ITALY, 567 



ihe public government. With great taciturnity, they discover but 

 little reflection. They are rather vindictive than brave, and more 

 superstitious than devout. The middling ranks are attached to their 

 native customs, and seem to have no ideas of improvement. Their 

 fondness for greens, fruits, and vegetables of alt kinds, contributes 

 to iheir contentment and satisfaction ; and an Italian gentleman or 

 peasant can be luxurious at a very small expense. Though perhaps 

 all Italy does not contain many descendants of the ancient Romans, 

 yet the present inhabitants speak of themselves as successors of the 

 conquerors of the world, and look upon the rest of mankind with 

 contempt. 



The dress of the Italians is Jittle different from that of the neigh- 

 bouring countries, and they affect a medium between the French 

 volatility and the solemnity of the Spaniards. The Neapolitans are 

 commonly dressed in black, in compliment to the Spaniards. It 

 cannot be denied that the Italians excel in the fine arts : though they 

 make at present but a very inconsiderable figure in the sciences. 

 They cultivate and enjoy vocal music at a very dear rate, by emas- 

 culating their males when young ; to which their mercenary parents 

 agree without remorse. 



The Italians, the Venetians especially, have very little or no notion 

 of the impropriety of many customs that are considered as criminal 

 in other countries. Parents, rather than their sons should throw 

 themselves away by unsuitable marriages, or contract diseases by 

 promiscuous amours, hire mistresses for them, for a month, or a 

 year, or some determined time ; and concubinage, in many places of 

 Italy, is an avowed licensed trade. The Italian courtesans, or bona- 

 robax, as they are called, make a kind of profession in all their cities, 

 Masquerading and gaming, horse-races without riders, and conver- 

 sations or assemblies, are the chief diversons of the Italians, except- 

 ing religious exhibitions, in which they are pompous beyond all other; 

 nations 



A modern writer, describing his journey through Italy, gives us a 

 very unfavourable picture of the Italians and their manner of living*. 

 a Give what scope you please to your fancy," says he, " you will never 

 imagine half the disagreeableness that Italian beds, Italian cooks, 

 and Italian nastiness, offer to an Englishman. At Turin, Milan? 

 Venice, Rome, and perhaps two or three other towns, you meet with 

 good accommodations; but no words can express the wretchedness of 

 the other inns. No other beds than those of straw, with a mattress 

 of straw, and next to that a dirty sheet, sprinkled with water, and 

 consequently damp : for a covering, you have another sheet as coarse 

 as the first, like one of our kitchen jack-towels, with a dirty cover- 

 lid. The bedstead consists of four wooden forms or benches. An 

 English peer and peeress must lie in this manner, unless they carry 

 an upholsterer's shop with them. There are, by the bye, no such 

 things as curtains ; and in all their inns the walls are bare, and the 

 floor has never yet been washed since it was first laid. One of the 

 most indelicate customs here is, that men, and not women, make the 

 ladies beds, and would do every office of a maid-servant, if suffered. 

 They never scour their pewter; their knivesare of the same colour. 

 In these inns they make you pay largely, and send up ten times as 

 much as you can eat. The soup, like wash, with pieces of liver 

 swimming in it; a plate full of brains fried in the shape of fritters ; 

 a dish of livers and gizzards ; a couple of fowls (always .killed after 



