1826.] The Austrians in Ilaly. 169 



years ago, a very great majority, even of liberal and enlighteneil men, 

 regarded him very nearly as that monster of crime which it had so long 

 been the endeavours of our government to represent him. His strong 

 enmity and endeavours against England ; tlie injury which they for a 

 time occasioned us, and the narrow escape which we had from their 

 ultimate success, had, coupled with the natural effect of long years of 

 contention, heated our minds on this subject to a degree of absurdity, 

 to which we now can scarcely look back without astonishment. Napo- 

 leon himself was aware of this ; and repeatedly, in the conversations which 

 have been lately published to the world, he foretels, that as the English 

 become acquainted with the countries that were under his government, 

 their opinions of him will undergo a great change. Never was there a 

 prophecy so speedy in its accomplishment. Men who go abroad with all 

 the old feelings on this subject, return almost as staunch Napoleonists 

 as any ex-officer of the army of the Loire, and this, too, among men of 

 all parties. The Tories admire him for the energy, the strength, and 

 (under favour) the arbitrary haughtiness of his government. The 

 Liberaux are inclined towards him, as being " the child and champion 

 of. the revolution" — the sovereign chosen by the people, and above all 

 for his decided, enlightened, and expanded views and measures in every 

 thing not immediately affecting the interests of his individual power. In 

 commerce and statistics, his plans and institutions were to the utmost 

 degree broad, liberal, and unrestricted ; in the destruction of old abuses 

 and absurdities, retained either from corrupt interest or silly prescrip- 

 tion ; in the creation almost, rather than the establishment, of works and 

 measures of public utility and advancement, he made the friends of 

 liberty for a while overlook the despotism which the)' almost covered, if 

 they did not excuse. The more intimate knowledge, too, which we. 

 have lately acquired of his heart, as well as of his mind, and the^pecuHarj 

 miion of the milder affections with his gigantic genius, have' much; 

 attracted and softened every one with regard to him ; and in Italy, 

 above all, we are inclined to view his qualities with respect, and to look 

 but slightly on his failings. In Italy he had more scope for that vastness 

 and rapidity of improvement which in him were almost magical; in Italy 

 the advance of that improvement was less neutralized and checked by 

 the counteracting interests of the autocrat ; and, in Italy, above all, he 

 has been succeeded by a rule in contrast to his in every thing but its 

 being arbitrary ; blind and retrograde, bigotted and barren, it is the dark 

 ground which throws into brilliant relief the colossal figure of his genius.* 

 The bridge of Lodi is one of the thousand instances of the embellish- 

 ing and exalting power of moral associations upon ph3'sical objects. It 

 is a long, narrow, flat bridge, built of wood, with a balustrade resem- 

 bling a common railing. The stream is here of some width and conside- 

 rable rapidity, but neither in these nor in any other respects at all 

 peculiarly remarkable ; yet, who could walk along this bridge without 

 the loftiest and most stirring sensations ? To the inhabitant of a distant 

 country, the very feeling that he is at last on a spot stamped by fame, 

 whether of glory or of art, and of which he has heard during all his life — 

 this feeling in itself is much. But Lodi has deeper cause of ihterest than 

 attach to most celebrated spots ; still more to those celebrated only for 



* The Edit not hold himself responsible for these opinions. 



M. M. Nevi Series.— Woh. I. No. 2. Z 



