Dr Goldsmith thus characterises the Italians in general:
"Could nature's bounty satisfy the breast,
The sons of Italy were surely blest.
Whatever fruits in different climes are found,
That proudly rise, or humbly court the ground;
Whatever blooms in torrid tracts appear,
Whose bright succession decks the varied year:
Whatever sweets salute the northern sky,
With vernal leaves that blossom but to die:
These here disporting, own the kindred soil,
Nor ask luxuriance from their planter's toil;
While sea-born gales their gelid wings expand,
To winnow fragrance round the smiling land.
"But small the bliss that sense alone bestows,
And sensual bliss is all the nation knows.
In florid beauty groves and fields appear,
Man seems the only growth that dwindles here.
Contrasted faults thro' all his manners rein;
Though poor, luxurious; though submissive, vain;
Though grave, yet trifling; zealous, yet untrue;
And e'en in penance planning sins anew.
All evils here contaminate the mind,
That opulence departed leaves behind:
For wealth was theirs, not far remov'd the date,
When commerce proudly flourish'd thro' the state;
At her command the palace learn'd to rise,
Again the long fall'n column sought the skies;
The canvass glow'd, beyond e'en nature warm;
The pregnant quarry teem'd with human form.
Till, more unsteady then the southern gale,
Commerce on other shores display'd her sail;
While naught remain'd of all that riches gave,
But towns unmann'd, and lords without a slave;
And late the nation found, with fruitless skill,
Its former strength was but plethoric ill.
"Yet still the loss of wealth is here supplied
By arts, the splendid wrecks of former pride;
From them the feeble heart and long fall'n mind
An easy compensation seem to find.
Here may be seen in bloodless pomp array'd,
The pasteboard triumph, and the cavalcade;
Processions form'd from piety and love,
A mistress or a saint in every grove."
Almost every traveller who has visited Italy, agrees in describing it as
the most abandoned of all the countries of Europe. At Venice, at Naples,
and indeed in almost every port of Italy, women are taught from their
infancy the various arts of alluring to their arms the young and unwary,
and of obtaining from them, while heated by love or wine, every thing
that flattery and false smiles can obtain, in these unguarded moments.
The Italians, like their neighbors of Spain and Portugal, live under the
paralyzing influence of a religion that retains its superstitious forms,
while little of life-giving faith remains. Like them they have lively
passions, are extremely susceptible, and in the general conduct of life
more governed by the impetuosity of impulse than rectitude of principle.
The ladies have less gravity than the Spanish, and less frivolity than
the French, and in their style of dress incline towards the freedom of
the latter. Some of the richest and most commodious convents of Europe
are in Italy. The daughters of wealthy families are generally bestowed
in marriage as soon as they leave these places of education. These
matters are entirely arranged by parents and guardians, and youth and
age are not unfrequently joined together, for the sake of uniting
certain acres of land. But the affections, thus repressed, seek their
natural level by indirect courses. It is a rare thing for an Italian
lady to be without her _cavaliere servente_, or lover, who spends much
of his time at her house, attends her to all public places, and appears
to live upon her smiles. The old maxim of the Provencal troubadours,
that matrimony ought to be no hindrance to such _liaisons_, seems to be
generally and practically believed in Italy.
In Genoa, there are marriage-brokers, who have pocketbooks filled with
the names of marriageable girls of different classes, with an account of
their fortunes, personal attractions, &c. When they succeed in
arranging connections, they have two or three per cent. commission on
the portion. The marriage-contract is often drawn up before the parties
have seen each other. If a man dislikes the appearances or manners of
his future partner, he may break off the match, on condition of paying
the brokerage and other expenses.