Italy and the Italians (Volume 2) online

pressive, and the sirocco alone has the same effect
as the sultriness of a northern climate.

5. The winterly cold in Italy, in the almost total
absence of all means of warming, is more unplea-
sant than the heat.



LETTER LXXIII.

Rome — Argentina Theatre.

Rome, June 19lh.

With good ice I cooled the rest of the heat, and

then went (in compliance with 's kind invitation)

to the Argentina Theatre, where the Montecchi,
&c., was to be given with unusual ^clat by M. Don-
zelli, the sister of the London Grisi, and Marini.
After each air, these were thrice called for, and
kept for minutes together in the attitude of thanks
by clapping, acclamations, and applause, till in
general the officious doctor, that Jack in both fami-
lies, interposed to join the piece or the pieces toge-



ARGENTINA THEATRE. 55

gether, and to restore tranquillity. I was very
angry with mj'self, because I could not share in this
enthusiastic admiration. It is true this was partly
attributable to external causes : the heat, namely,
and the close air induced drowsiness, and do?is
gratuits (administered still more liberally than in
the Jews' Street) roused one again, and hopped up
and down like the music. But this, in comparison
with some of the latest pieces that I have seen in
Italy, is a wonderful performance. Madame — —
told a Bavarian, who placed Madame Devrient far
above the Grisi here, that this arose from his igno-
rance of the language. This remark will not apply
to me. I certainly prefer Devrient, Hahnel, and
Malibran to this second Grisi, but I shall abstain
from further criticism, for which the weather is
much too warm.



LETl^ER LXXIV.

Rome — Hunting— Remarks on the History of the Hohen-
staufen — Peyron,

Rome, June 22nd.

Rome ought by right to elevate the tone of the

mind ; but the heart produces a contrary effect,

and a passion for hunting, unfelt by me elsewhere,

costs me time, as well as other friends or foes of



-58 HUNTING.

Italy. On the 31st of May, Tieck's birthday, the
hunting season commenced, but I had no particular
sport till I reached Rome. At first, I was most
anxious to observe decorum, but lost a great deal of
time for the sake of very little booty. I therefore
thought it would be better to hold a grand battue
in bed, and to hunt all the greater preserves in the
morning by daylight, and in the evening by candle-
light. But, while I was in close pursuit of a long-
horned or long-legged beast, ten others were falling
foul of and worrying me. This, however, only
serves to inflame the passion to such a degree that
one makes no distinction between one's own terri-
tory and that of others. Evil example, too, corrupts
good manners. To speak more plainly — opposite
to me (the street is narrow) a couple of lusty women
hunt all their preserves every evening by a capital
light. At first I imagined, with my short sight,
that these were phantasms of the heated blood.
Clapping my spectacles on my nose, sure enough I
saw every thing except the game ; but the action
with the thumb-nail proved that the chase had been
successful.

From mere imitation, I soon raised myself to
originality, and surpassed my models. At first, the
stockings were pulled oif, turned, and shaken out
of the window. As my courage increased, I began
to serve other garments in the same manner, pro-



HUNTING. 57
filing by the warning example of Professor B ,



and taking good care not to drop, in the process of
turning, preserve, game and all into the street. One
would suppose that profusion of this kind would
soon destroy the whole breed ; but the ejected
tenants presently pour or leap back, and every thing
sets itself, like air and water, in a general equili-
brium. — The everlasting Rome, you see, does not
protect from such petty occupations and descrip-
tions.

With increasing years, I am aware of an in-
creasing fondness and dexterity for holding inter-
course with the living instead of the dead, and I
cannot, for the sake of a few manuscripts, turn en-
tirely away from the present. Here, exerting my
powers, I may gain perhaps ten, and there but one.
But the belief (which many German scholars enter-
tain), that one is more than ten, has long forsaken
me, if ever I had it. If I find little that is exclu-
sively literary useful to me, I only make " much
ado about nothing,"" and get laughed at ; if I find
much, the matter is almost Avorse ; at least here I
discover, on close self-examination, the root of the
whole disposition or indisposition. The Hohen-
staufen are my first love, to which I was faithful so
many years, nay, still am. I carried them about
more than the time prescribed by Horace, I nursed
them, 1 tended them, and at length presented them

D 5



58 HISTORY OF THE HOHENSTAUFEN.

to the public. And must I now fling my love and
my faith into the critical retort, and even rejoice
when I have distilled both away ! I cannot pre-
sumptuously say of my Hohenstaufen, they are
everlasting because they exist. But if there is vital
power in them for but one day, it was breathed
into them by love and ardent enthusiasm, and not
by a paper fire, which I am now called upon to
kindle, in order to warm myself and them by it.
Let another paint them, and draw them with Da-
guerre's minuteness, so that with a magnifying
glass one may distinguish every little hair and fea-
ther, and pick them out if one likes ; in this way I
will not, in my old days, work myself up into an
historian. At first, I sought the ground of the
state that I have just described in idleness alone.
You will not deny me the attestation of industry
during my travels ; and so I have been gradually
urged onward and obliged to make an explicit con-
fession, from which I cannot tell whether my guilt
or innocence is to be inferred. At present, I am
looking forward with satisfaction to Naples, because
I shall there have nothing whatever to do with
libraries. — This supplement to the chief confession
seems sufficient to condemn a professor engaged in
a literary tour. But are literature and science com-
prised exclusively in what others have already
written, read, and printed ?



PEYRON. 51)

After these fragments of merely personal history,
I must at last turn to the external course of life.
On Wednesday, June 19th, I dined with the king
of Bavaria. A lively conversation was kept up at
table about Germany, England, theCustoms'Union,
schools ; after dinner, I remained for a considerable
time with his majesty alone, and we talked of ec-
clesiastical affairs, the spirit of the present time, the
duties of kings, &c. It is impossible to possess
greater sincerity, nobler sentiments, and a more
laudable love of truth, than the king. He strives
with all his might to prepare himself for the high
function to which God has called him : such efforts
carry their reward along with them, and thus the
outward fruit too will not be wan tins.

On Thursday, the 20th, I received a visit from
Peyron, the great orientalist, who is now pursuing
his inquiries concerning the Coptic in the Propa-
ganda. He said that Champollion's assertions
and proofs were more regular and more to be
trusted than Seyfert's, but that the former had gone
too far, and for ten steps forward one must
take five backward. Many things that Charnpol-
lion has alleged to be Coptic he could not recog-
nize as such. From the mathematical regularity
and stiffness of the language, he could not possibly
believe that a poetical and historical literature, in
the higher signification, had ever existed in Egypt.



60 NOCTURNAL CONCERT.

For the arrangement and appreciation of the bibli-
cal manuscripts, the Alexandrian in particular, a
new edition of the Coptic version, for which all re-
quisite auxiliaries are at hand, would be extremely
serviceable.



LETTER LXXV.

Rome — Nocturnal Concert — Feast of St. John — The
Lateran.

Rome, June 25th.
In the Piazza Colonna there are booths amply
supplied with well-flavoured oranges and citrons,
brilliantly lighted with numerous lamps and lan-
terns, decorated with flags, and fresh water is in-
cessantly supplied by the copious fountain for
making all sorts of cooling beverages. For a few
bajocchi I refreshed myself, and hoped to sleep
soundly after this rich Roman day. But about
midnight *(my repeater proclaimed the hour) I was
wakened by the loud singing of two men who were
addicted to the nasal astacism ; about one, two asses
under my window engaged in a similar musical com-
petition, and proved that they were bred in the Italian
school. About two o'clock, a couple of cats com-
menced a duet, in which two numerous demi-choirs
joined, with or without approbation. I was more



ST. John's day. 61

patient and attentive than the dogs of the neigh-
bourhood, which, by their general barking, con-
demned this performance. The cats, with a noble
consciousness of their talents, continued their mo-
dulations till the hisses of human envy issued from
divers windows, and certain fluids were discharged
on the heads of the singers, which raised their last
efforts to the highest sforzato^ and produced the
most brilliant finale. Thus terminated the series of
entertainments of day and night. Some bites, which
critical fleas added to the feline melodies, I con-
sidered as absolutely superfluous, but was obliged to
take them as an Italian make-weight thrown into
the bargain.

On the 24th, St. John's day, a different world.
Screened by my umbrella, I boldly sallied forth to
encounter sun, dust, sirocco, and boys shouting
Piove ! on my way to the distant Lateran. After
so many military reviews I wished once more to see
an ecclesiastical one. But there was not an absolute
lack of military parade, for dragoons opened and
closed the procession of the pope and the cardinals.
All the carriages were alike, all the horses black,
all the trimmings red. The pope's coachman, &c.,
in great boots and red silk clothes. He himself, in
all his splendour, bestowing benediction ; the people
taking part, but rather from old habit than from
any religious feeling. In the church, a marshalled



62 ST. JOHN'S DAY.

procession of clergy, bishops, and cardinals, in
various uniforms. The cardinals most of them so
old and infirm that the quarrel between state and
church would turn out very unfortunately for them,
if it were to be decided on this spot with swords and
fists. The pope borne aloft above all, shaded with
peacock's feathers. As soon as he had passed,
crowding, thrusting, talking, running this way and
that way, as at a fair, without order, seriousness,
devotion. A never-varying form may be the best,
but has nothing new in it to awaken attention.
The pope has a good-natured, benevolent counte-
nance, and seems to enjoy excellent health. At
least I could perceive nothing to lead me to think
otherwise.



LETTER LXXVI.

Rome — Politics — Hanover — Etruscan Museum.

Rome, June 27tli.
In comparison with the vast quantity of politics
which one can and must consume in England and
France, one is stinted in Italy to a pretty homoeo-
pathic dose, and the newspapers play a merely sub-
ordinate part. But 1 have seen in them with great

concern that

So much the more agreeable to me was the peace-



HANOVERIAN AFFAIRS. 63

ful turn in Hanoverian affairs. In comparison with
the grandes journees des grandes nations^ this Ger-
man denouement is weak and insipid to those who
are fond of Spanish pepper and French garlic; but
in truth every German must rejoice at the mode-
ration which was associated with firmness, at the
piety which (out of self-respect itself) was never
quite thrown aside, at the abstinence from all means
that would have overshot the mark, and at the
endeavours to bring the christian virtues of faith,
love, and hope, into accordance with the other car-
dinal virtues. The most infatuated partisan is
obliged to acknowledge all this with commendation,
and so I hope for the best result.* The historian

is authorised to assert that but for the of

, this fine chapter in German history would be

wanting. But one such general rehearsal is sufH-
cient ; in a Da capo the overstrained strings might
break.

I continue to live in my uniform, quiet way.
Very hot days, very fine evenings. Every day
something seen, heard, learned.

Yesterday I went with A to see the Etrus-
can museum, founded by the present pope, in the
Vatican. It is surprisingly rich, well arranged,
and affords an instructive view of the artistical

* It is to be regretted that the prospect of a peaceful ami
amicable adjustment, which then appeared, has since vanished.



641 DANGER OF BEAUTYi

efforts, and also the mode of life, of that people. It
is only to be wished that it may soon find official
or voluntary describers and expounders — a thing
hitherto not permitted.



LETTER LXXVII.

Rome, June 27th.

EEFLEXIOXS ON ART BY ONE OF THE UNINFORMED.

THIRD CONTINUATION.

DANGER OF BEAUTY.

The , one of the finest women in Rome,

called beauty the most dangerous gift of Heaven.
Are not then all the gifts of Heaven dangerous, for
instance, wealth, power, high birth, &c. ? And yet
every one wishes for them, or at least very few
would refuse them if offered. This arises by no
means from mere censurable vanity, but because
those gifts of Heaven possess a real and a great
value, and a correct feeling tells men that it is pos-
sible at least to abstain from the abuse of them.
But indeed, he to whom much is entrusted has
much to answer for, and whoever runs giddily into
danger perishes in it. According to an ancient tale,
there was once a muff which possessed a miracu-
ous property. Whoever blew into one end of it



DANGER OF BEAUTY. 65

became beautiful, and whoever blew into the other
became virtuous; and this latter method the re-
later extolled beyond measure. When a boy, I
thought it very absurd to set about acquiring virtue
in this manner by blowing, and I had many a dis-
pute on the subject with the singing-master of
Worlitz. Unluckily, the beauty-end of the muff
is lost too ; but a consolatory conviction long pre-
vailed that even the person not endowed with
beauty may derive from goodness the power and
possibility of living beautifully. Since this notion
has been lost, beauty has become a monopoly of few,
and, in spite of its high price, a precarious, transient,
dangerous, and yet envied monopoly.

The said further : 1 would rather be the

ugliest man than the most beautiful woman in
Rome ; a declaration on which an interesting trea-
tise might be written. Agreeably to received
notions, several gentlemen protested against it ; but
I admitted the justice of her remark, because it
would be intolerable to me to listen to or to accept
the homage of innumerable coxcombs and puppies.

The deep sigh with which the concurred,

proved to me tliat my conclusion was no mere
hypothesis, but that it was confirmed by many bit-
ter and annoying experiences.



66 THE VATICAN BY TORCHLIGHT.
THE VATICAN TORCHLIGHT.

There is not in the wide world a spot that com-
prehends such an infinity and multiplicity of trea-
sures for the arts and sciences as the Vatican : it is
indeed the land of promise for artists and inquirers.
But as, since the birth of Christ, there has been no
exclusively elect land for religion, no exclusively
holy land, so neither is there for art and science.
Collections and academies have, it is true, often
assisted ; but often too have they impeded and
extinguished the most living life, the vital light.
In the collection, histor}' is made manifest, and his-
tory rightly understood begets at once wisdom and
inspiration, but whoso contents himself with looking
back never advances, and that nation which rests
upon its laurels throws out no shoots for new
wreaths.

In point of mass, Florence is far surpassed by the
Vatican ; but the latter can boast of no perfectly
beautiful woman, much less of a goddess, like the
Venus de Medici, or that of Melos, or the Diana in
Paris. The Vatican is richer in male figures ; but
most of them belong to a time when art had already
declined, and when, if not the technical handling,
at least the conception, had become less spirited.
In comparison with the works of Phidias, the
Meleager, Antinous, and the like, appear but mean ;
nay, one cannot admire even the Belvedere Apollo



THE VATICAN BY TORCHLIGHT. 67

with such enthusiasm as in Winkelmann's time.
Assuredly, a god surpassing, in point of art, the
Florentine Niobe and her children, must be a very
different one and altioris indaginis. Laocoon and
his sons show the highest that technical skill is ca-
pable of ; but the principle of the figures composing
the group approaches very near to that of Bernini
and of the artists who have painted martyrs. Here
are a great many heresies in a few lines ; but I
shall leave them, that I may not deprive the ortho-
dox of the pleasure of pronouncing my condem-
nation.

The consideration of the finest statues in the
Vatican by torchlight has a peculiar interest and
peculiar advantages. Night, the surrounding scene,
the half-lighted distant figures, those standing out
prominently in the full light, works illumined from
various sides, present to the eye unknown pheno-
mena, and excite the mind to new feelings. Some
gain, others lose, by this ordeal. Notwithstanding
the gratification of being permitted to witness it

through the kindness of , I could not help

thinking that it bore the same relation to the broad
daylight as our lamps, scenery, and theatrical
economy to the perfect plays, or the plays repre-
senting the perfect, acted by the Greeks in the day-
time. Niobe and her children would bear the broad
daylight upon a darker back-ground ; they would



68 THE VATICAN BY TORCHLIGHT.

need no aesthetic screen from sunshine or Hght. It
is not merely the pure love of art, but also a certain
piquant refinement that dictates this expedient of
torchlight.

I do not set up for a puritanical moralist, but yet
I could not divest myself of an idea of a different
kind. Our manners and customs, perhaps too an
original, inextinguishable feeling of modesty, com-
mand the covering of the naked. Art has very
properly not submitted unconditionally to this
practice, or pretended to find modesty and chastity
essentially in apparel. But it is certainly not con-
sistent if ladies draw in their feet, lest one should
see instep and ancle, if they consider it indecent
merely to mention hips and loins in their presence,
and then go and cause a whole host of naked men
to be lighted above and below and in the middle,
before and behind, and every thing to be explained
by the young gentlemen who accompany them with
aesthetic phrases and exclamations.



LETTER LXXVIII.

Rome — Illumination of St. Peter's — Fireworks at the Castle
of St. Angelo.

Rome, June 30th.

People say very frequently (with or without just
ground), 1 fancied that such or such a thing was



ILLUMINATION OF ST. PETER'S. 69

much grander and more splendid ! The illumina-
tion of St. Peter's on the 28th, and the fireworks at
the Castle of St. Angelo on the 29th, far surpass all
expectations, are unique in their kind, and are alone
worth a journey to Rome. Beyond this testimony
one cannot give any description of these visual won-
ders, for it would fall infinitely short of the spectacle
and convey no adequate idea of it. What I am about
to add in a few dry words aims not, therefore, by any
means at the impossible.

There were illuminated, 1, in double rows of
lamps, the upper margin of the great colonnade on
both sides of St. Peter's ; 2, the capitals of all the
pillars of the facade of the church, the architrave,
all the wmdows, and that portion which rises above
the architrave ; 3, the small cupolas ; 4, the great
cupola up to the cross. The illumination itself is
composed of two parts : in the first place, it consists
of an infinite multitude of lamps which stand behind
light paper screens, a contrivance that gives to the
softened light an astonishing, nay, a magic, effect.
Then with astonishing rapidity appear every where
blazing torches, a burst from the gentle piano to the
splendour of the most victorious fortissimo. All the
defects of the fayade disappear amidst this double
illumination, and the cupola displays its majesty
and magnitude in a wonderful manner. I saw it
from St. Peter's Place, from the bridge of St. An-



70 FIREWORKS.

gelo, and from Monte Pincio, and at all these dis-
tances the effect was grand, exquisite, incomparable.

I had concluded, and not without reason that,
compared with this light, the fireworks at the Castle
of St. Angelo must be but insignificant, and yet
they are neither less astonishing nor less unique in
their kind. I obtained an excellent place, directly
opposite, close to the river. At a given signal there
appeared in rapid succession a series of the most
diverse and most brilliant phenomena ; so that all
the fireworks I have ever seen were but trumpery
in comparison with them. Gigantic sheaves of
rockets, crackers, fireballs, serpents, in all direc-
tions ; wheels, stars, figures, and movements of the
most various kinds, cataracts formed of torrents of
fire, &c. Presently, from amidst all this, sprang
forth a spacious gothic cathedral (reminding you
of that of Orvieto), composed by enchantment of
fire of all colours ; next, perfect night and silence ;
new signs, new wonders ! In short, with these two
Romanye^^* no others are to be compared.

What took place in St. Peter's itself was like
what I had seen in the Lateran : ecclesiastics and
soldiers, church music and military music, pope,
cardinals, bishops, &c. A dragoon entangled him-
self in such a manner with his spurs in the robe of
a bishop, that they could scarcely extricate them-
selves — an emblem of the confusion between church



STATES OF THE CHURCH. 71

and state. At one place I was told by a soldier that
I must not go any further, on account of my great-
coat. At the same moment a couple of dogs dashed
past us into the sanctum sanctorum. It is true they
had only close coats on. In the lower church, richly
furnished witji historical and artistical monuments, I
tarried on this occasion but for a short time, doubly
fearful of taking cold and of malaria before my de-
parture.



LETTER LXXIX.

States of the Church — Government and People — Schools —
Universities.

Rome, June 20th.
You know that it has never been my intention to
collect something complete on the present state of
Italy, and to write a systematic book, but merely to
furnish supplementary information wherever there
appeared to me to be gaps, and when favourable
circumstances placed authentic particulars in my
hands. Least of all, need there any efforts of mine
where others have already exhausted a subject on
which all that I could say Avould be but unsatisfac-
tory. Thus, for instance, in regard to the State of
the Church, a work now in the press, entitled " Ro-
man Letters," is likely to fulfil every wish ; for
which reason I shall touch only on some points,



72 PAPAL GOVERNMENT.

rather for the purpose of making them clear to my-
self than to others.

In the first place, I hear immoderate praise and
frequently immoderate censure bestowed on the
present government, in regard not only to temporal
but also spiritual matters. The total separation of
the one from the other is then proposed as a remedy.
Indeed these two sides have so essential an influence
upon each other that, from the adoption of this pro-
posal, something quite new — better or worse — must
arise.

Supposing that such a complete separation were
to take place, and that the Ecclesiastical State were
to become a temporal dukedom, the greatest loss
might accrue on other sides from such a measure ;
and, in the first place, Rome would be transformed
from the capital of the Catholic world into the capi-
tal of a mere duchy. In a spiritual respect, the
change so strongly recommended must have still
worse consequences ; the pope, now independent,
would certainly fall into oppressive dependence on
some Catholic power, and the times of the Avignon
and Napoleon captivity would return. The Pro-
testant plan, which would set aside the pope alto-
gether, I leave quite out of the question, and re-
serve to myself the right of perhaps expressing
hereafter my unassuming opinion concerning the
connexion of church and state.



PAPAL GOVERNMENT. 73

This, however, is the proper place for noticing
another assertion which has been frequently ad-
vanced, namely, that, in the States of the Church,