ITALY. 



655 



domestic life of the English ; and if the Roman is not cheerful by temperament, he has little 

 in his circumstances to make him so. 



The relaxations of other nations make the business of the Romans. Poetry is their pursuit, 

 and their discourse is full of it. Every family has its versifier, with sonnets and epigrams for 

 every occasion ; and every circle has its improvisatore, or extemporaneous poet, who versifies 

 to a crowd of listening admirers. The epigram is now the chief outlet for the keen sarcasm 

 of the Romans. Speech is restricted, the press is bound, and even Pasquin and Marforio have 

 ceased to correspond ; but sharp epigrams, directed even against the authorities of the 

 church, circulate freely in society. In those squibs, which were so annoying to Napoleon, the 

 Romans excel. 



There are in Rome about 20,000 Jews, who are less strictly dealt with than in common 

 Catholic countries. They are, indeed, shut up at night in their own quarter, which is some- 

 what crowded ; but so little do they regard this, that when the restraint was once removed, 

 the elders requested to have it again imposed. The Jews are so devoted to traffic, that a 

 stranger is persecuted with invitations to enter their shops. They preserve, even here, in that 

 city which was the instrument of subverting their own, a remnant of national pride, and 

 none of their race have, for eighteen centuries, passed under the arch of Titus, which com- 

 memorates the destruction of Jerusalem. They pass the arch by a path at the side. Two 

 Jews make a part of some pageant of the church, in which they are exhibited as converts to 

 Christianity. Yet so hard is it to get new converts annually, tbat the Pope is sometimes com- 

 pelled to exhibit the same on several occasions. 



Society is not very accessible at Rome, and the Romans are not hospitable. They seldom 

 mvite strangers to entertainments ; their houses have little furniture, and their palaces are built 

 less for use than for show. Many of them are let for lodgings, and the proprietor occupies 

 some obscure corner. No court or vestibule is lighted, and all visiters at night carry a lantern. 

 In Rome, wherever the stranger visits, the servants of the house, who usher him in or out, or 

 take his hat and cloak, come, on the next day, for the standing vails established by custom, 

 or about three pauls each. In Bologna, all visits are made at the boxes of the theatres, 

 and this is the only city in Italy where young unmarried females are admitted to society a* 

 in England. 



None of the higher class in the Roman State, and few in all Italy, live in the country. AK 

 dwell in cities, and the peasants are deprived of the advantage which is always derived from 

 the residence of the landed proprietors. All the operations of agriculture are imperfect, and 

 all the implements rude. The very wine and oil are often spoiled from want of skill. Agricul- 

 ture is not the road to wealth ; it Is hardly a means of support ; and the peasants are generally 

 beggars. Rome, Naples, and the towns of the south, are infested with mendicants, whose dis- 

 tress is not always assumed, for in this country of fertility many are without food. The stairs 

 of palaces, the porticoes, and the churches are the lodgings of the miserable many who live on the 

 scanty avails of public charity. The poverty extends to all ranks ; and the traveler is solicited 

 to relieve the noble as well as the peasant. Veiled females kneel in the streets, holding out 

 their hands in supplication ; others cover their blushes with masks ; while the monks solicit for 

 the souls of the dead, the alms of which are forthwith applied to the comforts of the living. 



The inhabitants of the Neapolitan territory preserve the levity and cheerfulness of their 

 Greek ancestors ; and- they have a vehemence of character that seems suited to their volcanic 

 soil. All their pursuits, whether of pleasure, devotion, or gain, inspire them for the moment 

 with the ardor of a ruling passion. The Arnauts of Calabria are a fine race of men, hardy 

 and brave, but less cheerful than their countrymen of the plains. Naples is one of the gayest 

 cities in Europe, as Rome is one of the most gloomy. The climate is delicious ; and the 

 Neapolitans, with as few domestic tendencies as the Romans, and with a better climate than 

 that of Rome, live principally In the streets and squares, and on the quays. There, In the 

 open air, are the benches of mechanics, the fires of cooks, and the stages of mountebanks. 

 The streets swarm with crowds of all ranks, all active, yet all idle ; doing nothing, and yet sel- 

 dom at rest. Everything that is said or done has a spice of violence ; two people talking to- 

 gether gesticulate like madmen ; the little calashes are driven up hill and down, at full speed, 

 and a salesman announces his wares as fire is cried in more quiet cities. It is easy for a 

 stranger to see, that he is among a people much disposed to enjoy to-day at the expense of 

 to-morrow. In no other city are seen so many groups of the poorest rabble In boisterous merri- 



