ITALY. 



379 



prayers at the throne of mercy."" Xo country ex- 

 ' hibit-, more splendid examples of public benevolence, 

 or furnishes more affecting instances of private charity 

 than Italy ; and, " whoever has visited and examined 

 in detail the hospitals of Rome, Naples, Genoa, Venice, 

 and Milan, will readily admit that Italy has the ho- 

 nourable advantage of surpassing all the kingdoms of 

 Europe in the number and magnificence of her cha- 

 ritable foundations."" In many of them the sick are 

 attended, and the ignorant instructed, by persons who 

 devote themselves voluntarily to that disgusting and 

 laborious task, and perform it with a tenderness and a 

 delicacy, which personal attachment, or the still more 

 active and disinterested principle of Christian charity 

 is alone incapable of inspiring." There are also bene- 

 volent institutions, confraternities or sodalities, " funn- 

 ed by the voluntary agreement of a certain number of 

 charitable persona, who unite together, in order to re- 

 lieve more effectually some particular species of dis- 

 tress;" so that every want, and every misfortune, are 

 certain of meeting with corresponding assistance from 

 , some band or other of generous brethren." " In the 

 T. vast tract of country included betweei; the Alps and 

 the Appenines, and subject to the visitation of the Ar- 

 chiepucopal See. of Milan, in every parochial church 

 the bell tolls at two o'clock on every Sunday in tlic 

 year, and all the youth of the parish assemble in the 

 church ; the girls are placed on one side, the boys on 

 the other. They are then divided into classes, accord- 

 ing to their ages and their progress, and instructed 

 either by the clergy attached to the church, or by 

 pious persons who voluntarily devote their time to 

 this most useful employment. In other parts of Italy, 

 the children are catechised regularly, and almost inva- 

 riably in the parish church by their pastor." The 

 Italian common people are, to say the least, full as 

 well acquainted with the truths, the duties, and the 

 motives of religion, as the same class in England ; and 

 instances of very gross ignorance seldom occur, unless 

 in the superabundant population of great towns, and 

 of overgrown capital*." Translations of the Bible, 

 " when considered a* tolerably accurate, are allowed, 

 and encouraged ; and an Italian translation exists, pen- 

 ned with great **g" 1 "'*. and recommended to public 

 .perusal by no leas than Papal authority." " The pea- 

 *l]fc. santry of the north of Italy, were, previous to the 

 French invasion, universally taught to read and write ; 

 and equal in point of information to the peasantry of 

 the most flourishing countries in Europe." " The 

 middling classes are generally very well acquainted 

 with every thing that regards their duty, the object of 

 their ftutnmum, and their respective interests." " But 

 even where the ordinary share of information is want- 

 ing, the deficiency is not so perceptible as in more nor- 

 thern countries. The Italian is acute and observing. 

 These two Qualities united, supply in some degree the 

 place of reading ; and give his conversation more life, 

 more sense, and more interest, than are to be found in 

 the discourse of transalpine* of much better education." 

 ' The Italian nobility have always distinguished them- 

 selves by cultivating and encouraging the arts and 

 ciencea. Many, or rather roost of the Italian acade- 

 mies were founded by gentlemen, and are still com- 

 posed principally of members of that class. The Ita- 

 lian nobility has produced more authors, even in our 

 i days, than the same class has ever yet done in any 

 itry. Moreover, a taste for the fine arts, sculpture, 

 Jtmg, architecture, music, is almost innate in the 

 y a taste scarcely separable from an ac 



quaintance with the two great sources of information, Statistics. 

 antiquities and history." " To accuse the Italians of """" ~~' 

 cowardice, is to belie their whole history. Even in the ( - ours 8 e- 

 late invasion, the peasantry themselves, in some parts 

 of the Neapolitan, and particularly of the Roman state, 

 made a bold and generous, though ineffectual resist- 

 ance. Not courage, therefore, but the motives which 

 call it forth, and the means which give it effect, that 

 Is, discipline, hope, interest, &c. are wanting to the 

 Italians." " In many of the great towns, due respect Moral*. 

 is not paid to the matrimonial contract, especially in 

 Venice and Naples, where cicesbeism exists in all its 

 profligacy among the higher classes ; but the middling 

 classes and the peasantry are in Italy as chaste as per- 

 sons of the same description in any, and more chaste 

 than they are in many countries." ' The industry also 

 of the Italian peasantry may be traced over every plain, 

 and discovered on almost every mountain, from the 

 Alps to the Straits of Messina." " They obey the call 

 of nature in reposing during the sultry hours, when 

 labour is dangerous and the heat is intolerable;" but 

 " to compensate for this suspension, they begin their 

 labours with the dawn, and prolong them till the close 

 of evening j so that the Italian sleeps less and labours 

 more in the twenty-four hours than the English pea- 

 sant." " The Italian is neither vindictive nor cruel ; he 

 is hasty and passionate." " An unexpected insult, a 

 hasty word, occasion a quarrel ; both parties lose their 

 temper: daggers are drawn, and a mortal blow is 

 given: the whole transaction is over so soon, that the 

 by-standers have scarce time to notice it, much less to 

 prevent it The deed is considered, not as the effect 

 of deliberate malice, but of an involuntary and irre- 

 sistible impulse; and the perpetrator, generally re- 

 pentant and horror-struck nt his own madness, is pitied 

 and allowed to fly to some forest or fastness. Yet the 

 remedy is easy and obvious; a prohibition under the 

 severest penally to carry arms of any description. This 

 remedy has been applied with full success by the French, 

 while masters of the south ; and by the Austrian?. 

 while in possession of the north of Italy." " But ac- 

 tual murder and deliberate assassination is very uncom- 

 mon among them ;" and " even robberies are rarely 

 met with at present" 



Gaoentmenti. 



No country has exhibited more various forms of go- Govem- 

 vernment, or given birth to more powerful empires and menu. 

 flourishing republics, than Italy : " Gravidam imperils, 

 belloque frementcm." From the 10th to the 17th cen- 

 tury, the greater cities rose into independence and re- 

 publics ; and their history is not inferior to those of 

 Greece, in the virtues which the members of such 

 states usually display. The smaller republics have in la- 

 ter times been annexed to the more powerful. Florence, 

 Pisa, and Scienna have been enslaved by their Dukes ; 

 but enjoyed a considerable portion of tranquillity and 

 property previous to the French revolution. The mo- 

 dern Italians are by no means deficient either in the 

 love of liberty, or the feelings of patriotism ; but their 

 country is too much subdivided, and by the intrigues 

 and influence of foreign powers, kept in a state ot too 

 great dissension, to allow its inhabitants any opportu- 

 nity of exerting their natural magnanimity, and avail- 

 ing themselves of their natural advantages as one peo- 

 ple. The political arrangements of the northern states 

 and principalities, and the re-establishment of the Nea- 

 politan and Ecclesiastical governments, have been al- 



