[Calabria; during a Military Residence of Three Years, &c. In a Series
of Letters, by a General Officer of the French Army, from the
original MS. London, Effingham Wilson, 1832.]
The Calabrias, which are divided into two provinces, citra and ultra,
occupy the extremity of the South of Italy, forming a peninsula one
hundred and seventy miles in length, and varying in breadth from seventy
to thirty-five miles. The beautiful Mediterranean sea flows round this
peninsula, and a chain of the Apennines intersects it. The summit of
these mountains is a vast platform called La Syla, which is admirable
for pasture, and well provided with farm-houses and villages. The plains
washed by the sea would be everywhere most fertile, but they have been
neglected, and permitted to become swamped and pestilentially unhealthy
in many places.
A little work has just been published, which contains some instructive
and amusing information with regard to this part of Italy. This work is
the translation of a French volume, entitled ‘Lettres sur les Calabres,
par un Officier Français,’ which was published at Paris some twelve or
thirteen years since. What the Author may have become we know not, but
when he wrote his Letters he was nothing more than a subaltern;--a
clever man, as his little book proves, yet still only a lieutenant of
the line. But the translator, or publisher, appears to consider that the
high-sounding additions of, “A General Officer of the French Army” and
“from the original MS.” are necessary to the success of the book in its
English dress. It is to be regretted that a volume which contains much
to inform and amuse should be introduced to the English reader with the
aid of such useless quackery; for the work is really valuable in itself,
and requires no such arts to recommend it.
During his three years’ residence, the Author of these Letters, which
were written on the spot, when the scenery and the romantic adventures
he was engaged in were fresh and full in his mind, traversed the
Calabrias several times in their whole extent, and in pursuit of
partisans and brigands climbed mountains and penetrated into wild glens
which for ages had probably never been visited except by the native
robber or huntsman. He saw and described all the great towns, and the
sites of the ancient cities of Magna Græcia; and his account of the
productions and curiosities, manners and customs of these provinces, is
full and most amusing. We subjoin two or three passages, describing the
physical character of the country and the manners of its people:--
“The climate of Calabria varies according to the character and elevation
of the soil, and is consequently favourable to all sorts of produce. In
the plains, sheltered against the north wind, there are found
sugar-canes, aloes, and date-trees; while the pine and birch cover the
tops of the mountains. The great variety and richness of the productions
of Calabria furnish an abundance of all the necessaries of life. It has
grain of every description; wines which might be rendered as good as
those of Spain and Languedoc, if the inhabitants had more intelligence
and industry; and olive oil in such profusion, that it is kept in vast
cisterns dug in the earth, or in the rock. Great quantities of silkworms
(and silkworms of the very best quality) are bred here, which, together
with the growth of cotton, form a considerable article of commerce. The
liquorice root grows without cultivation; and in the forests is found a
sort of manna, which is in great request. Immense droves of horned
cattle pass alternately from the rich grazing grounds of the Syla to the
aromatic pasture of the plains, where they remain during the winter.
Their flocks are as vast as their herds. Their breed of horses is hardy,
active, extremely swift, full of fire, and very numerous. And besides
these the Calabrians have the excellent mule, so necessary for a
mountainous country, and vast droves of the formidable buffalo, which
they tame and employ in labour like an ox. In all parts of Calabria
there is a great quantity of game of every description. The seacoasts
abound with fish: the sword-fish alone supplies food to a part of the
inhabitants during several months of the year, and the tunny forms a
lucrative branch of commerce.... All this ought to produce comfort and
opulence, but hardly any thing is met with but abject misery! Nature has
done every thing for the country, but for many ages the vices of the
government have marred its prosperity. The condition of the peasantry is
most wretched: there is a total want of emulation. The climate and the
soil do all the work. Productions of every kind are the spontaneous
gifts of nature without any aid from art and industry. With the
exception of a few cities, and some towns that are regularly built, all
the other inhabited places present the most miserable and disgusting
appearance: the whole interior of their houses is a mass of revolting
filth: the pigs live familiarly with the inmates.... These people have
no true principle of religion or morals. Like all ignorant masses, they
are superstitious to excess. The most atrocious brigand carries in his
bosom relics and images of saints, which he invokes at the very moment
he is committing the greatest enormities.... The Calabrians are capable
of being made excellent soldiers from their robust constitutions, their
sobriety, activity, and quickness. If these people, isolated as they are
from the rest of Europe, and entrenched behind impassable mountains,
were actuated by a pure spirit of patriotism, political and religious,
they would become invincible; and the country they inhabit might be
rendered a sure and safe asylum against tyranny.”
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POEMS. BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. London. Andrews, 1832.
Our reasons for noticing and recommending this volume to our readers are
manifold. It is beautiful in itself; it is written by an American; it is
one of the best specimens we have seen of the poetical genius of our
transatlantic brethren; it is edited by Washington Irving, the most
accomplished prose writer of America; and is by him dedicated or rather
addressed to Samuel Rogers, the author of the ‘Pleasures of Memory,’ and
who, at an advanced period of life, preserves all the generous glow of
youth for letters and for arts, and for every thing connected with the
intellectual improvement of mankind.
The exhibition of actual specimens of American taste and literature will
tend to counteract the mischievous effects of those caricatures of
American life and manners with which some authors have of late amused
the spleen and prejudice of the British public. It is important to
remove the illusion produced by writers of talent, who, professing to
delineate national peculiarities truly, exaggerate and misrepresent
them; regardless, and perhaps unconscious, that by using ridicule and
sarcasm on such subjects they are renewing antipathies which never had a
rational existence, and which years of friendly intercourse had almost
annihilated; and are detaching from us the sympathies of those who by
descent, community of free institutions (though differently modified),
and identity of language, must naturally be well disposed towards us.
“During an intimacy of some years’ standing,” says Washington Irving to
Samuel Rogers, “I have uniformly remarked a liberal interest on your
part in the rising character and fortunes of my country, and a kind
disposition to promote the success of American talent, whether engaged
in literature or the arts. I am induced, therefore, as a tribute of
gratitude, as well as a general testimonial of respect and friendship,
to lay before you the present volume, in which, for the first time, are
collected together the fugitive productions of one of our living poets,
whose writings are deservedly popular throughout the United States.”
This is all as it should be, in relation both to Mr. Rogers and his
friend. And we confess we augur most favourably of the taste of a
country, _throughout_ which, poetry so refined in sentiment, and so pure
in execution and ornament, as that contained in the volume before us,
enjoys popularity.
We began by recommending Mr. Bryant’s Poems. A perusal of the following
specimen, as well as of one or two that we have lately printed
separately, will justify our so doing, and there are many pieces in the
volume of equal originality and beauty. A warm admiration of the works
of nature, strong religious feeling towards the great Author of these
works, a singular happiness of description, and a power of clothing his
descriptions “with moral associations that make them speak to the
heart,” “an independent spirit, and the buoyant aspirations incident to
a youthful, a free, and a rising country[3],” are among the charming
characteristics of this American poet. We will only add, that the whole,
while written in a style elegant enough to please the most fastidious,
is simple and intelligible enough for the commonest reader.