till some ladies of the court, who had lived with him in great familiarity, and who had sought and sought, but never found, began to rally him on the subject, saying, "Forgive us our presumption, sir, but, as you are in love,— for in love you must be, - may we know who she is, that we may render honor to whom honor is due; for it will be our delight no less than our duty to serve her?" The duke was in dismay, and endeavored to fly, if it were possible, from so unequal a combat. But in flight there is no security when such an enemy is in the field; and, being soon convinced that the more he resisted the more he would be assailed, he resolved at once to capitulate; and, commanding for the purpose a splendid entertainment, such as he was accustomed to give, he invited them, one and all; not forgetting the lovely Correggia, who was as urgent as the rest, though she flattered herself that she knew the secret as well as he did. When the banquet was over and the table-cloth removed, and every guest, as she sate, served with water for her fair hands and with a tooth-pick from the odoriferous mastic-tree, a cabinet of rich workmanship was placed on the table. "And now," said he, with a gayety usual to lovers," and now, my dear ladies, as I can deny you nothing, come, one by one, and behold her; for here she is! " As he spoke, he unfolded the doors of the cabinet; and each in her turn beheld the portrait of a beautiful girl. The last to look and to see was Correggia, for so he had contrived it ; but no contrivance was wanted; for, shrinking and agitated, she had hung back behind them all, till to her ear came the intelligence that the portrait was unknown, and with the intelligence came the conviction that her fond heart had deceived her. But what were her feelings when she looked and saw; for at the touch of a spring the portrait had vanished, and in a mirror she saw herself! — Ricordi di Sabba Castiglione, 1559. For this story, as indeed for many others, I am indebted to my friend, Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, President of the Royal Academy; and I am happy in this opportunity of acknowledging my obligations to him. • Horace. + Nineteen centuries have passed away, and what scholar has not now his pocket Horace 7 (50) Murato was a technical word for this punishment. (51) An old huntsman of the family met her in the haze of the morning, and never went out again. She is still known by the name of Madonna Bianca. (52) Several were painted by Giorgione and Titian; as, for instance, the Ca' Soranzo, the Ca' Grimani, and the Fondaco de' Tedeschi. Great was their emulation, great their rivalry, if we may judge from an anecdote related by Vasari; and with what interest must they have been observed in their progress, as they stood at work on their scaffolds, by those who were passing under them by land and by water! * (53) Now an observatory. On the wall there is a long inscription: "Piis carcerem adspergite lacrymis," &c. Ezzelino is seen by Dante in the river of blood. (54) Bonatti was the great astrologer of that day; and all the little princes of Italy contended for him. It was from the top of the tower of Forli that he gave his signals to Guido Novello. At the first touch of a bell the count put on his armor; at the second he mounted his horse, and at the third marched out to battle. His victories were ascribed to Bonatti; and not perhaps without reason. How many triumphs were due to the soothsayers of old Rome! (55) "Douze personnes, tant acteurs qu' actrices, un souffleur, un machiniste, un garde du magasin, des enfans de tout âge, des chiens, des chats, des singes, des perroquets; c' étoit l'arche de Noé. Ma prédilection pour les soubrettes m'arrêta sur Madame Baccherini." Goldoni. (56) The passage-boats are drawn up and down the Brenta. (57) A pleasant instance of his wit and agility was exhibited some years ago on the stage at Venice. "The stutterer was in an agony; the word was inexorable. It was to no purpose that Harlequin suggested another and another. At length, in a fit of despair, he pitched his head full in the dying man's stomach, and the word bolted out of his mouth to the most distant part of the house."-- See Moore's View of Society in Italy. He is well described by Marmontel in the Encyclopédie. "Personnage de la comédie italienne. Le caractère distinctif de l'ancienne comédie italienne est de jouer des ridicules, non pas personnels, mais nationaux. C'est une imitation grotesque des mœurs des différentes villes d'Italie; et chacune d'elles est représentée par un personnage qui est toujours le même. Pantalon est vénitien, le Docteur est bolonois, Scapin est napolitain, et Arlequin est bergamasque. Celui-ci est d'une singularité qui mérite d'être observée; et il a fait long-temps les plaisirs de Paris, joué par trois acteurs célèbres, Dominique, Thomassin, et Carlin. Il est vraisemblable qu'un esclave africain fut le premier modèle de ce personnage. Son caractère est un mélange d'ignorance, de naïveté, d'esprit, de bêtise et de grâce: c'est un espèce d'homme ébauché, un grand enfant, qui a des lueurs de raison et d'intelligence, et dont toutes les méprises ou les maladresses ont quelque chose de piquant. Le vrai modèle de son jeu est la souplesse, l'agilité, la gentillesse d'un jeune chat, avec une écorce de grossièreté qui rend son action plus plaisante; son rôle est celui d'un valet patient, fidèle, crédule, gourmand, toujours amoureux, toujours dans l'embarras, ou pour son maître, ou pour lui-même ; qui s'afflige, • Frederic Zucchero, in a drawing which I have seen, has introduced his brother Taddeo as so employed at Roine on the palace of Mattei, and Raphael and Michael Angelo as sitting on horseback among the spectators below. |