Rome.
You will not be surprised at my silence for some weeks past. On arriving
at a place where there are so many interesting objects as at Rome, we are
generally selfish enough to indulge our own curiosity very amply, before
we gratify that of our friends in any degree. My first care was to wait
on the Prince Guistiniani, for whom we had letters from Count Mahoni,
the Spanish ambassador at Vienna, to whose niece that Prince is married.
Nothing can exceed the politeness and attention the Prince and Princess
have shewn. He waited immediately on the D—— of H——, and insisted on
taking us, in his own carriage, to every house of distinction. Two
or three hours a day were spent in this ceremony. After being once
presented, no farther introduction or invitation is necessary.
Our mornings are generally spent in visiting the antiquities, and the
paintings in the palaces. On those occasions we are accompanied by Mr.
Byres, a gentleman of probity, knowledge, and real taste. We generally
pass two or three hours every evening at the conversazionis; I speak in
the plural number, for we are sometimes at several in the same evening.
It frequently happens, that three or four, or more, of the nobility,
have these assemblies at the same time; and almost all the company of a
certain rank in Rome make it a point, if they go to any, to go to all; so
that, although there is a great deal of bustle, and a continual change
of place, there is scarcely any change of company, or any variation
in the amusement, except what the change of place occasions: but this
circumstance alone is often found an useful accomplice in the murder of
a tedious evening; for when the company find no great amusement in one
place, they fly to another, in hopes they may be better entertained.
These hopes are generally disappointed; but that does not prevent them
from trying a third, and a fourth; and although to whatever length the
experiment is pushed, it always terminates in new disappointments,
yet, at last, the evening is dispatched; and, without this locomotive
resource, I have seen people in danger of dispatching themselves.
This bustle, and running about after objects which give no permanent
satisfaction, and without fully knowing whence we came, or whither we are
going, you’ll say, is a mighty silly business. It is so;—and, after all
the swelling importance that some people assume, Pray what is human life?
Having told you what five or six conversazionis are, I shall endeavour
to give you some idea what _one_ is. These assemblies are always in the
principal apartment of the palace, which is generally on the second,
but sometimes on the third floor. It is not always perfectly easy to
find this apartment, because it sometimes happens that the staircase is
very ill lighted. On entering the hall, where the footmen of the company
are assembled, your name is pronounced aloud, by some servants of the
family, and repeated by others, as you walk through several rooms. Those
whose names are not known, are announced by the general denomination of
i Cavalieri Forestieri, or Inglesi, as you pass through the different
rooms, till you come to that in which the company are assembled, where
you are received by the master or mistress of the house, who sits exactly
within the door for that purpose. Having made a short compliment there,
you mix with the company, which is sometimes so large, that none but
the ladies can have the conveniency of sitting. Notwithstanding the
great size and number of the rooms in the Italian palaces, it frequently
happens that the company are so pressed together, that you can with
difficulty move from one room to another. There always is a greater
number of men than women; no lady comes without a gentleman to hand
her. This gentleman, who acts the part of Cavaliero Servente, may be
her relation in any degree, or her lover, or both. It is allowed him to
be connected with her in any way but one—he must not be her husband.
Familiarities between man and wife are still connived at in this country
however, provided they are carried on in private; but for a man to be
seen hand in hand with his wife, in public, would not be tolerated.
At Cardinal Berni’s assembly, which is usually more crowded than any in
Rome, the company are served with coffee, lemonade, and iced confections
of various kinds; but this custom is not universal. In short, at a
conversatione, you have an opportunity of seeing a number of well-dressed
people, you speak a few words to those you are acquainted with, you
bow to the rest, and enjoy the happiness of being squeezed and pressed
among the best company in Rome. I do not know what more can be said of
these assemblies; only it may be necessary, to prevent mistakes, to add,
that a conversazione is a place where there is no conversation. They
break up about nine o’clock, all but a small select company, who are
invited to supper. But the present race of Romans are by no means so fond
of convivial entertainments, as their predecessors. The magnificence
of the Roman nobility displays itself now in other articles than the
luxuries of the table: they generally dine at home, in a very private
manner. Strangers are seldom invited to dinner, except by the foreign
ambassadors. The hospitality of Cardinal Bernis alone makes up for every
deficiency of that nature. There is no ambassador from the Court of Great
Britain at Rome, but the English feel no want of one. If the French
Cardinal had been instructed by his court to be peculiarly attentive to
them, he could not be more so than he is. Nothing can exceed the elegant
magnificence of his table, nor the splendid hospitality in which he
lives. Years have not impaired the wit and vivacity for which he was
distinguished in his youth; and no man could support the pretensions of
the French nation to superior politeness, better than their ambassador at
Rome.
There are no lamps lighted in the streets at night; and all Rome would
be in utter darkness, were it not for the candles, which the devotion of
individuals sometimes place before certain statues of the Virgin. Those
appear faintly glimmering at vast intervals, like stars in a cloudy
night. The lackeys carry dark lanthorns behind the carriages of people
of the first distinction. The Cardinals, and other Ecclesiastics, do not
choose to have their coaches seen before the door of every house they
visit. In the midst of this darkness, you will naturally conclude, that
amorous assignations in the streets are not unfrequent among the inferior
people. When a carriage, with a lanthorn behind it, accidentally comes
near a couple who do not wish to be known, one of them calls out, “Volti
la lanterna,” and is obeyed; the carriage passing without farther notice
being taken. Venus, as you know, has always been particularly respected
at Rome, on account of her amour with Anchises.
————Genus unde Latinum
Albanique patres, atque alta mœnia Romæ.
The Italians, in general, have a remarkable air of gravity, which they
preserve even when the subject of their conversation is gay. I observed
something of this at Venice, but I think it is much stronger at Rome. The
Roman ladies have a languor in their countenances, which promises as much
sensibility as the brisk look of the French; and, without the volubility
of the latter, or the frankness of the Venetian women, they seem no way
averse to form connections with strangers. The D—— of H—— was presented
to a beautiful young Lady at one of the assemblies. In the course of
conversation he happened to say, That he had heard she had been married
very lately. She answered, with precipitation, “Signor si—ma mio marito è
uno Vecchio.” She then added, shaking her head, and in a most affecting
tone of voice, “O santissima Virgine quanto è Vecchio!”