Fletcher, and Col. Whitmore, to all of whom I am very much indebted. The
latter, nature intended for an architect, since she has given him not
only taste and invention, but the prophetic view of the effect produced
by his designs. I have made acquaintance also with Dr. Naudi, who is
very busily employed about printing a Maltese bible; and when executed,
it is probable that he and the compositor will be able to read it. He is
himself of opinion that there will be in the island nearly half a dozen
other persons, but I have found no one to agree with him. Some attempts
have been previously made to write Maltese, but it is not yet settled
what character ought to be adopted. In the town almost every body can
speak Italian; in the country only the native language is understood,
but every person who can read or write does it in Italian. The Maltese
itself is a dialect of Arabic; but whether it may be considered as a
relic of the ancient Punic, or as derived from the Saracens of the
middle ages, I leave to wiser heads to decide. The latter appear to have
been only possessors of the country, and not to have formed its
population. They were possessors also in Sicily, where they have left
little of their language. I called also on Mr. Corner, whose garden is
adorned with gazelles and Numidian cranes, and who has shown me some
exquisite drawings of Lusieri, but almost all unfinished. Some of them
are executed on three sheets of antiquarian, _i. e._, they are above 13
feet long, and filled with the minutest details, all copied on the spot
from nature. Dr. Naudi likewise took me to the principal architect of
the place, who talked a great deal about purity of design, and correct
imitation of the ancients, and then shewed me a design full of
absurdities, of which he boasted as circumstances quite new, and of his
own invention. We afterwards called on the professor of painting, and on
the librarian, who has very considerable talents as a painter of
domestic life, but no opportunities to improve them. The library is open
to every body; it is a fine room, and contains a good collection of
books, but it has at present no funds for its increase, or for the
addition of any modern publication.
There are said to be some curious tombs in Malta, which I have not seen,
but I visited what is thought to be a Celtic antiquity, at a place
called Krendi, on the south side of the island. It is composed of large
stones set on their edges, or in some instances upright on the end. The
disposition has been, I think, in a form composed of four or five
portions of circles, united to inclose an area. Some of the stones have
been worked; and a circular hole, and a sort of rebate in one of them,
are evidently artificial. Near this is a range of hills of perhaps 500
feet elevation, the highest on the island. I was not on them, but all
the island which I did see seemed to be composed of a calcareous rock of
recent formation, abounding in places with shark’s teeth. Dr. Naudi
shewed me, however, some marbles which were dug somewhere in the island,
but he could not point out the precise spot. I was told of Greek
antiquities, but they only amount to obscure traces of foundations,
formed of blocks of considerable size. At Casal Zurico indeed there is a
little edifice, which is perhaps of a Greek period. It has the
appearance of a large pedestal, but it contains a small room now used as
a dairy.
Another excursion was to Cività Vecchia, to a _festa_. The church there
is considered as the chief church in the island. On my way I listened to
a long and curious account of the plague at Malta, of which, as it
rested on little points which strongly excite the attention of those
exposed to danger, and not on any medical details, I shall give you a
few heads. Leaving all the various suppositions as to the manner of its
entrance, which after all are only suppositions, I shall pass at once to
the effects of its appearance in the island. The Maltese for a
considerable time refused to believe that it was the plague, and prided
themselves on touching suspected people. Every body felt how injurious
such an infectious disorder must be to a city depending on commerce, and
it was therefore considered as a want of patriotism to call it the
plague; and they were not convinced, till the contagion had fixed itself
too widely both in town and country, to allow of precautionary measures.
Afterwards, in the height of the disorder, the scenes were horrible.
When a man was taken ill, he was immediately conveyed to sheds erected
in the ditches of the town, and his family were conveyed to another part
of them. If no disease appeared in the latter, they were removed in
succession to other parts, till the danger was thought to be over, and
they were dismissed. If on the contrary, any of the party fell ill, he
was immediately transferred to the diseased ditch, under a shed which
afforded very imperfect shelter, either from the sun or rain, almost
without attendance, and what was worse, without water; it is even said
that many died raving mad from thirst. The only persons who could be
obtained to carry the sick and dead, were of the lowest class and worst
character, many of them were released from jails for that purpose; they
wore pitched dresses, and were directed to oil themselves frequently,
and their time seems to have been long or short in proportion as they
complied with this direction. The only one who survived after the
disorder had ceased, says that he oiled himself constantly twice a day.
The pay was four dollars per diem, which was received every morning, and
the survivors were the heirs of their deceased brethren. Besides this
they plundered wherever they went, and were suspected of having
committed murders, when the relations of the deceased defended their
property. They lived in riot and drunkenness, but it was thought that
they could not have spent all their profits, and that a great
accumulation would be found at last. An English sailor is said to have
received 800 dollars from this source, I do not know how or why, but no
such hoards as had been imagined were ever discovered. These people were
called beccamorti, the common name in Italy for those employed in
carrying dead bodies; if they saw in a shed, a body which appeared to be
dead, they threw in a hook, and if no cries were heard, cast it into the
cart. One man who is now alive, cried out on this occasion. Oh ho! cried
the beccamorte, we must come for you to-morrow. The sufferer was wounded
by the hook, and bled profusely, not having the means of stopping it,
and to this bleeding he attributes the preservation of his life. A law
was made that any one having the disorder and concealing it, should be
shot, and one man was executed in consequence; an old woman was also
brought up for the same purpose, who died as she arrived at the
appointed place.
After the plague had ceased in the city, it was renewed by digging up
property which had been buried; and just at this moment some alarm is
excited by the discovery of certain jewels which were concealed at that
time; but as they were immediately reported to the police, and the
jewels themselves, as well as all who had been concerned in the
discovery, conveyed to the lazaretto, there does not seem much danger,
especially as they are objects, which according to the received theory,
are incapable of retaining the infection. We did not arrive at the
Cathedral at Città Vecchia, till the ceremonies of the _festa_ were
almost finished. It is a fine church of the usual Italian style, for
though built in the twelfth century, it underwent a complete restoration
in 1693. It is richly ornamented, and of course as it was a _festa_,
covered with drapery, which was of crimson damask festooned in the
arches, and with a deep fringe of gold. This is much better than the
Roman fashion of striped drapery. The music was very fine. After the
mass an old canonico showed us what remained of their finery. The French
are said to have carried away twenty-four cart-loads of plate. From the
cathedral we proceeded to the grotto of St. Paul, where all visitors are
told that the earth is endued with wonderful medicinal powers, and that
it is annually taken away in great quantities without increasing the
size of the cavern. According to the Acts, St. Paul was hospitably
entertained by M. Publius, the governor of the island. This does not
well agree with his living in a cave, and it could not have been his
immediate retreat from the shipwreck, since it is some miles from the
shore; but the good people here do not trouble themselves about trifling
inconsistencies. Of Publius, they have made not only a Christian, but a
saint. We were shown a fragment of the arm-bone of St. Paul, a most
beautiful piece, as our conductor told us. It is enclosed in a glass
case, over which is placed a golden arm of the natural size.
From Città Vecchia we proceeded to the Bosketto, an old palace of the
grand master, where there is a garden shaded with orange-trees, the
accustomed scene of the amusements of the morning, these however, were
nearly over when we got there. I left my companions in order to obtain a
glance of what was going on. The people were wandering about, or
collected in groupes; some dancing Maltese dances, others singing
Maltese songs, with the hand up to the ear, as is the practice in
Greece. It is always done by the criers at the mosques, and I was told
in Greece, that in this case it is an imitation of a habit adopted by
Mahomet. We dined on the ground, and then remounted our caleshes,
(covered carriages, each with one horse, and the driver running by the
side) to return to the races at Città Vecchia; the ground may be three
quarters of a mile long, not quite straight, and rather uphill from the
starting post. The first race was performed by asses, the second by
mules; both these animals are remarkably large and handsome in Malta.
The third was by ponies, and the second of these, a white one, was one
of the most beautiful animals I ever saw. The fourth and last race was
of horses. They all start with riders, who are boys, without either
saddle or bridle, and very few of them reach at the end of the race, but
I understood that none were hurt. As the horses reach the goal, the
owners run in to seize them, and a scene of the greatest confusion
ensues. The number of spectators was far beyond what I expected to see
collected in this little island. The women were drest mostly in black.
The men had long caps of blue or red hanging half way down the back,
white or Nankin trowsers, and frequently silk waistcoats, adorned with
four rows of large, worked, silver balls, suspended on short chains, in
the place of buttons. The jacket at this time of year is usually
suspended over the left shoulder. In returning I had another companion,
the calesh only holding two persons, who gave me some account of the
politics of the island. Sir Alexander Ball, the first governor, was
extremely affable in his manners, and always accessible, this gave him
influence to get a petition sent to England against restoring Malta to
the order, but he could persuade nobody but those dependent upon himself
to take an active part in it. Though well satisfied with the English,
especially as long as the war lasted, the Maltese would have been, and
would now be perfectly content to have the order back again. The
government of the knights was not oppressive, and the money which they
drew from other countries and spent in Malta, gave activity to the
place; but the inhabitants would not like to have the knights again,
without their foreign revenues. Corn at Malta is always at forty Maltese
scudi the salma,[37] being bought up by government at Taganrock and
Odessa, and sold uniformly at that price. The Maltese scudo is worth
about 1_s._ 10_d._, and the salma is not quite equal to an English
quarter. It is computed that the islands produce annually 20,000 salma,
and that 70,000 are imported. The Maltese say it would be better to
bring the market to Malta, and for the government to buy up what
individuals brought, but this could not answer, unless government would
give up its monopoly. Spain used to take the cotton twist made in these
islands, but they have lately made new regulations which shut out this
article of commerce, and the prohibition is said to be severely felt.
LETTER LIII.
SYRACUSE—CATANIA.
_Catania, 31st July, 1818._
MY departure from Malta was delayed by adverse winds, but at last, on
Monday the 13th of July, I was awakened with the notice that the
trabaccolo in which I had engaged my passage, was on the point of
sailing. A trabaccolo is a small, decked boat with two masts: the
present was a trading vessel bound for Venice, but stopping in the way
at Agusta to take in a cargo of salt. It contained no regular
accommodation for passengers, but there was plenty of room, and they
made me up a bed, where I slept very comfortably. Some of the sailors
were among the handsomest and best made men I have ever seen; all from
the Venetian states, or from those of the Pope, bordering on the
Adriatic. We arrived by the gentlest motion at Agusta, about six o’clock
on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday I took possession of the single room
called a lazaretto, and with the assistance of the supercargo and
sailors of the vessel, formed my establishment: I had a couch, a table,
and six chairs, an uncommon portion of furniture for a lazaretto. On the
18th I obtained my release, being transformed by the magicians of the
town into an officer of engineers, by which means I obtained the
privilege of counting the two days spent on the voyage as part of the
quarantine. It is said to be owing to Sir T. Maitland’s negligence of
quarantine regulations at Malta, that we have any quarantine to undergo
on passing from that island into Sicily. Yet in other places, rank seems
to be considered as a preservative against contagion, of which I could
cite you examples if it were worth while. The Maltese are now threatened
with a longer quarantine, on account of the jewels I have already
mentioned to you, as having been hidden during the plague at Malta, and
lately discovered. I thought this merely a contrivance to obtain money
from me, but I have since found that after allowing communication for a
fortnight on the usual terms, _i. e._ five days’ quarantine, an order
was really issued on this account, to extend it to twenty-eight days. I
took a walk through the town, where there was nothing to tempt me to
stay; but although Agusta presents nothing very beautiful, yet there are
some porticos, arcades, balustrades, and cornices in a long, straight,
narrow street, which produce a very picturesque effect. I hired a boat
for two pieces (about 8_s._ 9_d._) to Santa Bonaccia. The boatmen would
not take me to Syracuse, because they would have had to pay three pieces
for port dues, and they told me it would cost me another to get through
the examinations at the health-office, but after landing three miles
off, you may enter the town without having to answer a single question.
These three miles are altogether within the limits of the ancient city,
and the little hamlet of Santa Bonaccia, is far from being at the
extremity of the ancient walls. Indeed, besides the island on which
alone the present town is placed, Syracuse altogether, comprising the
quarters or cities of Acradina, Tyche, and Neapolis, appears to have
occupied a space which forms nearly an equilateral triangle of five
miles on each face, and it is said to have contained 2,000,000
inhabitants. I found a very comfortable inn, the Golden Lion, rather
dear, but the landlord, if willing to obtain a good profit for himself,
was very ready to give me both information and assistance, in order that
I should not be imposed on by others.
Ortygia seems at first to have been an island rising in a gentle slope,
and sheltering the magnificent harbour; time and perhaps the rubbish of
the old city filled up the narrow channel, and it became a peninsula,
but to complete the modern fortification this has been cut through, and
it is again become an island, and has taken the name once belonging to
the whole extent of the former city. The principal antiquity is the
ancient temple of Minerva, which has been transformed into the cathedral
church. Arches have been opened in the walls of the cell, while the
intervals of the columns of the peristyle have been filled up; and by
this means, what was the cell of the temple, is become the nave of the
church, and the side aisles are obtained from the surrounding
colonnades. This operation, and the loss of the ancient entablature have
obliterated all the effect of the original edifice; we may still
understand that it has been a noble building, impressive from the
massive solidity of the Doric order, as executed in Sicily; but its
ponderous capitals, thick proportions, and imperfect material, will not
permit it to be placed in comparison with the union of grace and
majesty, of just proportions, beautiful material, and exquisite
workmanship, which distinguish the edifices of Athens.
The modern front of the Cathedral forms as great a contrast as possible
with the ancient work, a light Corinthian, cut up in every direction;
yet though sinning against every rule of good sense and good taste, it
is not without something pleasing in its airy lightness.
We find in Syracuse the remains of another temple, which has been called
that of Diana, merely because Cicero mentions two temples, one dedicated
to Minerva, and one to Diana, and the vestiges of two temples still
exist, one of which was doubtless that of Minerva. The temple mentioned
by Cicero seems to have been a magnificent building, and one might
expect to find columns as large, or perhaps larger than those of the
other edifice; whereas, these measured just below the capital are little
more than 2 feet in diameter. The projection of the abacus must be
enormous, since it is about 6 feet square, but the whole is so much
damaged, and so awkwardly built up in modern walls, that it is difficult
to determine the dimensions. These disproportioned capitals are little
more than 18 inches apart, and altogether it seems to have been a
building of a very curious style of architecture.
The present situation of the Fountain of Arethusa is said to have
nothing ancient but the name, and it certainly can boast of no beauty.
The water issues from beneath an arch, but is supposed to be supplied by
the ancient spring, except that in forming the ditch of the
fortifications, the natural channels have been in some degree disturbed,
and the water thereby rendered brackish. On leaving the island we meet
with one standing column and some bases, the remains of a range of at
least seven, which are said to have been part of a portico; but I know
not why they might not have belonged to a temple.
The Amphitheatre is at some distance; it is considered as a Roman
building, or rather it is a hollow, perhaps an old quarry appropriated
by the Romans to their favourite diversions. It was small, and not at
all proportioned to the size of the city. Some subterraneous corridors
still exist.
The ancient quarries extend almost across the ancient city, and being
cut down to a great depth, above 100 feet, show the thickness of this
bed of calcareous rock. One of these is called the Paradiso, and at one
angle of it there is a long winding cavern formed artificially, and well
known under the appellation of the ear of Dionysius. Some persons have
imagined it connected with the theatre, behind which it runs, but this
opinion has no more to recommend it, than the vulgar tradition. There is
a channel cut along the highest part of the roof, which turns suddenly
round into a little chamber above the entrance; at the other end this
channel seems continued beyond the accessible parts of the grotto, but
its exit is unknown. The whole form, and the sweeping lines of its plan
and section, exhibit evident traces of a design for some particular
purpose; but from the unfinished appearance of the further end, it may
be doubted if it ever was completed.
The Theatre occupies a most beautiful situation; the circuit of the
steps, and of one precinction remain, but the lower part, and the
foundations of the proscenium, if any exist, are hid in a _canneto_, _i.
e._ a place in which reeds are grown. There is a very curious
arrangement immediately below the precinction, the purpose of which I do
not understand, which you will comprehend better from a sketch, than
from any description I could give.
[Illustration: Illustration of arrangement]
A little above the theatre there is a washing-place in front of a
cavern, which has a very picturesque effect. The water is supplied by an
aqueduct, which nearly follows the line of an ancient one, and the water
afterwards turns a mill on the steps of the theatre. Beyond this is the
Strada Sepolcrale; a street cut in the rock, about 20 feet deep, and
with sepulchral niches and chambers also cut out of the solid rock on
each side. A longer excursion in the same direction took me to the
Hexapylon, Epipolis, or Citadel, and the extremity of the ancient walls,
at the highest and most distant point of the triangle. It is about five
miles from the present town, where the ground rises gradually into a
very narrow ridge, and then breaks down suddenly. Underneath the point
thus formed, there is a passage of considerable width, opening in each
direction beyond the walls. There are also sally-ports for cavalry, and
altogether the remains of ancient fortifications in this part are very
curious and important. A conical hill, about three fourths of a mile
beyond, called the Belvidere, which overlooks the whole extent of the
city, has been supposed by some to be the ancient fortress of the
Hexapylon, but there are not sufficient remains to force our assent to
such an opinion. The view is very fine, and the whole country here very
pleasant, but still higher hills rise at a short distance on the north,
and limit the prospect. There is an ancient aqueduct cut in the rock,
and a little below it a modern channel, which is, I believe, what now
supplies the washing-place above-mentioned, and turns the mill in the
theatre.
I have noticed one quarry in which the ear of Dionysius is situated.
Great part of it is now garden and olive-ground, and there are other
caverns, one of which is used as a rope-walk. An insulated mass rises in
the midst, crowned with the ruins of a building, which are quite
inaccessible. This quarry is the westernmost of the range. To the east
are several others of a similar nature, and the gardens of a Capuchin
convent occupy the eastern extremity of this range of quarries; a place
as romantic as it is singular, where the richest vegetation intervenes
between perpendicular faces of naked rock, which here likewise has been
partially hollowed out into caverns. There is a vault below the church,
where the good fathers are kept after death. They are first buried, and
probably the earth has some drying property, then taken up, and seated
in their Capuchin dresses in this place, where they have a very shocking
appearance. After some years they fall to pieces, and make room for
others. The Catacombs are also supposed to have been quarries. The
entrance is in a convent, which exhibits indications of Norman
architecture, but circular arches are here united with running foliage
in the capitals. Something of a regular plan seems to have been followed
in these very extensive excavations.
I could not leave Syracuse without visiting the Fountain Cyane, which is
a little pool, somewhat larger than the New River head near Ware, but
less regular in its form, and furnishing a more copious supply of water.
The banks of the stream issuing from it are covered with the _Arundo
Donax_, and with the Papyrus. It is deep, but so choaked with vegetation
that the boat could hardly get along. On an eminence, at a small
distance, are parts of the shafts of two Doric columns, of considerable
size, but without capitals: they are standing erect in their places, and
are believed to be the remains of a temple of Jupiter Olympus. Wilkins
supposes them columns of the interior rather than of the outer
peristyle, because they have only sixteen flutes. These flutes terminate
abruptly at about one foot from the bottom.
There is in most of the Italian cities a coffee-house called the Casino,
which is a place of resort for the nobles. At Syracuse they have a
constitutional coffee-house, which will admit also respectable persons
engaged in commerce, and others who cannot prove their membership of any
noble family. These were established under English influence in several
Sicilian cities, and I spent some pleasant evenings in this at Syracuse.
The favourite game is draughts, in which, without any increase of the
number of squares, the king has the power which we give to him at Polish
draughts. The usual game in Italy does not permit a private in any case
to take an adverse king, but in other respects the game is played as
with us. In Greece sixteen men are used on each side, and they move
either forward or laterally, never diagonally or backward, and take by
passing over any unsupported man, just as we do, but in the direction in
which they move.
Syracuse contains more of interest to the antiquary than to the
architect, yet, since leaving it, I have regretted that I did not make a
longer stay, and visit Noto and Ispica. At the latter place the chambers
cut out of the rock on each side of a narrow valley are so numerous, as
to merit the name of a subterraneous city.