654 



ITALY. 



habitants, like all mountaineers, are much attached to their country, and though many of them 

 wander over Europe with a hand-organ, a marmot, or a dancing-bear, they return, when after 

 many years their frugality has obtained a small sum, which is independence m their own indi- 

 gent country. In Louibardy, which has lor many years in the present century had more 

 freedom than the other States of Italy, the traces of it are found in liberal principles, a better 

 system of education, and a better organization of social life. Since the expulsion of the 

 French, the old distinction of classes has been somewhat revived ; the highest class is the no- 

 bility, but an equally respectable and intelligent one, the Citladini, was admitted by Napoleon, 

 at court. This class is composed of the liberal professions, the small-landed proprietors, &c., 

 and it embraces a great portion of the worth of Milan. 



The Tuscans are a gentle and kind people, and seldpm yield to violent impulses, like their 

 southern neighbors. They are, to a great degree, charitable ; and some of their benevolent 

 institutions have been in uninterrupted operation for 500 years. The Misericordia is a so- 

 ciety highly characteristic of the Tuscans, and is extended over all Tuscany. The members, 

 who are of all ranks, even the highest nobility, hold themselves ready, at the sound of their 

 bells, to assemble -or pui poses of charity. These are generally to remove the sick or wound- 

 ed to their hospitals, and to bury the dead. Each member has a loose robe, which covers him 

 entirely, and in which 2 holes are left for the eyes. These societies have large funds, which 

 they bestow in charity. The exertions of the associations have not been relaxed in several 

 plagues. The amiableness of the Tuscans is shown in the scarcity of crime, and dread of 

 capital punishments. There is not, for years, an execution ; and at the last, in Florence, the 

 city was deserted by half its inhabitants. Those, who could not go, crowded the churches, 

 and their appearance indicated a general calamity. The character of the people, the fine cli- 

 mate, and lively cities, make Tuscany the residence of many foreigners, who generally esteem 

 Florence the most delightful city of Italy. The society at Florence is intelligent and refined. 

 The nobility have lost much of their ancient wealth, acquired in commerce, and they hold it 

 to be derogatoiy to engage in commercial pursuits. Pride, however, is seldom consistent, and 

 they feel no shame, even princes, in selling wine and oil at retail, under the direction of their 

 stewards, in the cellars of their palaces. The signs, in this petty traffic, are broken oil-flasks, 

 hung at the window. 



At Rome, it has been said, that the greatest ruin is that of the national character. Certain 

 it is, that at Rome there are few Romans like Cato or Regulus. The few, who arrogate to 

 themselves the characteristics of the ancient Romans, are the Trasteverini, who live across the 

 Tiber. They are jealous, quarrelsome, and ferocious ; and more ready to shed blood on 

 slight provocations, than any others of their irritable countrymen. They call themselves Emi- 

 nenti, as all barbarians designate themselves by a term of superiority. The murders most 

 common in Rome, as in all Italy, are those which arise from sudden impulse, and are chiefly 

 confined to the lower classes, all of whom are easily heated by wine, though few are intem- 

 perate. Simond states the number of murders in Rome to be about one a day, but this com- 

 putation seems quite too large. There is little disposition in the people to arrest a murderer, 

 or indeed in any case to interfere to aid the execution of the laws. The churches and con- 

 vents are sanctuaries, and even the streets and squares in front of them. One murder is often 

 avenged by another, when it is not atoned for by a sum paid to the family of the deceased. 

 The murders are almost always committed with knives, the use of firearms being universally 

 considered atrocious. 



The Romans, generally, are the least cheerful of all the people of Italy, though at the Car- 

 nival their gayety is without bounds. It would seem, from their dispositions, that to live among 

 the wrecks of former greatness, has a depressing effect upon their spirits. On the many holy- 

 days that abound in the capital of the Catholic Church, the common people are seen listlessly 

 standing or sauntering about the streets, with no outward sign of cheerfiilness ; whereas, on 

 holydavs, or on all days, at Florence and Naples, the inhabitants seem to be animated by some 

 joyous impulse. But no extremes are more distant than the character at Rome and Naples. 

 But the Romans have much to depress them, besides the ruins of former greatness, which, in- 

 deed, make no part of their regrets. They are oppressed, pillaged, bound in ignorance, and 

 steeped In poverty. They live in a gloomy city, surrounded by a desert, and the malaria in- 

 vades their very dwellings. There is open to them no ennobling pursuit ; to talent there is 

 neither excitement nor reward. There are neither the amusements of the French, nor the 



