the festival; we will show him every thing; we will place him on the
scaffolding from which you have the best view of the festivities.
How delighted will he be with the great car, and especially with the
splendid illuminations!"
In the mean while, the grandmother had read the letter over and over
again. When she was told that I wished to take my leave, she stood up
and delivered to me the folded paper. "Say to my son," she said, with a
noble vivacity, not to say enthusiasm, "tell my son how happy the news
you have brought me of him has made us. Say to my son, that I thus fold
him to my heart," (here she stretched out her arms and again closed
them over her bosom)--"that every day in prayer I supplicate God and
our blessed Lady for him; that I give my blessing to him and to his
wife, and that I have no wish but, before I die, to see him once again,
with these eyes, which have shed so many tears on his account."
The peculiar elegance of the Italian favoured the choice and the noble
arrangement of her words, which, moreover, were accompanied with those
very lively gestures, by which this people usually give an incredible
charm to everything they say. Not unmoved, I took my leave; they all
held out their hands to me: the children even accompanied me to the
door, and while I descended the steps, ran to the balcony of the window
which opened from the kitchen into the street, called after me, nodded
their adieus, and repeatedly cried out to me not to forget to come
again and see them. They were still standing on the balcony, when I
turned the corner.
I need not say that the interest I took in this family excited in me
the liveliest desire to be useful to them, and to help them in their
great need. Through me they were now a second time deceived, and hopes
of assistance, which they had no previous expectation of, had been
again raised, through the curiosity of a son of the north, only to be
disappointed.
[Sidenote: Palermo--Count Cagliostro.]
My first intention was to pay them before my departure these fourteen
once, which, at his departure, the fugitive was indebted to them, and
by expressing a hope that he would repay me, to conceal from them
the fact of its being a gift from myself. When, however, I got home,
and cast up my accounts, and looked over my cash and bills, I found
that, in a country where, from the want of communication, distance is
infinitely magnified, I should perhaps place myself in a strait if I
attempted to make amends for the dishonesty of a rogue, by an act of
mere good nature.
* * * * *
The subsequent issue of this affair may as well be here introduced.
I set off from Palermo, and never came back to it; but notwithstanding
the great distance of my Sicilian and Italian travels, my soul never
lost the impression which the interview with this family had left upon
it.
I returned to my native land, and the letter of the old widow, turning
up among the many other papers, which had come with it from Naples by
sea, gave me occasion to speak of this and other adventures.
Below is a translation of this letter, in which I have purposely
allowed the peculiarities of the original to appear.
"My Dearest Son,
"On the 16th April, 1787, I received tidings of you through
Mr. Wilton, and I cannot express to you how consoling it was
to me; for ever since you removed from France, I have been
unable to hear any tidings of you.
"My dear Son,--I entreat you not to forget me, for I am very
poor, and deserted by all my relations but my daughter, and
your sister Maria Giovanna, in whose house I am living. She
cannot afford to supply all my wants, but she does what she
can. She is a widow, with three children: one daughter is in
the nunnery of S. Catherine, the other two children are at
home with her.
"I repeat, my dear son, my entreaty. Send me just enough
to provide for my necessities; for I have not even the
necessary articles of clothing to discharge the duties of a
Catholic, for my mantle and outer garments are perfectly in
rags.
"If you send me anything, or even write me merely a letter,
do not send it by post, but by sea; for Don Mattéo, my
brother (Bracconeri), is the postmaster.
"My dear Son, I entreat you to provide me with a tari a-day,
in order that your sister may, in some measure, be relieved
of the burthen I am at present to her, and that I may not
perish from want. Remember the divine command, and help a
poor mother, who is reduced to the utmost extremity. I give
you my blessing, and press to my heart both thee and Donna
Lorenza, thy wife.
"Your sister embraces you from her heart, and her children
kiss your hands.
"Your mother, who dearly loves you, and presses you to her
heart.
"Felice Balsamo.
"_Palermo, April_ 18, 1787."
Some worthy and exalted persons, before whom I laid this document,
together with the whole story, shared my emotions, and enabled me to
discharge my debt to this unhappy family, and to remit them a sum which
they received towards the end of the year 1787. Of the effect it had,
the following letter is evidence.
"_Palermo, December_ 25, 1787.
"Dear and Faithful Brother,
"Dearest Son,
"The joy which we have had in hearing that you are in good
health and circumstances, we cannot express by any writing.
By sending them this little assistance, you have filled with
the greatest joy and delight a mother and a sister who are
abandoned by all, and have to provide for two daughters and
a son: for, after that Mr. Jacob Joff, an English merchant
had taken great pains to find out the Donna Giuseppe Maria
Capitummino (by birth Balsamo), in consequence of my being
commonly known, merely as Marana Capitummino, he found us at
last in a little tenement, where we live on a corresponding
scale. He informed us that you had ordered a sum of money to
be paid us, and that he had a receipt, which I, your sister,
must sign--which was accordingly done; for he immediately
put the money in our hands, and the favorable rate of the
exchange has brought us a little further gain.
"Now, think with what delight we must have received this
sum, at a time when Christmas Day was just at hand, and
we had no hope of being helped to spend it with its usual
festivity.
"The Incarnate Saviour has moved your heart to send us this
money, which has served not only to appease our hunger, but
actually to clothe us, when we were in want of everything.
"It would give us the greatest gratification possible if
you would gratify our wish to see you once more--especially
mine, your mother, who never cease to bewail my separation
from an only son, whom I would much wish to see again before
I die.
"But if, owing to circumstances, this cannot be, still do
not neglect to come to the aid of my misery, especially as
you have discovered so excellent a channel of communication,
and so honest and exact a merchant, who, when we knew
nothing about it, and when he had the money entirely in his
own power, has honestly sought us out and faithfully paid
over to us the sum you remitted.
"With you that perhaps will not signify much. To us,
however, every help is a treasure. Your sister has two grown
up daughters, and her son also requires a little help. You
know that she has nothing in the world; and what a good act
will you not perform by sending her enough to furnish them
all with a suitable outfit.
"May God preserve you in health! We invoke Him in gratitude,
and pray that He may still continue the prosperity you have
hitherto enjoyed, and that He may move your heart to keep us
in remembrance. In His name I bless you and your wife, as a
most affectionate mother--and I your sister, embrace you:
and so does your nephew, Giuseppe (Bracconeri), who wrote
this letter. We all pray for your prosperity, as do also my
two sisters, Antonia and Theresa.
"We embrace you, and are,
"Your sister, "Your mother,
who loves you, who loves and blesses you,
Giuseppe-Maria, who blesses you every hour,
Capitummino, Felice Balsamo,
and Balsamo. and Bracconeri."
The signatures to the letter are in their own handwriting. I had caused
the money to be paid to them without sending any letter, or intimation
whence it came; this makes their mistake the more natural, and their
future hopes the more probable.
Now, that they have been informed of the arrest and imprisonment of
their relative, I feel myself at liberty to explain matters to them,
and to do something for their consolation. I have still a small sum
for them in my hands, which I shall remit to them, and profit by the
opportunity to explain the true state of the matter. Should any of my
friends, should any of my rich and noble countrymen, be disposed to
enlarge, by their contributions, the sum I have already in my hands, I
would exhort them in that case to forward their land gifts to me before
Michaelmas-day, in order to share the gratitude, and to be rewarded
with the happiness of a deserving family, out of which has proceeded
one of the most singular monsters that has appeared in this century.
I shall not fail to make known the further course of this story, and
to give an account of the state in which my next remittance finds the
family; and perhaps also I shall add some remarks which this matter
induced me to make, but which, however, I withhold at present in order
not to disturb my reader's first impressions.
* * * * *
_Palermo, April_ 14, 1787.
Towards evening I paid a visit to my friend the shop-keeper, to ask him
how he thought the festival was likely to pass off; for to-morrow there
is to be a solemn procession through the city, and the Viceroy is to
accompany the host on foot. The least wind will envelop both man and
the sacred symbols in a thick cloud of dust.
With much humour he replied: In Palermo, the people look for nothing
more confidently than for a miracle. Often before now on such
occasions, a violent passing shower had fallen and cleansed the streets
partially at least, so as to make a clean road for the procession. On
this occasion a similar hope was entertained, and not without cause,
for the sky was overcast, and promised rain during the night.
* * * * *
_Palermo, Sunday, April_ 15, 1787.
And so it has actually turned out! During the night the most violent of
showers have fallen. In the morning I set cut very early in order to be
an eye-witness of the marvel. The stream of rain-water pent up between
the two raised pavements had carried the lightest of the rubbish down
the inclined street, either into the sea or into such of the sewers as
were not stopped up, while the grosser and heavier dung was driven
from spot to spot. In this a singular meandering line of cleanliness
was marked out along the streets. On the morning hundreds and hundreds
of men were to be seen with brooms and shovels, busily enlarging this
clear space, and in order to connect it where it was interrupted by the
mire; and throwing the still remaining impurities now to this side, now
to that. By this means when the procession started, it found a clear
serpentine walk prepared for it through the mud, and so both the long
robed priests and the neat-booted nobles, with the Viceroy at their
head, were able to proceed on their way unhindered and unsplashed.
I thought of the children of Israel passing through the waters by
the dry path prepared for them by the hand of the Angel, and this
remembrance served to ennoble what otherwise would have been a
revolting sight--to see these devout and noble peers parading their
devotions along an alley, flanked on each side by heaps of mud.
[Sidenote: Palermo--Its streets.]
On the pavement there was now, as always, clean walking; but in the
more retired parts of the city whither we were this day carried in
pursuance of our intention of visiting the quarters which we had
hitherto neglected, it was almost impossible to get along, although
even here the sweeping and piling of the filth was by no means
neglected.
The festival gave occasion to our visiting the principal church of the
city and observing its curiosities. Being once on the move, we took a
round of all the other public edifices. We were much pleased with a
Moorish building, which is in excellent preservation--not very large,
but the rooms beautiful, broad, and well proportioned, and in excellent
keeping with the whole pile. It is not perhaps suited for a northern
climate, but in a southern land a most agreeable residence. Architects
may perhaps some day furnish us with a plan and elevation of it.
We also saw in most unsuitable situations various remains of ancient
marble statues, which, however, we had not patience to try to make out.
* * * * *
_Palermo, April_ 16, 1787.
As we are obliged to anticipate our speedy departure from this
paradise, I hoped to-day to spend a thorough holiday by sitting in the
public gardens; and after studying the task I had set myself out of the
Odyssey, taking a walk through the valley, and at the foot of the hill
of S. Rosalie, thinking over again my sketch of Nausicaa, and there
trying whether this subject is susceptible of a dramatic form. All this
I have managed, if not with perfect success, yet certainly much to my
satisfaction. I made out the plan, and could not abstain from sketching
some portions of it which appeared to me most interesting, and tried to
work them out.
* * * * *
_Palermo, Tuesday, April_ 17, 1787.
It is a real misery to be pursued and hunted by many spirits! Yesterday
I set out early for the public gardens, with a firm and calm resolve to
realize some of my poetical dreams; but before I got within sight of
them, another spectre got hold of me which has been following me these
last few days. Many plants which hitherto I had been used to see only
in pots and tubs, or under glass-frames, stand here fresh and joyous
beneath the open heaven, and as they here completely fulfil their
destination, their natures and characters became more plain and evident
to me. In presence of so many new and renovated forms, my old fancy
occurred again to me: Might I not discover the primordial plant among
all these numerous specimens? Some such there must be! For, otherwise,
how am I able at once to determine that this or that form is a plant
unless they are all formed after one original type? I busied myself,
therefore, with examining wherein the many varying shapes differed from
each other. And in every case I found them all to be more similar than
dissimilar, and attempted to apply my botanical terminology. That went
on well enough; still I was not satisfied; I rather felt annoyed that
it did not lead further. My pet poetical purpose was obstructed; the
gardens of Antinous all vanished--a real garden of the world had taken
their place. Why is it that we moderns have so little concentration of
mind? Why is it that we are thus tempted to make requisitions which we
can neither exact nor fulfil?
* * * * *
_Alcamo, Wednesday, April_ 18, 1787.
At an early hour, we rode out of Palermo. Kniep and the Vetturino
showed their skill in packing the carnage inside and out. We drove
slowly along the excellent road, with which we had previously become
acquainted during our visit to San Martino, and wondered a second time
at the false taste displayed in the fountains on the way. At one of
these our driver stopped to supply himself with water according to
the temperate habits of this country. He had at starting, hung to the
traces a small wine-cask, such as our market-women use, and it seemed
to us to hold wine enough for several days. We were, therefore, not a
little surprised when he made for one of the many conduit pipes, took
out the plug of his cask, and let the water run into it. With true
German amazement, we asked him what ever he was about? was not the cask
full of wine? To all which, he replied with great nonchalance: he had
left a third of it empty, and as no one in this country drank unmixed
wine, it was better to mix it at once in a large quantity, as then the
liquids combined better together, and besides you were not sure of
finding water everywhere. During this conversation the cask was filled,
and we had some talk together of this ancient and oriental wedding
custom.
And now as we reached the heights beyond Mon Reale, we saw wonderfully
beautiful districts, but tilled in traditional rather than in a true
economical style. On the right, the eye reached the sea, where, between
singular shaped head-lands, and beyond a shore here covered with,
and there destitute of, trees, it caught a smooth and level horizon,
perfectly calm, and forming a glorious contrast with the wild and
rugged limestone rocks. Kniep did not fail to take miniature outlines
of several of them.
[Sidenote: Alcamo.]
We are at present in Alcamo, a quiet and clean little town, whose
well-conducted inn is highly to be commended as an excellent
establishment, especially as it is most conveniently situated for
visitors to the temple of Segeste, which lies out of the direct road in
a very lonely situation.
* * * * *
_Alcamo, Thursday, April_ 19, 1787.
Our agreeable dwelling in this quiet town, among the mountains, has
so charmed us that we have determined to pass a whole day here. We
may then, before anything else, speak of our adventures yesterday.
In one of my earlier letters, I questioned the originality of Prince
Pallagonia's bad taste. He has had forerunners and can adduce many
a precedent. On the road towards Mon Reale stand two monstrosities,
beside a fountain with some vases on a balustrade, so utterly repugnant
to good taste that one would suppose they must have been placed there
by the Prince himself.
After passing Mon Reale, we left behind us the beautiful road, and
got into the rugged mountain country. Here some rocks appeared on the
crown of the road, which, judging from their gravity and metallic
incrustations, I took to be ironstone. Every level spot is cultivated,
and is more or less prolific. The limestone in these parts had a
reddish hue, and all the pulverized earth is of the same colour. This
red argillaceous and calcareous earth extends over a great space; the
subsoil is hard; no sand underneath; but it produces excellent wheat.
We noticed old very strong, but stumpy, olive trees.
Under the shelter of an _airy_ room, which has been built as an
addition to the wretched inn, we refreshed ourselves with a temperate
luncheon. Dogs eagerly gobbled up the skins of the sausages we threw
away, but a beggar-boy drove them off. He was feasting with a wonderful
appetite on the parings of the apples we were devouring, when he in
his turn was driven away by an old beggar. Want of work is here felt
everywhere. In a ragged toga the old beggar was glad to get a job as
house-servant, or waiter. Thus I had formerly observed that whenever a
landlord was asked for anything which he had not at the moment in the
house, he would send a beggar to the shop for it.
However, we are pretty well provided against all such sorry attendance;
for our Vetturino is an excellent fellow--he is ready as ostler,
cicerone, guard, courier, cook, and everything.
On the higher hills you find every where the olive, the caruba, and the
ash. Their system of farming is also spread over three years. Beans,
corn, fallow; in which mode of culture the people say the dung does
more marvels than all the Saints. The grape stock is kept down very low.
Alcamo is gloriously situated on a height, at a tolerable distance
from a bay of the sea. The magnificence of the country quite enchanted
us. Lofty rocks, with deep valleys at their feet, but withal wide open
spaces, and great variety. Beyond Mon Beale you look upon a beautiful
double valley, in the centre of which a hilly ridge again raises
itself. The fruitful fields lie green and quiet, but on the broad
roadway the wild bushes and shrubs are brilliant with flowers--the
broom one mass of yellow, covered with its pupilionaceous blossoms, and
not a single green leaf to be seen; the white-thorn cluster on cluster;
the aloes are rising high and promising to flower; a rich tapestry of
an amaranthine-red clover, of orchids and the little Alpine roses,
hyacinths, with unopened bells, asphodels, and other wild flowers.
[Sidenote: Sicily--Segeste.]
The streams which descend from M. Segeste leave deposits, not only of
limestone, but also of pebbles of horn-stone. They are very compact,
dark blue, yellow, red, and brown, of various shades. I also found
complete lodes of horn, or fire-stone, in the limestone rocks, edged
with lime. Of such gravel one finds whole hills just before one gets to
Alcamo.
* * * * *
_Segeste, April_ 20, 1787.
The temple of Segeste was never finished; the ground around it was
never even levelled; the space only being smoothed on which the
peristyle was to stand. For, in several places, the steps are from
nine to ten feet in the ground, and there is no hill near, from which
the stone or mould could have fallen. Besides, the stones lie in their
natural position, and no ruins are found near them.
The columns are all standing; two which had fallen, have very recently
been raised again. How far the columns rested on a socle is hard to
say; and without an engraving it is difficult to give an idea of their
present state. At some points it would seem as if the pillars rested
on the fourth step. In that ease to enter the temple you would have to
go down a step. In other places, however, the uppermost step is cut
through, and then it looks as if the columns had rested on bases; and
then again these spaces have been filled up, and so we have once more
the first case. An architect is necessary to determine this point.
The sides have twelve columns, not reckoning the corner ones; the back
and front six, including them. The rollers on which the stones were
moved along, still lie around you on the steps. They have been left in
order to indicate that the temple was unfinished. But the strongest
evidence of this fact is the floor. In some spots (along the sides)
the pavement is laid flown, in the middle, however, the red limestone
rock still projects higher than the level of the floor as partially
laid; the flooring, therefore, cannot ever have been finished. There
is also no trace of an inner temple. Still less can the temple have
ever been overlaid with stucco; but that it was intended to do so, we
may infer from the fact that the abaci of the capitals have projecting
points probably for the purpose of holding the plaster. The whole is
built of a limestone, very similar to the travertine; only it is now
much fretted. The restoration which was carried on in 1781, has done
much good to the building. The cutting of the stone, with which the
parts have been reconnected, is simple, but beautiful. The large blocks
standing by themselves, which are mentioned by Riedesel, I could not
find; probably they were used for the restoration of the columns.
The site of the temple is singular; at the highest end of a broad
and long valley, it stands on an isolated hill. Surrounded, however,
on all sides by cliffs, it commands a very distant and extensive
view of the land, but takes in only just a corner of the sea. The
district reposes in a sort of melancholy fertility--every where well
cultivated, but scarce a dwelling to be seen. Flowering thistles were
swarming with countless butterflies, wild fennel stood here from eight
to nine feet high, dry and withered of the last year's growth, but
so rich and in such seeming order that one might almost take it to
be an old nursery-ground. A shrill wind whistled through the columns
as if through a wood, and screaming birds of prey hovered around the
pediments.
The wearisomeness of winding through the insignificant ruins of a
theatre took away from us all the pleasures we might otherwise have had
in visiting the remains of the ancient city. At the foot of the temple,
we found large pieces of the horn-stone. Indeed, the road to Alcamo is
composed of vast quantities of pebbles of the same formation. From the
road a portion of a gravelly earth passes into the soil, by which means
it is rendered looser. In some fennel of this year's growth, I observed
the difference of the lower and upper leaves; it is still the same
organisation that develops multiplicity out of unity. They are most
industrious weeders in these parts. Just as beaters go through a wood
for game, so here they go through the fields weeding. I have actually
seen some insects here. In Palermo, however, I saw nothing but worms,
lizards, leeches, and snakes, though not more finely coloured than with
us--indeed, they are mostly all gray.
* * * * *
_Castel Vetrano, Saturday, April_ 21, 1787.