The scenery is extremely diversified in the environs of Lyons, and in the city there is great appearance of wealth and splendour. Lyons flourished greatly during the time of the continental blockade, as it was the central depot of the commerce between France and Italy. Napoleon is much respected and regretted here, and with reason, as he was a great benefactor to this city. The Lyonnese are too frank, too open in their sentiments and too grateful not to render justice to his great talents and good qualities, while they blame and deplore his ambition. In fact an experience of a few days and some acquaintance I made here has given me a very favourable impression of the inhabitants of this city. The men are frank in their manners, polite, well informed, and free from all frivolity. The women are in general handsome, well shaped, and have much grace and are exceedingly well educated; they seem totally free from the _Pet.i.te-maitressism_ of the Parisian women, and both s.e.xes seem to possess a good deal of what the French term _caractere_. Had the Parisians resembled the Lyonnese, Paris would never have fallen twice into the hands of the enemy, nor would the Lyonnese women have welcomed the entry of the invaders into their city with waving handkerchiefs, etc. These qualities of the inhabitants, the beauty of the country, and the cheapness of all the comforts and luxuries of life, would make Lyons one of the most agreeable places of residence to a foreigner of liberal sentiments and principles.
Cloth and silk are the staple manufactures of Lyons, particularly the latter; I accompanied my friend Mr M---- to see his fabrique of silk which is of considerable extent and importance, and everything appeared to me, as far as one totally ignorant of the business and its process could judge, admirably regulated and rapid in its execution. The _tournure_ of the _grisettes_ of Lyons is very striking and they possess completely the _grata protervitas_, the _vultus nimium lubricus aspici_ which Horace so much admires in Glycera.
I visited both the theatres here, viz.: the _Grand Theatre_, situated near the _Hotel de Ville_, and the smaller one called the _Theatre des Celestins_. At the former was some good dancing, and at the latter I was engaged in a conversation which I cannot forbear citing as it will serve to show the dislike the people have to the feudal system and the dread they have of its re-establishment, tho" they can know nothing about it except by tradition. The piece performed was called _Le pet.i.t Poucet_ (Tom Thumb and the Ogre); but I missed my old acquaintance the Ogre and his seven-league boots of Mother Goose, and found that in this melodrama he was transformed into a tyrannical and capricious _Seigneur Feodal_. There was a very pretty young lady about 16 years of age accompanied by her father in the same box with me, and I observed to her, "Ou est donc l"Ogre? il parait que l"on en a fait un Seigneur feodal." "Oui, monsieur (she replied), et avec raison, car ils etaient bien les Ogres de ce temps la." I entered into a long conversation with my fair neighbour and found her well informed and well educated, with great good sense and knowledge of the world far beyond her years. She told me that she had begun to study English and that her father was a miniature painter. I took leave of her not without feeling much affected and my heart not a little "percosso dall" amoroso strale."
I must not forget to mention that there is a most s.p.a.cious and magnificent building on the _Quai du Rhone_ to the North of the bridge, which serves as a cafe and ridotto or a.s.sembly room for b.a.l.l.s, etc. I am afraid to say how many feet it has in length; but it is the most superb establishment of the kind I have ever met with.
Fortunately for the city of Lyons, the famous decree of Robespierre for its destruction, and the column with the inscription, "Lyon a porte les armes contre la liberte; Lyon n"est plus," which was to occupy its place, was never put in execution and tho" this city suffered much from revolutionary vandalism yet it soon recovered and has flourished ever since in a manner unheard of at any former period. No people are more sensible than the Lyonnese of the great benefits produced by the Revolution, and no people more deprecate a return to the _ancien regime_.
Oct. 2nd, GENEVA.
I started in the diligence for Geneva on the 28th Sept. and found it exceedingly cold on ascending the mountain called the _Cerdon_; the scenery is savage and wild, and the road in many parts is on the brink of precipices. We stopped at Nantua for supper and partook of some excellent trout. There is a large lake near the town, and "tis here that the Swiss landscape begins. Commanding a narrow pa.s.s stands the fort of L"Ecluse. The Austrians lost a great many men in attempting to force it. From this place you have a n.o.ble view of the Alps and Mont-Blanc towering above them. As this was the first time I beheld these celebrated mountains I was transported with delight and my mind was filled with a thousand cla.s.sical and historical recollections! The scenery, the whole way from Fort l"Ecluse to Geneva, is most magnificent and uncommonly varied. Mountain and valley, winter and summer, on the same territory. Descending, the city of Geneva opens gradually; you behold the lake Leman and the Rhone issuing from it.
We entered the city, which is fortified, and after crossing the double bridge across the Rhone, we arrived at the _Hotel de l"Eau de Geneve_ at 12 o"clock. The most striking thing in the city of Geneva to the traveller"s eye as he enters it, is the view of the arcades on each side of the street, excellent for pedestrians and for protection against sun and rain, but which give a heavy and gloomy appearance to the city. An immense number of watch-makers is another distinguishing feature in this city. The first thing shewn to me by my _valet de place_ was the house where Jean Jacques Rousseau was born; I then desired him to shew me the spot where that barbarian Calvin caused to be burnt the unhappy Servetus for not having the same religious opinions as himself.
The most agreeable promenades of the city are on the bastions and ramparts, a place called _La Treille_ and a garden or park of small extent called _Plain Palais_. In this park stands on a column the bust of J.J. Rousseau.
This park was the scene of a great deal of bloodshed in 1791 on account of political disputes between the aristocratic and democratic parties, or rather between the admirers and imitators of the French Revolution and those who dreaded such innovations. This affair excited so much horror, and the recollection of it operated so powerfully on the imagination of the inhabitants, that the place became entirely abandoned as a public promenade, and avoided as a polluted spot for many years. Very likely however a sort of l.u.s.tration has taken place; an oration was p.r.o.nounced and the place again declared worthy of contributing to the recreation of the inhabitants. It is now become the favourite promenade of the citizens of Geneva, tho" there are still some who cannot get over their old prejudices and never set their foot in it. There is likewise a pleasant walk as far as the town of Carrouge in Savoy, which town has been lately ceded by the King of Sardinia to the republic of Geneva. In Geneva the sentiments of the inhabitants do not seem to be favourable either to the French Revolution, or to Napoleon. Their political ideas accord very much with those professed by the government party in England, and they make a great parade of them just now, as a means of courting the favour of England and of the Allied Sovereigns. The government here have shewn a great disposition to second the views of the Allied Powers in persecuting those Frenchmen who have been proscribed by the Bourbon government.
This state lost its independence during the revolutionary wars and was incorporated with France. As the citizens were suspected of being more favourable to the English than suited the policy of the French government of that time, they were viewed with a jealous eye and I believe some individuals were harshly treated; but what most vexed and displeased them was the enforcement of the conscription among them, for the Genevois do not like compulsion; they are besides more pacific than war-like and tho" like the Dutch they have displayed great valour where their interest is at stake, yet Mercury is a deity far more in veneration among them than Bellona. The natural talent of this people is great, and it has been favoured and developed by the freedom of their inst.i.tutions; and this republic has produced too many eminent men for that talent to be called in question; they seem to have decided talents and dispositions for financial operations. A Genevois has the apt.i.tude of great application united to a very discerning, natural genius, and he generally succeeds in everything he undertakes. Literature is much cultivated here, and the females, who are in general handsome and graceful, excel not only in the various feminine accomplishments, such as music, dancing and drawing, but they carry their researches into the higher branches of litterature and science and acquire with great facility foreign languages. It is true that you now and then meet with a little pedantry on the part of the young men and some of the young women are _tant soit feu precieuses_; and you may guess from their conversation, which is sometimes forced, that the person who speaks has been learning his discourse by heart from some book in the morning, with the intention of sporting it as a natural conversation in the evening. In short, one does not meet with that _abandon_ in society that is to be met with in Paris; you must measure your words well to shine in a Genevese society. This, however, is a very pardonable sort of c.o.xcombry; and tho" it appear sometimes pedantic, and occasionally laughable, yet it tends to encourage learning and science, and compels the young men to read in order to shine and captivate the fair.
The Genevese women make excellent wives and mothers; and many strangers, struck with their beauty and talent, as well as with the _agremens_ of the country in general, marry at Geneva and settle themselves there for life.
It is observed that the Genevoises are so attached to their country that on forming a matrimonial connection with foreigners, they always stipulate that they shall not be removed from it. On the dismemberment of the Empire of Napoleon, Geneva was _agrege_ to the Helvetic Confederation, as an independent Canton of which there are now twenty-two. Three, viz. Geneva, Vaud, and Neufchatel, are French in language and manners. One, the Tessino, is Italian, and the remaining eighteen are all German. It is a great advantage to Geneva to belong to the Helvetic Confederacy, as formerly, when she was an isolated independent state, she was in continual dread of being swallowed up by one or other of her two powerful neighbours, France and the King of Sardinia, and only existed by their forbearance and mutual jealousy.
I walked out one morning to Ferney in order to visit the chateau of Voltaire and to do hommage to the memory of that great man, the benefactor of the human race. It was he who gave the mortal blow to superst.i.tion and to the power of the clergy. It is the fashion for priests, Ultras and Tories to rail against him, but I judge him by his works and the effect of his works. His memory is held in reverence by the inhabitants of Ferney as their father and benefactor. He spent his whole fortune in acts of the most disinterested charity; he saved entire families from ruin and portioned off many a young woman who was deprived of the gifts of fortune and enabled them to form happy matrimonial connections; in short, doing good seems to have been one of the most ardent pa.s.sions of his soul. In three memorable instances he shewed his hatred of cruelty and injustice, and unmasked triumphantly ecclesiastical imposture and fanaticism. He has been reproached with vanity, but surely that may be pardoned in a man who received the hommage of the whole literary world, who was considered as an oracle, and whose every sentence was recorded; whose talent was so universal, that he excelled in every branch of litterature that he undertook.
Ferney, which was only a miserable village when Voltaire first took up his residence there, is now a large flourishing and opulent town.
I found Voltaire"s Chateau occupied by a fat heavy Swiss Officer who was on duty there, Ferney being at this moment occupied by the troops of the Swiss confederation. He was at breakfast, but on my stating to him that I was come to see the apartments of Voltaire he directed the housekeeper to shew them to me. On the left hand side after ascending a flight of steps, before you come into the Chateau, is a Chapel built by Voltaire with this simple inscription: "_Deo erexit Voltaire_." In the apartment usually occupied by him for the purpose of composition, are preserved his chair, table, inkstand and bed as sacred relics; and in the Salon are to be seen the portraits of several public characters, his contemporaries, and which were constantly appended there in his life time. Among these portraits I distinguished those of Frederick the Great of Prussia, Catherine II of Russia, Lekain, Diderot, Alembert, Franklin, Helvetius, Marmontel and Washington, besides many others. There is nothing remarkable either in the Chateau, or in the gardens appertaining to it; but as it stands on an elevation, it commands a fine view, which is so well described in that ode which begins:
o maison d"Aristippe, o jardins d"Epicure!
I returned to Geneva and dined with my friend M. Picot the banker, who presented me to his brother"s family, which I found a very amiable one, and I was particularly delighted with his father, a fine venerable old man, who is a pastor of the Church of Geneva and a great admirer of our poets Thomson and Milton.
I have made acquaintance at the _Ecu de Geneve_ with a very gallant and accomplished officer, the Chevalier Zadera, a Pole by birth and a Colonel in the French army.[51] He had been on the staff of the Prince d"Eckmuhl at Hamburgh and had served previously in St Domingo, in Germany and in Italy.
He had just quitted the French service, having a great repugnance to serve under the Bourbon dynasty, and he is about to go to Italy on private business. He seems a very well informed man and well versed in French, Italian and German litterature. He also understands well to read and write English and speaks it, but not at all fluently. He acquired his English in the United States of America, whither he went when he escaped from the horrors of St Domingo. By the Americans he was received with open arms and unbounded hospitality as the compatriot of Pulaski who fell gloriously fighting in their cause, the cause of liberty, at the battle of Savannah.
He was liberally supplied with money by several individuals without the smallest expectation or chance of repayment at the time, and was forwarded in this manner from town to town and from state to state throughout the whole Union; so that the tour he made and the time he pa.s.sed in that land of liberty, he reckons as far the most agreeable epoch of his life. One evening at the _Ecu de Geneve_ I found Zadera in altercation on political subjects with two French Ultras who had been emigrants, a Genevois and a Bernois, both anti-liberal. This was fearful odds for poor Zadera to be alone against four _acharnes_. I sat down and espoused his cause and we maintained our argument gloriously. The dispute began on the occasion of Zadera condemning the harshness shewn by the government of Geneva towards the _Conventionnels_ and others who were banished from France on the second restoration of Louis XVIII by a vote of the _Chambre introuvable_ in refusing them an asylum in the Republic and compelling them to depart immediately in a very contumelious manner. I said it was inconsistent and unworthy of the Genevese who called themselves republicans to persecute or join in the persecution of the republicans of France in order to please foreign despots. The others then began to be very violent with me. I replied, "Messieurs, vous avez beau parler; les Genevois sont de tres bons cambistes et les meilleurs banquiers de l"Europe, mais il ne sont pas bons republicains."
Geneva has been so often described by tourists that I shall not attempt any description except to remark that there are several good Cabinets and collections of pictures belonging to individuals. There is a magnificent public library. The manufactures are those of watches and models of the Alps which are exceedingly ingenious. There are no theatrical amus.e.m.e.nts here; and during divine service on Sunday the gates of the city are shut, and neither ingress nor egress permitted; fortunately their liturgy (the Calvinistic) is at least one hour shorter than the Anglican. b.a.l.l.s and concerts take place here very often and the young Genevois of both s.e.xes are generally proficient in music. They amuse themselves too in summer with the "tir de l"arc" in common with all the Swiss Cantons.
October 3rd.
I have been in doubt whether I should go to Lausanne, return to Paris or extend my journey into Italy; but I have at length decided for the latter, as Zadera, who intends to start immediately for Milan, has offered me a place in his carriage _a frais communs_. I found him so agreeable a man and possessing sentiments so a.n.a.logous to my own that I eagerly embraced the offer, and we are to cross the Simplon, so that I shall behold a travel over that magnificent _chausee_ made by Napoleon"s orders, which I have so much desired to see and which everybody tells me is a most stupendous work and exceeding anything ever made by the Romans. As the Chevalier has served in Italy and was much _repandu_ in society there, I could not possibly have a pleasanter companion. He has with him Dante and Alfieri, and I have Gessner"s _Idylls_ and my constant travelling companion Ariosto, so that we shall have no loss for conversation, for when our native wits are exhausted, a page or two from any of the above authors will suggest innumerable ideas, anecdotes, and subjects of discourse.
MILAN, 10th Oct.
We started from Geneva at seven in the morning of the 4th October, and in half an hour entered the Savoyard territory, of which _douaniers_ with blue c.o.c.kades (the c.o.c.kade of the King of Sardinia) gave us intimation. The road is on the South side of the lake Leman. In Evian and Thonon, the two first villages we pa.s.sed thro", we do not find that _aisance_, comfort and cleanliness that is perceivable on the other side of the lake, in the delightful Canton de Vaud. The double yoke of priestcraft and military despotism presses hard upon the unhappy Savoyard and wrings from him his hard-earned pittance, while no people are better off than the Vaudois; yet the Savoyards are to the full as deserving of liberty as the Swiss. The Savoyard possesses honesty, fidelity and industry in a superior degree, and these qualities he seldom or ever loses, even when exposed to the temptations of a great metropolis like Paris, to which they are compelled to emigrate, as their own country is too poor to furnish the means of subsistence to all its population. When in Paris and other large cities, the Savoyards contrive, by the most indefatigable industry and incredible frugality, to return to their native village after a certain lapse of time, with a little fortune that is amply sufficient for their comfort. The poorest Savoyard in Paris never fails to remit something for the support of his parents. Both Voltaire and Rousseau have rendered justice to the good qualities of this honest people. It is a thousand pities that this country (Savoy) is not either incorporated with France, or made to form part of the Helvetic confederacy.
On pa.s.sing by La Meillerie we were reminded of "La nouvelle Heloise" and the words of St Preux: "Le rocher est escarpe: l"eau est profonde et je suis au desespoir." On the opposite side of the lake is to be seen the little white town of Clarens, the supposed residence of the divine Julie. A little beyond St Gingolph, which lies at the eastern extremity of the lake, we quit Savoy and enter into the Valais, which now forms, a component part of the Helvetic confederacy. German is the language spoken in the Valais.
As the high road into Italy pa.s.ses thro" the whole length of this Canton, Napoleon caused it to be separated from the Helvetic union and to form a Republic apart, with the ulterior view and which he afterwards carried into execution of annexing it to the French Empire. The Valais forms a long and exceedingly narrow valley, thro" the whole length of which the Rhone flows and falls into the lake Leman at St Gingolph. The breadth of this valley in its widest part is not more probably than 1,000 yards, and in most places considerably narrower, and it is enclosed on each side, or rather walled up by the immense mountains of the higher Alps which rise here very abruptly and seem to shut out this valley from the rest of the world. The high road runs nearly parallel to the course of the Rhone and is sometimes on one side of the river and sometimes on the other, communicating by bridges; from the sinuosity of the road and the different points of view presented by the salient and re-entering angles, of the mountains the scenery is extremely picturesque, grand and striking, and as sometimes no outlet presents itself to view, you do not perceive how you are ever to get out of this valley but by a stratagem similar to that of Sindbad in the Valley of Diamonds. At St Maurice is a remarkable one-arched bridge built by the Romans. We stopped at Martigny to pa.s.s the night; within one mile of Martigny and before arriving at it, we perceived the celebrated waterfall called the _p.i.s.sevache_; and the appellation, though coa.r.s.e, is perfectly applicable. From Martigny a bridle road branches off which leads across the Grand St Bernard to Aoste. The next morning we arrived at Sion, called in the language of the country Sitten, the metropolis of the Valais; it is a neat-looking and tolerably large town, and which from its position might be made a most formidable military post, as there is a steep hill close to it which rises abruptly from the centre of the valley, and commands an extensive view east and west. Works erected on this height would enfilade the whole road either way and totally obstruct the approach of an enemy.
There is besides a large castle on the southern _paroi_ of mountains which hem in this valley, which would expose to a most galling fire and take in flank completely those who should attempt to force the pa.s.sage whether coming from St Maurice or Brieg. We stopped two hours at Sion to mend a wheel and this gave me time to ascend the mountain on which the castle stands. There were several masons and workmen employed in the construction of a church which they are erecting at the request and entire expense of His Sardinian Majesty. I could not ascertain what were the reasons that induced the King to build a church in a foreign territory. I did not observe either on the road or in any of the village thro" which we pa.s.sed any striking specimen of Valaisan female beauty; but I often remarked the prominent bosom that Rousseau describes as frequent among them. We met with several _cretins_ or idiots, all of whom had _goitres_ in a greater or less degree. These _souls of G.o.d without sin_, as the cretins are called, are very merry souls; they always appear to be laughing. They seem to have adopted and united three systems of philosophy: they are Diogenes as to independence and neglect of decency and cleanliness; Democriti as to their disposition to laugh perpetually; and Aristippi inasmuch as they seem to be perfectly contented with their state. They are in general fat and well fed, for the poorest inhabitants give them something. They have a good deal of cunning, and many curious anecdotes are related of them which shews that they are endowed with a sort of sagacity resembling the instinct of animals. I recollect one myself mentioned by Zimmermann in his Essay on Solitude, of a cretin who was accustomed to imitate with his voice the sound of the village clock whenever it struck the hours and quarters; one day, by some accident, the clock stopped; yet the cretin went through the chimes of the hours and quarters with the same regularity as the clock would have done had it been going.
We arrived at night at the village of Brieg at the foot of the Simplon and put up at a very comfortable inn. Brieg and Glisse are two small villages lying within a quarter of a mile distance from each other. The direct road runs thro" Brieg and is a great advantage to this town; while Glisse lost this benefit from the opposition shewn by its inhabitants to the annexation of the Valais to the French Empire. They now deeply regret this refusal as few travellers chuse to stop at Glisse.
_Pa.s.sage of the Simplon_.
Chi mi dara la voce e le parole Convenienti a si n.o.bil soggetto?[52]
Who will vouchsafe me voice that shall ascend As high as I would raise my n.o.ble theme?
--Trans. W.S. ROSE.
How shall I describe the Simplon and the impressions that magnificent piece of work, the _chaussee_ across it, made on my mind? On arrival at the village of the Simplon, which lies at nearly the greatest elevation off the road and is more than half-way across, I wrote in my enthusiasm for the author of this gigantic work, the following lines:
O viaggiator, se avessi tu veduto Quel monte, pria che fosse il cammin fatto, Leveresti le mani, e stupefatto Diresti, "chi l"avrebbe mai creduto?
Son come quel d"Alcide i tuoi miracoli!
Vincesti, Napoleon", piu grandi ostacoli!"
Imagine a fine road or causeway broad enough for three carriages to go abreast, cut in the flanks of the mountains, winding along their contours, sometimes zigzag on the flank of one ravine, and sometimes turning off nearly at right angles to the flank of another; separated from each other by precipices of tremendous depth, and communicating by one-arched bridges of surprising boldness; besides stone bridges at each re-entering angle, to let pa.s.s off the water which flows from the innumerable cascades, which fall from the summits of the mountains. Ice and snow eternal on the various _pics_ or _aiguilles_ (as the summits are here called) which tower above your head, and yet in the midst of these _belles horreurs_ the road is so well constructed, so smooth, and the slope so gentle that when there are fogs, which often happen here and prevent you from beholding the surrounding scenery, you would suppose you were travelling on a plain the whole time. Bal.u.s.trades are affixed on the sides of the most abrupt precipices and b.u.t.tresses also in order to secure the exterior part of the _chaussee_. On the whole length of the _chaussee_ on the exterior side are conical stones of four feet in height at ten paces distant from each other, in order to mark the road in case of its being covered with snow. There are besides _maisons de refuge_ or cottages, at a distance of one league from each other, wherein are stationed persons to give a.s.sistance and food to travellers, or pa.s.sengers who may be detained by the snow storms. There is always in these cabins a plentiful supply of biscuit, cheese, salt and smoked meats, wine, brandy and fire-wood. In those parts of the road where the sides of the ravines are not sloping enough to admit of the road being cut along them, subterraneous galleries have been pierced through the rock, some of fifty, some of a hundred and more yards in length, and nearly as broad as the rest of the road. In a word it appears to me the grandest work imagined or made by man, and when combined with its extreme utility, far surpa.s.ses what is related of the Seven Wonders of the world. There are fifty-two bridges throughout the whole of this route, which begins at the distance of three miles from Geneva, skirts the southern sh.o.r.e of the lake, runs thro" the whole Valais, traverses the Simplon and issuing from the gorges of the mountains at Domo d"Ossola terminates at Rho in the Milanese.
From Brieg to the toll-house, the highest part of the road, the distance is about 18 miles. It made me dreadfully giddy to look down the various precipices; and what adds to the vertigo one feels is the deafening noise of the various waterfalls. As the road is cut zigzag, in many parts, you appear to preserve nearly the same distance from Brieg after three hours"
march, as after half an hour only, since you have that village continually under your eyes, nor do you lose sight of it till near the toll-house.
Brieg appears when viewed from various points of the road like the card-houses of children, the Valais like a slip of green baize, and the Rhone like a very narrow light blue ribband; and when at Brieg before you ascend you look up at the toll-house, you would suppose it impossible for any human being to arrive at such a height without the help of a balloon.
It reminded me of the castle of the enchanter in the _Orlando Furioso_, who keeps Ruggiero confined and who rides on the Hippogriff.
The village of the Simplon is a mile beyond the toll-house, descending. We stopped there for two hours to dine. A snow storm had fallen and the weather was exceedingly cold; the mountain air had sharpened our appet.i.te, but we could get nothing but fish and eggs as it was a _jour maigre_, and the Valaisans are rigid observers of the ordinances of the Catholic church.
We however, on a.s.suring the landlord that we were _militaires_, prevailed on him to let us have some ham and sausages. German is the language here.
The road from the toll-house to Domo d"Ossola (the first town at the foot of the mountain on the Italian side) is a descent, but the slope is as gentle as on the rest of the road. Fifteen miles beyond the village of the Simplon stands the village of Isella, which is the frontier town of the King of Sardinia, and where there is a rigorous _douane_, and ten miles further is Domo d"Ossola, where we arrived at seven in the evening. Between Isella and Domo d"Ossola the scenery becomes more and more romantic, varying at every step, cataracts falling on all sides, and three more galleries to pa.s.s. Domo d"Ossola appears a large and neat clean town, and we put up at a very good inn. At Isella begins the Italian language, or rather Piedmontese.
The next morning we proceeded on our journey till we reached Fariolo, which is on the northern extremity of the _Lago Maggiore_. The road from Domo d"Ossola thro" the villages of Ornava.s.so and Vagogna is thro" a fertile and picturesque valley, or rather gorge, of the mountain, narrow at first, but which gradually widens as you approach to the lake. The river Toso runs nearly in a parallel direction with the road. The air is much milder than in Switzerland, and you soon perceive the change of climate from its temperature, as well as from the appearance of the vines and mulberry trees and Indian corn called in this country _grano turco_.
At Fariolo, after breakfast, my friend Zadera took leave of me and embarked his carriage on the lake in order to proceed to Lugano; and I who was bound to Milan, having hired a cabriolet, proceeded to Arona, after stopping one hour to refresh the horses at Belgirate. The whole road from Fariolo to Arona is on the bank of the _Lago Maggiore_, and nothing can be more neat than the appearance of all these little towns which are solidly and handsomely built in the Italian taste.
Before I arrived at Arona, and at a distance of two miles from it, I stopped in order to ascend a height at a distance of one-eighth of a mile from the road to view the celebrated colossal statue in bronze of St Charles Borromaeus, which may be seen at a great distance. It is seventy cubits high, situated on a pedestal of twenty feet, to ascend which requires a ladder. You then enter between his legs, or rather the folds of his gown, and ascend a sort of staircase till you reach his head. There is something so striking in the appearance of this black gigantic figure when viewed from afar, and still more when you are at the foot of it, that you would suppose yourself living in the time of fairies and enchanters, and it strongly reminded me of the Arabian Nights, as if the statue were the work of some Genie or Peri; or as if it were some rebel Genius transformed into black marble by Solomon the great Prophet. I am not very well acquainted with the life and adventures of this Saint, but he was of the Borromean family, who are the most opulent proprietors of the Milanese. Every tract of land, palace, castle, farm in the environs of Arona seem to belong to them. If you ask whose estate is that? whose villa is that? whose castle is that? the answer is, to the Count Borromeo, who seems to be as universal a proprietor here as _Nong-tong-paw_ at Paris or _Monsieur Kaniferstane_ at Amsterdam.[53] Arona is a large, straggling but solidly built town, and presents nothing worth notice.
We proceeded on our journey the next morning. Shortly after leaving Arona, the road diverges from the lake and traverses a thick wood until it reaches the banks of the Tessino; on the other bank of which, communicating by means of a flying bridge, stands the town of Sesto Calende. The Tessino divides and forms the boundary between the Sardinian and Austrian territory, and Sesto Calende is the frontier of His Imperial, Royal and Apostolic Majesty. After a rigorous search of my portmanteau at the _Douane_, and exhibiting my pa.s.sport, I was allowed to proceed on my journey to Milan.
At Rho, where I stopped to dine, stands a remarkably ancient tree said to have been planted in the time of Augustus. The country presents a perfect plain, highly cultivated, all the way from Sesto to Milan. The _chaussee_ is broad and admirably well kept up and lined on both sides with poplars.
The roads in Lombardy are certainly the finest in Europe. I entered Milan by the gate which leads direct to the esplanade between the citadel and the city, and drove to the _Pension Suisse_, which is in a street close to the Cathedral and Ducal palace.
MILAN, 12 October.
I am just returned from the _Teatro della Scala_, renowned for its immense size: it certainly is the most stupendous theatre I ever beheld and even surpa.s.sed the expectation I had formed of it, so much so that I remained for some minutes lost in astonishment. I was much struck with the magnificence of the scenery and decorations. An _Opera_ and _Ballo_ are given every night, and the same are repeated for a month, when they are replaced by new ones. The boxes are all hired by the year by the different n.o.ble and opulent families, and in the _Parterre_ the price is only thirty soldi or sous, about fifteen pence English, for which you are fully as well regaled as at the _Grand Opera_ at Paris for three and a half francs and far better than at the Italian theatre in London for half a guinea. The opera I saw represented is called _L"Italiana in Algieri_, opera buffa, by Rossini.
The _Ballo_ was one of the most magnificent spectacles I ever beheld. The scenery and decorations are of the first cla.s.s and superior even to those of the _Grand Opera_ at Paris. The _Ballo_ was called _Il Cavaliere del Tempio_. The story is taken from an occurrence that formed an episode in the history of the Crusades and which has already furnished to Walter Scott the subject of a very pleasing ballad ent.i.tled the _Fire-King_, or _Count Albert and Fair Rosalie_. Battles of foot and horse with real horses, Christians and Moslems, dancing, incantations, excellent and very appropriate music leave nothing to be desired to the ravished spectator. In the _Ballo_ all is done in pantomime and the acting is perfect. The Italians seem to inherit from their ancestors the faculty of representing by dumb show the emotions of the mind as well as the gestures of the body, and in this they excel all other modern nations. The dancing is not quite so good as what one sees at the Paris theatre, and besides that sort of dancing they are very fond in Italy of grotesque dances which appear to me to be mere _tours de force_. But the decorations are magnificent, and the cost must be great.
It was a fine moonlight night on my return from the _Scala_, which gave a very pleasing effect to the _Duomo_ or Cathedral as I pa.s.sed by it. The innumerable aiguilles or spires of the most exquisite and delicate workmanship, tapering and terminating in points all newly whitened, gave such an appearance of airiness and lightness to this beautiful building that it looked more visionary than substantial, and as if a strong puff of wind would blow it away. The next morning I went to visit the Cathedral in detail. It stands in the place called _Piazza del Duomo_. On this _piazza_ stands also the Ducal Palace; the princ.i.p.al cafes and the most splendid shops are in the same _piazza_, which forms the morning lounge of Milan.