Bologna 263 



he spreads on his knees as he sat opening the greasy treasure for 

 those to eat out of his lap with their fingers, whose stomachs 

 could bear such a repast. Will an English reader believe that 

 there were persons present who submitted, without a murmur, 

 to such a voyage, and who were beyond the common mercantile 

 crews one meets with in a vetturini ? — some well dressed, with 

 an appearance and conversation that spoke nothing of the black- 

 guard. I draw conclusions operating strongly against the private 

 and domestic comforts of life from such public vehicles: this 

 is the only one for those who pass to and from Venice, Bologna, 

 Florence, Rome, and Naples, and of course must be exceedingly 

 frequented; and there are no voitures by land to rival it. If 

 these people were clean, decent, and comfortable at home is it 

 credible that they would submit to such a mode of travelling? 

 The contrast would shock them as it would Englishmen, who 

 would move heaven and earth to establish a better conveyance 

 at a higher price. The people who travel thus form the great 

 mass of a nation, if we except the poor; it is of little conse- 

 quence how the Cornari and the Morosini live; they live prob- 

 ably like great lords in other countries; but the public and 

 national prosperity is intimately connected with the comforts 

 and accommodation of the lower classes, which appear in Italy 

 to be, on comparison with England, miserably inferior. Their 

 excellencies, the aristocrats of Venice, do not tra^^el thus; and 

 as to the people, whether they go on their heads, in the mud, or 

 to the devil, is all one to the spirit of their government. For 

 myself I walked much of the journe}', and especially on the banks 

 of the Po, for the better view of that great river, now rendered 

 immense by the late dreadful floods which have deluged so 

 much of the country. Along the banks, which are high dykes, 

 raised many feet against its depredations, there are matted huts 

 at every 100 or 200 yards, with men stationed, called gttardia di 

 Po, ready to assemble with their tools at a moment's warning 

 in case of a breach; they have fires all night. Soldiers also make 

 the rounds night and day to see that the men are at their stations, 

 — and to give assistance if wanted. There is a known and curious 

 piece of roguery against which much of this caution is bent; the 

 mischief of a breach is so great that when the danger becomes 

 very imminent the farmers in the night cross the river in boats 

 in order to bore holes in the banks to enable the water the easier 

 to make a breach, that by giving it a direction contrary to that 

 of their own lands they may render themselves secure. For this 

 reason the guards permit no navigation, except by privileged 



