Is built up a steep hill, like Lansdown road at Bath; the buildings
not so regular; the prospect not inferior, but of a different kind,
resembling that one sees from Wrotham hill in Kent, but richer, and
presenting a variety beyond credibility, when it is premised that scarce
any water can be seen, and that the plains of Lombardy are low and flat:
within the eye however one may count all the original blessings bestowed
on humankind,--corn, wine, oil, and fruit;--the inclosures being small
too, and the trees _touffu_, as the French call it. No parterre was ever
more beautifully disposed than are the fields surveyed from the summit
of the hill, where stands the Marquis’s palace elegantly sheltered by a
still higher rising ground behind it, and commanding from every window
of its stately front a view of prodigious extent and almost unmatched
beauty: as the diversification of colouring reminds one of nothing but
the fine pavement at the Roman Pantheon, so curiously intersected are the
patches of grass and grain, flax and vines, arable and tilth, in this
happy disposition of earth and its most valuable products; while not a
hedge fails to afford perfume that fills the very air with fragrance,
from the sweet jessamine that, twisting through it, lends a weak support
to the wild grapes, which, dangling in clusters, invite ten thousand
birds of every European species I believe below the size of a pigeon.
Nor is the taking of these creatures by the _roccolo_ to be left out
from among the amusements of Brescian and Bergamasc nobility; nor is the
eating of them when taken to be despised: _beccaficos_ and _ortolans_
are here in high perfection; and it was from these northern districts of
Italy I trust that Vitellius, and all the classic gluttons of antiquity,
got their curious dishes of singing-bird pye, &c. The rich scent of
melons at every cottage door is another delicious proof of the climate’s
fertility and opulence,--
Where every sense is lost in every joy,
as Hughes expresses it; and where, in the delightful villa of our highly
accomplished acquaintance the Marquis of Aracieli, we have passed ten
days in all the pleasures which wit could invent, money purchase, or
friendship bestow. The last nobleman who resided here, father to the
present lord, was _cavalier servente_ to the immortal Clelia Borromæo,
whose virtues and varieties of excellence would fill a volume; nor can
there be a stronger proof of her uncommon, almost unequalled merit, than
the long-continued esteem of the famous Vallisnieri, whose writings on
natural history, particularly insects, are valued for their learning,
as their author was respected for his birth and talents. Letters from
him are still preserved in the family by Marchese Aracieli, and breathe
admiration of the conduct, beauty, and extensive knowledge possessed by
this worthy descendant of the Borromæan house; to whose incomparable
qualities his father’s steady attachment bore the truest testimony, while
the son still speaks of her death with tears, and delights in nothing
more than in paying just tribute to her memory. He shewed me this pretty
distich in her praise, made improviso by the celebrated philosopher
Vallisnieri:
Contemptrix sexus, omniscia Clelia sexum,
Illustrat studio, moribus, arte metro[44].
The Italians are exceedingly happy in the power of making verses
improviso, either in their _old_ or their _new_ language: we were
speaking the other day of the famous epigram in Ausonius;
Infelix Dido, nulli bene nupta marito,
Hoc moriente fugis, hoc fugiente peris[45].
Our equally noble and ingenious master of the house rendered it in
Italian thus immediately:
Misera Dido! fra i nuziali ardori,
L’un muore e fuggi--l’altro fuggi e mori.
This is more compressed and clever than that of Guarini _himself_ I think,
Oh fortunata Dido!
Mal fornita d’amante e di marito,
Ti fu quel traditor, l’altro tradito;
Mori l’úno e fuggisti,
Fuggi l’altro e moristi.
Though this latter has been preserved with many deserved eulogiums from
Crescembini, and likewise by Mr. de Chevreau.
Could I clear my head of prejudice for such talents as I find here, and
my heart of partial regard, which is in reality but grateful friendship,
justly due from me for so many favours received; could I forget that we
are now once more in the state of Venice, where every thing assumes an
air of cheerfulness unknown to other places, I might perhaps perceive
that the fair at Bergamo differs little from a fair in England, except
that these cattle are whiter and ours larger. _How a score of good ewes
now?_ as Master Shallow says; but I really did ask the price of a pair
of good strong oxen for work, and heard it was ten zecchines; about
half the price given at Blackwater, but ours are stouter, and capable
of rougher service. It is strange to me where these creatures are kept
all the rest of the year, for except at fair time one very seldom sees
them, unless in actual employment of carting, ploughing, &c. Nothing
is so little animated by the sight of living creatures as an Italian
prospect. No sheep upon their hills, no cattle grazing in their meadows,
no water-fowl, swans, ducks, &c. upon their lakes; and when you leave
Lombardy, no birds flying in the air, save only from time to time betwixt
Florence and Bologna, a solitary kite soaring over the surly Appenines,
and breaking the immense void which fatigues the eye; a ragged lad or
wench too now and then leading a lean cow to pick among the hedges, has a
melancholy appearance, the more so as it is always fast held by a string,
and struggles in vain to get loose. These however are only consequences
of luxuriant plenty, for where the farmer makes four harvests of his
grass, and every other speck of ground is profitably covered with grain,
vines, &c. all possibility of open pasturage is precluded. Horses too,
so ornamental in an English landscape, will never be seen loose in an
Italian one, as they are all _chevaux entiers_, and cannot be trusted in
troops together as ours are, even if there was ground uninclosed for them
to graze on, like the common lands in Great Britain. A nobleman’s park is
another object never to be seen or expected in a country, where people
would really be deserving much blame did they retain in their hands for
mere amusement ten or twelve miles circuit of earth, capable to produce
two or three thousand pounds a-year profit to their families, beside
making many tenants rich and happy in the mean time. I will confess,
however, that the absence of all these _agrèmens_ gives a flatness and
uniformity to the views which we cannot complain of in England; but
when Italians consider the cause, they will have reason to be satisfied
with the effect, especially while vegetable nature flourishes in full
perfection, while every step crushes out perfume from the trodden herbs,
and those in the hedges dispense with delightful liberality a fragrance
that enchants one. Hops and pyracanthus cover the sides of every cottage;
and the scent of truffles attracts, and the odour of melons gratifies
one’s nerves, when driving among the habitations of fertile Lombardy.
The old church here of mingled Gothic and Grecian architecture pleased
me exceedingly, it sends one back to old times so, and shews one the
progress of _barbarism_, rapid and gigantic in its strides, to overturn,
confound, and destroy what taste was left in the world at the moment of
its _onset_. Here is a picture of the Israelites passing over the Red
Sea, which Luca Giordano, contrary to his usual custom, seems to have
taken pains with, a rarity of course; and here are some single figures
of the prophets, heroes, and judges of the Old Testament, painted with
prodigious spirit indeed, by Ciro Ferri. That which struck me as most
capital, was Gideon wringing the dew out of the fleece, full of character
and glowing with expression.
The theatre has fallen down, but they are building it up again with a
nicety of proportion that will ensure it from falling any more. Italians
cannot live without a theatre; they have erected a temporary one to
serve during the fair time, and even that is beautiful. The Terzetto of
charming Guglielmi was sung last night; I liked it still better than
when we heard it performed by singers of more established reputation at
St. Carlo; but then I like every thing at Bergamo, till it comes to the
thunder storms, which are far more innoxious here than at Naples or in
Tuscany.
We could contemplate electricity from this fine hill yesterday with
great composure, being amused with her caprices and not endangered by
her anger. There has however been a fierce tempest in the neighbourhood,
which has greatly lowered the spirits of the farmer; and we have been
told another tale, that lowers mine much more as an Englishwoman,
because the people of this town complain of strange failure in their
accustomed orders for silk from England, and the foreigners make
disgraceful conjectures about our commerce, in consequence of that
failure.
Here is a report prevailing too, of King George III. being assassinated,
which, though we all know to be false, fails not to produce much
unpleasing talk. Were the Londoners aware of the diffusion of their
newspapers, and the strange ideas taken up by foreigners about things
which pass by _us_ like a day dream, I think more caution would be
used, and characters less lightly hung up to infamy or ridicule, on
which those very prints mean not to bestow so lasting or severe a
punishment, as their ill word produces at a distance from home, whither
the contradiction often misses though the report arrives, and mischief,
originally little intended, becomes the fatal consequence of a joke. But
it is time to return to