Audience of leave with the Grand Duke.--Journey to
Leghorn.--Commercial Towns and Capital.--Warehouse for Statuary.--The
Port.--Voyage to Naples in a Genoese Felucca.--Elba.--A Mediterranean
Quarantine.--Porto Ferrajo.--Napoleon and his House.--A
Tarantula.--Island of Troas.--Cività Vecchia.--A lovely night scene
off the Campagna.--The Pontine Marshes.--Gulf of Gaeta.--Bay of
Naples.
The time for quitting Florence having arrived, I wrote to ask an
audience of leave of the royal family. The answer was favourable, the
grand duke naming the following morning at the Pitti, and the grand
duchess an hour a little later at the Poggio Imperiale, a palace just
without the walls, and in the immediate vicinity of St. Illario.
Ten was the hour at which I presented myself at the Pitti, in an
ordinary morning-dress, wearing shoes instead of boots. I was
shown into an ante-chamber, where I was desired to take a seat. A
servant soon after passed through the room with a salver, bearing a
chocolate-cup and a bit of toast, a proof that his imperial highness
had just been making a light breakfast. I was then told that the grand
duke would receive me.
The door opened on a large room, shaped like a parallelogram, which had
the appearance of a private library, or cabinet. There were tables,
books, maps, drawings, and all the appliances of work. The library of
the palace, however, is in another part of the edifice, and contains
many thousand volumes, among which are some that are very precious, and
their disposition is one of the most convenient, though not the most
imposing as to show, of any library I know.
The grand duke was standing alone at the upper end of a long table
that was covered by some drawings and plans of the _Maremme_, a part
of his territories in reclaiming which he is said to be just now
much occupied. As I entered, he advanced and gave me a very civil
reception. I paid my compliments, and made an offering of a book which
I had caused to be printed in Florence. This he accepted with great
politeness; and then he told me, in the simplest manner, that “his
wife” was so ill, she could not see me that morning. I had a book for
her imperial highness also, and he said it might be left at the Poggio
Imperiale.
As soon as these little matters were disposed of, the grand duke walked
to a small round table, in a corner, near which stood two chairs,
and, requesting me to take one, he seated himself in the other, when
he began a conversation that lasted near an hour. The prince was,
as before, very curious on the subject of America, going over again
some of the old topics. He spoke of Washington with great respect,
and evidently felt no hostility to him on account of his political
career. Indeed, I could not trace in the conversation of the prince the
slightest evidence of a harsh feeling, distrust, or jealousy towards
America; but, on the other hand, I thought he was disposed to view us
kindly,--a thing so unusual among political men in Europe as to be
worthy of mention. He left on my mind, at this interview, the same
impression of simplicity and integrity of feeling as at the other.
He observed that fewer Americans travelled now than formerly, he
believed. So far from this, I told him, the number had greatly
increased within the last few years. “I used to see a good many,” he
answered, “but now I see but few.” I was obliged to tell him, what
is the truth,--that most of those who came to Europe knew little of
courts, that they did not give themselves time to see more than the
commoner sights, and that they were but indifferent courtiers. He spoke
highly of our ships, several of which he had seen at Leghorn, and on
board of one or two of which he had actually been.
I found him better informed than usual on the subject of our history;
though, of course, many of his notions had the usual European
vagueness. He seemed aware, for instance, of the great difficulty
with which we had to contend in the revolution, for the want of the
commonest munitions of war, such as arms and powder. He related an
anecdote of Washington connected with this subject, with a feeling and
spirit that showed his sympathies were on the right side of that great
question, on whichever side his policy might have been.
We had some conversation on the subject of the discovery of America,
and I took the occasion to compliment him on there having been a
Florentine concerned in that great enterprise;[6] but he did not seem
disposed to rob Columbus of any glory on account of his own countryman,
though he admitted that the circumstance in a degree connected his own
town with the event.
At length he rose, and I took my leave of him, after thanking him for
the facilities that had been afforded me in Tuscany. When we separated,
he went quietly to his maps; and as I turned at the door to make a
parting salute, I found his eyes on the paper, as if he expected no
such ceremony.
Two or three days from this interview, we got into our carriages, after
dinner, and went down the valley of the Arno at night, to avoid the
intense heat of the days, which, Americans, as we were, completely
overcame us all. We reached the gates of Pisa just as the sun rose, and
stopped a few hours to see the curiosities.
By twelve we were completely melted with the heat, and were glad
to get into our comfortable seats in the carriages again: I say,
carriages, for I had hired an extra conveyance at Florence, our little
flock having increased too much in size, though not in numbers, to be
conveniently put into one, as formerly.
We were all in our corners, half sleeping, half waking, when, about
five miles from Leghorn, the whole party revived as suddenly as people
awake from a doze. We had passed into the current of the sea air,
and it acted on our spirits like a bath. I have known these veins of
invigorating humidity drawn along the coast almost as accurately as the
sands, so that one did not feel them two hundred feet from the water;
but on this occasion we met the salt air at least a mile from the sea,
though I never knew the effect greater or more sudden. Even the horses
appeared to feel it, for they began to trot merrily, and soon brought
us to the door of the Locanda San Marco.
The honest Scotchman who keeps this inn gave us a large airy apartment,
whose windows overlook both the sea and the mountains; two objects at
which I never tire of gazing. As for the rest of the party, to whom the
Mediterranean was entirely new, they had eyes for nothing else; and
really, for those who had now passed years excluded from any sea finer
than the North Sea, the bright glittering blue expanse was an object
to be gazed at. To this was to be added the luxury of Italian rooms at
the commencement of August; and, taking all together, I do not remember
a happier party than we were for the two or three days we remained in
this inn.
I have frequently spoken of the difference between commercial towns
and capitals; a distinction that you, who never saw any other than
towns of the former class, will not readily comprehend, but which it
is essential to know in order to understand Europe. I had the same
embarrassment on first coming to this hemisphere, for it is quite
common here to speak of our towns as being _purely commercial_. A
short experience, however, has shown me so much, that there is nothing
I now perceive sooner, or which strikes me with greater force, than
the peculiarities of these places that are entirely devoted to trade.
If you ask me what these peculiarities are beyond the outward signs
of commerce, I shall answer, a certain absence of taste, a want of
leisure and of tone; a substitution of bustle for elegance, care
for enjoyment, and show for refinement. Leghorn and Marseilles have
betrayed these visible signs of their pursuits more particularly
after a long residence in Florence; though neither of these towns
is so obnoxious to the charge as any one of our own large maritime
towns. I think, however, that all our own great towns, while they are
unquestionably provincial, as any one will allow who has lived in a
real capital, have also many of the distinctive marks of the better
towns of Europe that these have not. When a European speaks of New York
as a provincial town, notwithstanding, defer to his greater experience
(unless he happen to be cockney;) for, rely on it, such is peculiarly
the character and appearance of your Gotham.
Walking through the streets of Leghorn, a shop filled with statuary,
Venuses, Apollos, and Bacchantes, caught my eye, and I had the
curiosity to enter. If I was struck with admiration on first visiting
the tribune of the gallery of Florence, I was still more so here.
On inquiry, I found that this was a warehouse that sent its goods
principally to the English and American markets: I dare say Russia,
too, may come in for a share. Where the things were made I do not
know, though probably at Carrara; for I question if any man would have
the impudence to display such objects in the immediate vicinity of
the collections that contain the originals. Grosser caricatures were
never fabricated: attenuated Nymphs and Venuses, clumsy Herculeses,
hobbledehoy Apollos, and grinning Fauns, composed the treasures.
The quantity of the stuff had evidently been consulted, and, I dare
say, the Medicean beauty has lost many a charm for the want of more
marble. The day after our arrival, we were refreshed with a delightful
sea-breeze; a luxury, after being heated in Florence from April to
August, that must be enjoyed to be appreciated. I can only liken
Philadelphia to the latter town in this respect. On visiting the port,
I found only one American, though three lay in the roads. Time was,
when thirty would have been a trifle. There were ten Englishmen behind
the mole, and a good many Sardinians lay scattered about the harbour.
Of Tuscans there were but few, and these all small. Three Russians
were laid up on account of the war with Turkey! They were fine-looking
ships, however. Rowing under the bows of the Yankee, I found one of his
people seated on the windlass, playing on the flute; as cool an act of
impudence as can well be imagined for a Massachusetts-man to practise
in Italy.
I inquired for a conveyance to Naples, and the result was my engaging
a Genoese felucca, for one hundred francesconi, for my own exclusive
use. This vessel was about thirty tons burthen, and of beautiful mould.
She was decked, and had a hold, but no cabin. In lieu of the latter,
the quarter-deck, with the exception of a small space aft for the play
of the tiller, &c. and a narrow gangway on each side, was covered with
a painted tarpaulin, having a rounded roof like the tilt of a waggon,
stretched on large hoops: the space beneath was sufficiently large,
and as the covering was ample, and high enough to walk under, it gave
us a room far preferable to one below. She was latine-rigged, carrying
two sails of that description, and a jib. This little craft had a
complement of ten men! I have myself been one of eleven hands, officers
included, to navigate a ship of near three hundred tons across the
Atlantic Ocean; and, what is more, we often reefed topsails with the
watch.[7]
Having engaged the felucca, we passed another day in gazing at the hazy
Apennines, whose lights and shadows, particularly the noble piles that
buttress the coast to the northward, rendered them pictures to study;
and in driving along the low land that lies between the sea and Monte
Nero, where we fairly rioted in the pleasures of the cool breezes. But
the entire northern shore of this luxurious sea, in summer, is one
scene of magnificent nature, relieved by a bewitching softness, such as
perhaps no other portion of the globe can equal. I can best liken it to
an extremely fine woman, whose stateliness and beauty are relieved by
the eloquent and speaking expression of feminine sentiment.
The next day, at noon, we embarked, and took possession of our new
lodgings. The wheels had been taken from the carriage, and the body
of the vehicle was placed athwart the deck, so as to form a forward
bulk-head. W---- had the interior for a state-room. Roberto was put
into the hold. There were tarpaulin curtains at both extremities of the
tilt, and by the aid of a few counterpanes we subdivided the interior
as much as was necessary. Each person had a mattress at night, which
pretty well covered the deck; while, piled on each other, they made
comfortable sofas during the day. A table, eight or ten chairs, with
a few trunks and stools, completed the furniture. Of course, we had
the necessary articles of nourishment and refreshment, which our own
servants prepared. I never dared to look at the kitchen, but I dare say
it was quite as clean as that we had left at Florence.
With this outfit, then, the little _Bella Genovese_[8] got her anchor,
with a light wind at north-west, about five in the afternoon, and began
to turn out of the harbour. In half an hour we had made three or four
stretches, which enabled us to weather the head of the mole, when we
stood to the southward, with flowing sheets.
By examining the map, you will perceive that our course lay between a
succession of islands and the main, in a south-easterly direction. Of
these islands Gorgona and Capraja were in sight on quitting the port,
and our first object was to run through, what here is called, the
_canal_ of Elba; a streight between that island and the headland, or
cape of Piombino. The wind was so light that our progress was slow; and
when we took to our mattresses, Leghorn was but two or three leagues
behind us.
On turning out next morning, early, I found the felucca close hauled,
beating up for the channel, with a fresh breeze at the southward.
The brown mountains of Elba formed the background to windward; Porto
Ferrajo lying about two leagues from us, directly on our weather-beam.
The prospect of beating through the pass, against the lively little
sea, which would be certain to get up, was not pleasent to the ladies;
and I ordered the padrone to tack, and stretch in under the land.
We fetched in just beneath the cliff, or promontory, that forms the
north-eastern extremity of the town of Porto Ferrajo, a rocky eminence
of some elevation. It was crowned by the government house, which
had been the palace of Napoleon during his insular reign. My object
had been to get into smooth water, by making a lee; but this near
view of a place so celebrated was too tempting to be resisted, and I
determined to beat up into the bay, even if we should run out again
without anchoring. This bay is several miles deep, and at its mouth
near a league wide; the land being chiefly mountain and _côtes_. The
promontory, on which stands the town, makes a bend on its inner side,
like the curve of a hook; and this, aided a little by some artificial
works, forms a beautiful and secure little harbour, of which the
entrance is towards the head of the bay, the water being everywhere
deep, with bold shores.
By ten o’clock we had weathered the mouth of the little haven, and
the wind still continuing foul, I determined to run in and anchor.
This was accordingly done, and I had called to a boat to come and
put us on shore, when the padrone announced the appalling news of
there being a quarantine of fifteen days between Elba and Naples! We
immediately hauled out of the harbour, and only waited to breakfast
before we went to sea again. While discussing this meal on deck, the
padrone was discussing matters with a brother of the craft, on board
another felucca; and he came to me to say, that, though there _was_
a quarantine of fifteen days between Elba and Naples, there was none
at all between the Roman states and Tuscany, or the Roman states
and Naples; and that, by running into Cività Vecchia, we might get
clean bills of health, and all would be plain sailing.--So much for a
Mediterranean quarantine! I accepted the terms, and we landed.
Porto Ferrajo is a small crowded town, populous for its size,
containing five thousand souls, lying on the acclivity on the inner
side of the promontory. It is pretty well fortified, though the works
are old, it being walled, and having two little citadels, or forts, on
the heights. It was garrisoned by five hundred men, they told me; and
there were two hundred galley-slaves kept in the place. The town was
clean enough, the streets having steps, or narrow terraces, by which we
ascended the hills.
The arrival of a party of strangers created a sensation; for, with the
exception of the brief interruption of the presence of Napoleon, there
are few more retired spots in Europe than this. We went to the best
inn, which bears the imposing title of the _Quattro Nazioni_. It was
far from bad, and it gave us a reasonably good dinner farthermore, it
promised us four beds and a sofa, should we pass the night there. The
art of colouring the bricks of the floors has not reached this inn;
for the room in which we dined had a sofa and seven mirrors, while the
floor was of coarse, dirt-coloured bricks full of holes. Ireland and
America are not the only countries in which discrepancies in style
occur. In short, England is the only country where they do not; and
even in England there is something inappropriate, in seeing three or
four powdered lackeys, and a well-appointed equipage, before the door
of a mean, dingy town-house of bricks, with three or four windows in
front and quite destitute of all architectural taste.
I had some conversation with the people of the house concerning their
late sovereign. Napoleon arrived in the evening, and remained in the
frigate until next day. One of his first acts was to send for the
oldest known flag used by Elba, and this he caused to be hoisted on the
forts; a sign of independency. He was not much seen in the town, though
he often rode out on horseback, and a carriage-road around the head of
the bay was pointed out as his work.
We found it so agreeable to be on a spot to which travellers do not
resort, that, I think, the felucca would have been discharged, and we
should have remained on this island two or three months, had good
accommodations offered. There were also some hints of malaria that did
not encourage this notion.
While at the inn, I saw what the Italians call a _tarantula_: not a
spider, but the lizard which bears this name. Perhaps nine-tenths of
the Italians fancy the bite of this animal mortal; though it cannot
bite at all, I believe. It is a perfectly inoffensive lizard, living
on insects, and is found in America, where no one ever hears of its
poison. It is, however, a most disgusting-looking object; which is
probably the reason it bears so bad a name. The scorpion of Italy,
also, is not in favour. We found several at St. Illario, but they
are not dangerous in this latitude; the sting being about as bad as
the bite of a spider. Both these animals are held in great respect
by ordinary travellers; Mr. Carter, among others, dwelling on their
horrors. This amiable and well-intentioned man saw more important
things through quite as mistaken a medium.
After dinner we walked up to the head of the promontory to see the
house of Napoleon. It stands conspicuously, is low and small, being
composed of a main body and two wings, showing a front, in all, of ten
windows. The entire length may have been ninety feet, or a little less;
but the other dimensions were not on a proportionate scale. It was
now inhabited by the governor of the island, and we could not obtain
admission, as he was at dinner. Near this building is another, that
stands on the street, against the acclivity, and which has a better
air, as to comfort. It has but one principal story, but it showed
fifteen windows in a row. This was the house occupied by _Madame Mère_,
we were told.
We might have lingered longer on this height, which overlooks the sea,
but I found the wind blowing fresh from the north-west, which was
as fair as could be desired. Hurrying down to the port, I directed
the felucca to be got under way. This order was a commencement of
the difficulties of Mediterranean navigation. I was covered with
protestations of the impossibility of putting to sea in such weather,
blowing as it did. At this I laughed, telling my padrone that I was an
old sailor myself, and was not to be imposed on in this manner. The
wind was fair, and we could make a lee behind Elba in an hour if we
found too much sea; but to this he would not listen. I then pointed to
the females, and asked him if he were not ashamed to pretend fear, when
they wished to go to sea. This touched his pride a little, and, after a
good deal of wrangling, I got him out of the port, just as the sun was
setting.
We found the wind fresh outside, but as fair as could be wished. Our
course was to double the eastern end of the island, where there was a
narrow passage between it and a small rocky islet, the place of which
Napoleon is said to have taken possession with a corporal’s guard, as
soon as he was established. It was a dependency of the new empire.
This act of his has been laughed at, and is cited as a proof of his
passion for conquest; but it strikes me as more probable that he did
it to prevent an unpleasant neighbourhood. The insignificance of
the spot had caused it to be overlooked in the treaty by which his
sovereignty over Elba had been retained, and it belonged to him only
_by construction_. Political constructions are useful to the managing;
and as it is probable he already meditated the events of 1815 in 1814,
it was a measure of forethought to occupy a spot that might otherwise
have proved embarrassing in the possession of spies.
When I pointed to this passage to leeward, the padrone pointed to the
sky to windward. There was a lively sea on, but the little felucca
skimmed it beautifully. The people, however, began to murmur, and A----
begging that we might have no difficulty, they were permitted to take
their own course, which was to run across the streight, under the lee
of Piombino, where we anchored, at nine.
At day-light next day, the wind being still fair, but very light, we
got under way, and stood to the southward, having lost at least forty
miles of our run, by stopping in at Piombino. About eight, the wind
came ahead, and we made several stretches, until ten, when it fell
calm. There was a small rocky islet, about a mile from us, and we swept
the felucca up to it, and anchored in a little sandy bay. The padrone
said this island was called Troas. It contained about thirty acres
being a high rock with a little shrubbery, and it was surmounted by an
ancient and ruined watch-tower.
We landed and explored the country. Our arrival gave the alarm to some
thousands of gulls, and other marine birds, who probably had not been
disturbed before for years.
W---- undertook to ascend to the tower,--an exploit that was more
easily achieved than the descent was effected. He found it the remains
of a watch-tower, of which this coast has hundreds, erected as a
protection against the invasions of the Barbary corsairs. The sight
of such objects brought the former condition of these seas vividly
to the mind. With one coast peopled by those who were at the head of
civilization, and the other by those that were just civilized enough to
be formidable, constant warfare, the habits of slavery, and the harem,
one can understand the uses of all these towers. Difficulties existing
between France and Algiers just at this moment, several of our French
acquaintances had tried to persuade us there was danger in even making
this little voyage; and when at Marseilles, lately, I witnessed the
departure of a brig, which was accompanied by the prayers of hundreds,
her sailing having been actually delayed some time on the same account!
The impression of the risks must have been strong, to prove so lasting.
As to the tower on the little island, it could only have been used
as a look-out to give notice of the approach of corsairs, and as a
protection to the coasters, for there were no people to take refuge in
it.
The north wind made at noon, and we embarked. We had a good run for
the rest of the day, at the distance of a league or two from a coast
lower than common, off which there were many islets and some banks of
sand visible. The channel lay near one of the latter, which might have
offered some danger, had we stood on the previous night. The padrone
pointed to it with exultation, asking me how I should have liked to be
laid on it in the dark. I pointed into the offing, and inquired, in
turn, if there were not water enough for the Bella Genovese between the
sands and Monte Christo, a small island that was dimly visible to the
westward, and which lies about half way between Corsica and the main.
My Genoese shrugged his shoulders as he muttered, “As if one would like
to be out there, in a little felucca, in a mistrail!” It was quite
obvious this fellow was no Columbus.
Just before sunset we came up with a high headland that looked like an
island, but which in fact was Monte Argentaro; a peninsula connected
with the continent by a low spit of sand. Behind it lies one of the
best harbours for small craft in Italy, and the town of Orbitello.
Directly abreast of it, and at no great distance, are several small
islands, and we took the course between them.--This was delightful
navigation, at the close of a fine day in August, with a cool north
wind, and in such a sea. We ran so near the mountain as to discern
the smallest objects, and were constantly changing the scene. On this
headland I counted seven watch-towers, all in sight at the same moment,
and all within the space of a league or two. Including Elba, we must
have seen and passed this day, in a run of about twenty miles, some
twenty islands.
The wind died away with the disappearance of the sun, and when we took
to the mattresses it was a flat calm. I was awoke, next morning, by the
creaking of the yards: and rising I found we were working up to Cività
Vecchia, with a foul but light wind,--a business we had been engaged in
nearly all night. The Roman coast commenced as soon as we were clear of
Argentaro, and we were now stretching in towards it, approaching within
half a mile. It was low; and the watch-towers, better constructed
than common,--a sort of martello tower,--were so near each other as
completely to sweep the beach with their guns. They appeared so well
that I attributed them to Napoleon, but the padrone affirmed they were
constructed a long time since.
Cività Vecchia soon became distinctly visible. It lies around a shallow
cove, with an artificial basin within it, and a mole stretching athwart
the mouth of the cove. There is good holding-ground off the mole, and
against easterly or north-easterly weather a good roadstead, but not
much better than is to be found anywhere else on the west side of the
boot. At ten we doubled the mole and ran into the port, where we found
about fifty vessels, principally feluccas.
We landed and went to an inn, a miserable place at the best. Here we
ordered breakfast; but the coffee, almost always bad in Italy, is
getting to be worse as we proceed south, though better in the large
towns at the south than in the small ones at the north. There was no
milk, and even fish was difficult to be had.
Cività Vecchia is small, but not dirty. There is an ancient mole, and
a basin that once contained Roman gallies. The bronze rings by which
they made fast to the quays still remain! To my surprise I was told
there was an American consul here. He proved to be a consular agent,
appointed by the consul at Rome; and I found him in a shop weighing
some sugar, with a cockade in his hat as large as a small plate. He was
civil and useful, however, for he obtained our passports, which had
been taken from us on landing, without delay, and was serviceable in
getting the necessary papers for the felucca.
After breakfasting and walking through the little town, we were anxious
to proceed, for there was not time to look at some curious objects in
the vicinity, and as for the town itself it was soon exhausted. By
dint of two hours of pretty hard work I got the padrone on board, and
compelled him to get under way. We beat into the offing at five, and
then made a fair wind of it. The run this evening was delightful. The
wind soon hauled and blew fresh from the land, leaving us perfectly
smooth water, and we glided along at the rate of seven knots, so near
the shore as to discern every thing of moment. Among other objects we
passed a fortress of some magnitude. At first the land was high, but,
as the day declined, it melted away, until it got to be a low waste.
This, we knew, was the water-margin of the celebrated Campagna of Rome;
and about nine the padrone pointed out to us the position of Ostia,
and the mouths of the Tiber. He kept the vessel well off the shore,
pretending that the malaria at this season was so penetrating as to
render it dangerous to be closer in with the wind off the land. As this
was plausible, and at least safe, I commended his caution.
I was singularly struck by the existence of this subtle and secret
danger in the midst of a scene otherwise so lovely. The night was as
bright a starlight as I remember to have seen. Nothing could surpass
the diamond-like lustre of the placid and thoughtful stars; and the
blue waters through which we were gliding, betrayed our passage by
a track of molten silver. While we were gazing at this beautiful
spectacle, a meteor crossed the heavens, illuminating everything to the
brightness of a clear moonlight. It was much the finest meteor I ever
saw, and its course included more than half of the arch above us. The
movement, apparently, was not swifter than that of a rocket, nor was
the size of the meteor much less than one of the ordinary dimensions.
Its light, however, was much more vivid and purer, having something
intense, much beyond the reach of art, in it. Soon after this beautiful
sight, we retired to our mattresses.
Next morning we were off the Pontine Marshes, with Cape Circello, the
insulated bluff in which they terminate, and the islands of Ponza and
Palmarola, in sight. The latter were the first Neapolitan land we saw.
The wind came ahead and light, as had invariably been the case since
we left Leghorn in the morning. We gave ourselves no uneasiness on
this account, feeling almost certain of a shift to the westward; a
change as ancient as the Romans, this being their zephyr, which blows
in summer almost daily in this part of the Mediterranean. From the sea
the Pontine Marshes did not present an appearance sensibly different
from that of the coast near Ostia. Both were low, and in some places
reedy; and yet we saw dwellings along them immediately on the coast.
One large, naked, treeless house, we were told, was the residence
of a cardinal. There was even a small town visible, though nothing
of importance, immediately next the marshes. The lowest part of the
Pontine Marshes, however, is not on the coast to the west of them, but
on the south, near Terracina; the stream that passes through them, as
well as the canal, having that direction. The margin of the marshes
next to the sea, I take it, is higher than their centre, the drains
running north and south.
A favourable slant of wind enabled us to double Cape Circello at noon,
when we opened the Gulf of Gaeta, Terracina, and all the grand coast
of that vicinity. The volcanic peaks of Ischia loomed in the distance,
and the zephyr coming fresh and fair, we soon raised other objects of
interest along the Neapolitan shore. Our course was, as near as might
be, to the south-east, across the mouth of the Gulf, and, as the coast
receded, the fine mountains fell away in haze; but our mariners having
an instinct for the land, we got better views than might have been
expected, as we did not make a perfectly straight wake.
Towards the middle of the afternoon we had the town and citadel of
Gaeta abeam, dimly visible. A thunder-storm among the mountains
produced a magnificent effect, though it frightened the padrone into
shifting his sails, and even spars, for he sent down the old ones, and
sent up a lighter set. We lost time unnecessarily by this precaution,
for the wind did not increase. He showed me, however, two Neapolitan
gun-vessels struggling through it, two or three leagues in shore of
us; and we had the consolation of knowing that, had we been in their
places, our smaller sails might have been of use.
Just before the gust appeared, I discovered a conical isolated
mountain to the south-east looming up in the haze. It proved to be
Vesuvius.--We saw it over the nearer but lower land of Baiæ and its
vicinity. As usual, the wind fell at sunset, and finally it shifted. We
had a little rain, and went to sleep uncertain of the result.
The next was the sixth day we had passed on board the Bella Genovese.
Going on deck at sunrise, I found the felucca contending with a
head wind, but luckily in smooth water. On our right lay high dark
mountains thrown into picturesque forms, with a shore lined with
hamlets and towns. This was Ischia. Ahead was another island, of the
same character, resembling a gigantic seawall thrown before the bay.
This was Capri.--On our left, lay a small, low, level island, teeming
with life; and to the north and east of us, opened the glorious Bay
of Naples with thousands of objects of interest, that, by their
recollections embrace nearly all of known time.
The wind blew directly in our teeth, and we beat up the whole distance,
making short stretches close in with the western, or rather northern
side of the bay. The multitude of things of interest we saw and passed,
rendered the time short, though it took us three hours.
As the day opened, and we advanced farther into this glorious bay, we
could not help exclaiming, “What dunce first thought of instituting
a comparison between the bay of New York and this?” It is scarcely
possible for two things composed of the same elements to be less alike,
in the first place; nor are their excellencies the same in a single
essential point. The harbour of New York is barely pretty; there being,
within my own knowledge, some fifty ports that equal, or surpass it,
even, in beauty. These may not be in England, a country in which we
seek every standard of excellence; but the Mediterranean alone is
full of them. No one would think of applying the term pretty, or even
handsome, to the Bay of Naples; it has glorious and sublime scenery,
embellished by a bewitching softness. Neither the water nor the land
is the same. In New York the water is turbid and of a dullish green
colour, for in its purer moments, it is, at the best, of the greenish
hue of the entire American coast; while that of the Bay of Naples has
the cerulean tint and limpidity of the ocean. At New York, the land,
low and tame, in its best months offers nothing but the verdure and
foliage of spring and summer, while the coast of this gulf, or bay, are
thrown into the peaks and faces of grand mountains, with the purple and
rose-coloured tints of a pure atmosphere and a low latitude. If New
York does possess a sort of background of rocks, in the Palisadoes,
which vary in height from three to five hundred feet, Naples has a
natural wall, in the rear of the Campania Felice, among the Apennines,
of almost as many thousands. This is speaking only of nature. As
regards artificial accessories, to say nothing of recollections, the
shores of this bay are teeming with them of every kind; not Grecian
monstrosities, and Gothic absurdities in wood, but palaces, villas,
gardens, towers, castles, cities, villages, churches, convents and
hamlets, crowded in a way to leave no point fit for the eye unoccupied,
no picturesque site unimproved. On the subject of the scale on which
these things are done, I will only say, that we tacked the felucca, in
beating up to the town, under the empty windows of a ruined palace,
whose very base is laved by the water, and whose stones would more than
build all the public works on the shores of our own harbour, united.
The public mind in America has got to be so sickly on such subjects,
that men shrink from telling the truth; and many of our people not
only render themselves, but some render the nation, ridiculous, by
the inflated follies to which they give utterance. I can safely say,
I never have seen any twenty miles square of Lower Italy, if the
marshes and campagnes be excepted, in which there is not more glorious
scenery than I can recall in all those parts of America with which I am
acquainted. Our lakes will scarcely bear any comparison with the finer
lakes of Upper Italy; our mountains are insipid as compared with these,
both as to hues and forms; and our seas and bays are not to be named
with these. If it be patriotism to deem all our geese swans, I am no
patriot, nor ever was; for, of all species of sentiments, it strikes me
that your “property patriotism” is the most equivocal. Be on your guard
against the statements of certain low political adventurers, who are
as notorious for abusing every thing American, while in Europe, as they
are for extolling them, when in America.
I am far from underrating the importance of fine natural scenery to a
nation; I believe it not only aids character, but that it strengthens
attachments. But calling a second-rate, or an inferior thing, a
first-rate and a superior, is not making it so. There is, in America,
enough of beautiful nature, coupled with the moral advantages we enjoy,
to effect all necessary ends, without straining the point to the
absurd; but there is very little of the grand, or the magnificent.
We got up with the head of the mole, (the only harbour of Naples being
the small basin behind this mole,) about noon, and immediately landed
and sought an inn. As we drove along the streets, we met one of the
royal equipages, a coach and six, and one of four, with a portly,
well-looking man, with a Bourbon face, in the former. It was the Prince
of Salerno, a brother of the king. Our guide took us to the hotel
_delle Crocelle_, one of the principal inns in the Caija where we found
excellent and roomy accommodations.