Another victim of the Protestant revolution seems to have been the

ancient city of St. Mary's, which, being in a district inhabited chiefly

by Catholics, had always been distinguished by its attachment to the

proprietaries. This circumstance was not calculated to lessen the

complaints long made of its inconvenient remoteness from the greater

part of the present settlements. A natural feeling had nevertheless

retained the government at its old seat, (antiquity is comparative,) and

in 1674 a state-house was built, at an expense (40,000 pounds of

tobacco) which, in our author's opinion, shows it to have been a work of

some taste and magnitude. This edifice was habitable till the present

year, when its remains, which it would have been better taste to spare

at least, if not preserve, were removed to make room for a church,

erected on or near its site. Notwithstanding this embellishment of his

capital, the proprietary, in 1683, yielded to the wishes of the

colonists, and removed the legislature, the courts, and the public

offices, to "the Ridge," in Anne Arundel county, and thence to Battle

Creek, on the Patuxent; but the want of the necessary accommodations

drove them from the first after one session, and from the latter after

the shorter experiment of three days. The government was brought back to

St. Mary's, and remained there till the Protestant revolution, when its

removal was again resolved on. The petition of the ancient city against

the measure, and the reply to it, exhibit the usual topics of the two

parties which divide the world; on the one side, prescription and

ancient privilege; utility, and the progress of events on the other. In

vain the citizens expatiated also on their capacious harbour, in which

five hundred sail might ride securely at anchor; and offered to keep up,

at their own cost, a coach, or caravan, or both, to run daily during the

session of the legislature and provincial courts, and weekly at other

times; and at least six horses, with suitable furniture, for all persons

having occasion to ride post. Neither their representations nor their

offers begat any thing more than sarcasms on their leanness and poverty,

and the intended removal took place in 1694-5.

The spot selected for the new seat of government, was a point of land at

the mouth of the Severn; a town, according to the definition before

given, but not yet possessing the qualification required by a colonial

statute, entitled by the author "an act to keep the towns off the

parish," which denied it the right of sending a delegate to the

assembly, till inhabited by as many families as might defray his

expenses, without being chargeable to the county. This place, known as

"Proctor's," or "the town-land at Severn," was named, at the removal,

Anne Arundel town; the following year it acquired the title of the Port

of Annapolis; it was erected in 1708 into a city, with the privilege,

which it still retains, of sending two delegates to the assembly. Four

or five years after it had become the seat of colonial legislation, it

is described as containing about forty dwellings, seven or eight of

which could afford good lodging and accommodation for strangers. One is

curious to know what might have been the accommodations at "the Ridge,"

and at Battle Creek. Our informant continues, "there is also a

statehouse and free-school, built of brick, which make a great show

among a parcel of wooden houses; and the foundation of a church is laid,

the only brick church in Maryland." He adds, "had Governor Nicholson

continued there a few _months_ longer, he had brought it to

_perfection_." This perfection it seems not to have acquired even as

late as 1711, being then described by one "E. Cooke, gentleman," in his

poem called "The Sotweed Factor," yet, by rare accident, extant, as--

"A city situate on a plain,

Where scarce a house will keep out rain;

The buildings, fram'd with cypress rare,

Resemble much our Southwark Fair;--

And if the truth I may report,

It's not so large as Tottenham-court."

This tobacco merchant, as we translate his title, a gentleman apparently

of a caustic vein, the prototype of English travellers in America,

reflects also on the hospitality of the new capital; an allegation

doubtful, considering its source, but at any rate amply refuted at a

subsequent day, as this little city, though it never acquired a large

population or commerce, was, long before the American revolution,

proverbial for the profuse hospitality of its inhabitants, their elegant

luxury, and liberal accomplishments. A French writer thus describes it

during the revolution, when it may be presumed to have shared the

distresses and gloom of the period: "In that very inconsiderable town,

of the few buildings it contains, at least three-fourths may be styled

elegant and grand. Female luxury here exceeds what is known in the

provinces of France. A French hair-dresser is a man of importance among

them; and it is said a certain dame here hires one of that craft at one

thousand crowns a year. The state-house is a very beautiful building; I

think the most so of any I have seen in America."[10] To these habits of

profusion, our author is inclined to add others less excusable, and

hints at "dangerous allurements," administering neither to happiness nor

purity. This early seat of colonial elegance and luxury is still the

political metropolis of Maryland. From the lofty dome of its state-house

the visiter may still look down on mansions that betoken ancient

opulence, and on a landscape of quiet beauty, varied with gardens and

ancient trees, and picturesquely watered by winding estuaries of the

Chesapeake, whose breeze attempers a climate rich in early flowers and

fruits. It was at this time the residence, of course, of the royal

governors, of whose administration we find little to record in this

hasty narrative. One of them, indeed, Francis Nicholson, though a pliant

minister of the crown, seems to have acquired some popularity in the

province, his versatility of temper combined with some energy and

talent, and a courteous demeanour, enabling him to fall easily into the

prevailing humour. Having arrived when the enthusiasm of the Protestant

revolution was yet fresh, he became a great patron of the clergy, and

promoter of orthodoxy, and in that capacity we find him engaged in

proceedings against Coode, though the latter had figured in the events

by which the Protestant ascendency had been established, when his

services were deemed of such merit as to entitle him to the reward of

one hundred thousand pounds of tobacco, and an office. Coode seems not

to have elevated his private virtues to the level of his public. He

subsequently appears exercising the incompatible functions of a

clergyman, a collector of customs, and a lieutenant-colonel of militia,

at the same time alleging that religion was a trick, and that all the

morals worth having were contained in Cicero's offices. If the orthodoxy

of Governor Nicholson was offended by these opinions, his vanity was not

less so by intimations from Coode, that as he had pulled down one

government, he might assist in overthrowing another. The agitator, on

the ground of his being in holy orders, was prevented by the governor

from serving as a delegate in the assembly, and was then dismissed from

his employments, and indicted for atheism and blasphemy. He fled to

Virginia, but afterwards, on the removal of Nicholson from the

government, came in and surrendered himself. In consideration of former

services, his sentence was suspended; age and adversity probably tamed

his unquietness, as thenceforward we hear no more of him in the colonial

history. Nicholson's next proceedings were against some persons whose

principal offence seems to have been the ascription to him of certain

acts of early licentiousness not very consistent with his orthodox zeal,

and which, as they have come down to posterity, might, the author says,

be entitled the _Memorabilia_ of Governor Nicholson. Whatever these

_Memorabilia_ were, they seem not to have impaired the popularity of his

administration, which was also remarkable for the establishment, in

1695, of a public _post_, before unknown in the colonies. The route of

this post extended from some point on the Potomac through Annapolis to

Philadelphia. The postman was bound to travel the route _eight times a

year_, for which he received a salary of 50_l._ The scheme dropped on

the death of the first postman in 1698, and appears not to have been

revived afterwards. A general post-office for the colonies was

established by the English government in 1710.

Though our author pronounces the administration of the royal governors

to have been favourable in general to the liberties and prosperity of

the colony, its population and resources appear to have increased

extremely little during that era. In 1689 it contained about twenty-five

thousand inhabitants, and in 1710 only thirty thousand. Immigration had

in a great measure ceased; a circumstance imputable to nothing so

probably as the change in its religious policy. Complaints are made of

the distressed condition of its husbandry, and the years 1694 and 1695

were years of unusual scarcity, and of surprising mortality among the

cattle and swine. The artisans, including the carpenters and coopers,

constituted, according to a statement in 1697, only one-sixtieth of the

whole population. The colonists depended entirely on England for the

most necessary articles; in a few families, coarse clothing was

manufactured out of the wool of the province; and some attempts were

made in the counties of Somerset, and Dorchester, to manufacture linen

and woollen cloths on a more extensive scale. Even these imperfect

attempts seem to have offended the commercial jealousy of the mother

country; for the difficulty of getting English goods at the time, is

mentioned by way of excuse for them. There was an inconsiderable export

to the West Indies, and a small trade with New-England for rum,

molasses, fish, and wooden wares, for their traffic in which latter

article the New-Englanders were already conspicuous. The shipping of the

colony was very trifling, the trade with England being carried on

entirely in English, and that with the West Indies, chiefly in

New-England vessels.

The proprietary government had now been suspended twenty-five years. It

had fallen through jealousy of the Catholics, and Charles Calvert, who

submitted in his own person to the loss of power for the sake of the

religion in which he had grown up, had yielded to the anxieties of a

parent, and induced his son and heir, Benedict Leonard Calvert, to

embrace the doctrines of the established church. By his own death, in

February, 1714, and that of his heir in April, 1715, the title to the

province devolved to Charles Calvert, the infant son of the latter, who

was also educated in the Protestant faith. The reason for excluding the

proprietary family then subsisted no longer; their claims were in fact

soon after acknowledged by George I. and their government restored in

the person of the infant proprietary, in May, 1715. The only consequence

of this event meriting notice, was the imposition of a test-oath,

requiring of Catholics the abjuration of the Pretender, and the

renunciation of some of the essential points of their faith. Private

animosity gave edge to these civil persecutions; Catholics were excluded

from social intercourse, _nor permitted to walk in front of the

State-House_; swords were worn by them for personal defence. Charles

Calvert died in 1751, leaving the province to his infant son Frederic,

after acquiring for his administration the praise of moderation and

integrity. Yet it was fruitful in internal dissensions, which no policy

could have averted. The controversy respecting the extension of the

English statutes to the colony, originated in 1722, and was succeeded in

1739 by the disputes relating to the proprietary revenue; controversies

full of heat at the time, but which will be more conveniently considered

in connexion with some subsequent transactions of the same sort. One

dispute may be mentioned here, as indicating the spirit of all the rest.

The "Six Nations," a tribe of Indians, occupying a border position

between the French and English colonies, had claims to a considerable

portion of the territory of Maryland lying along the Susquehanna and the

Potomac, and in 1742 it was resolved to depute commissioners to Albany

for the purpose of extinguishing them by treaty. The lower house of

assembly claiming, however, to participate in the appointment of the

commissioners, and also to restrict the amount of expenditure, a dispute

arose on this point of prerogative, which was only adjusted, two years

after, by the governor's appointing the commission on his own

responsibility, and defraying its charges from the ordinary revenue. The

claims in question were extinguished by the Indian treaty of Lancaster,

in June, 1744.

Questions of this sort now became frequent between the lower house of

the colonial legislature and the proprietary governors. At this period

the French settlements in Canada had begun to be formidable, and their

fortifications had been extended along the northern lakes, with a view

of connecting them by a chain of posts on the Mississippi, with their

possessions in Louisiana. They had encountered much resistance in this

quarter from the Six Nations, just mentioned, whose hostility to France

made them usually the allies of the English, but whose consistent aid

was only to be bought. As early as 1692, New-York had asked pecuniary

succors of the other colonies, of Maryland among them, for securing the

faith of these savage allies, and repelling the common enemy. A general

injunction to the like effect was issued by the crown, and this was

followed by more particular instructions, defining the respective quotas

of the colonies. Thus began the system of "crown requisitions," which,

always received with an ill grace, were often entirely disregarded. In

the "French war," which began in 1754, a few years after the death of

the last mentioned proprietary, Maryland scarcely co-operated, and the

want of her aid was seriously felt in several of its campaigns; a course

construed by the mother country into a pertinacious and unreasonable

opposition to its wishes, and by the sister colonies into a selfish

disregard of the obligations of mutual defence. Mr. Pitt himself, the

subsequent champion of American liberties, was so highly incensed at the

conduct of Maryland, as to avow his resolution to bring the colonies to

a more submissive temper. Dr. Franklin appreciated more correctly, and

explained, the course of the Maryland assembly. We have his authority,

that it voted considerable aids, only rendered abortive by unhappy

disputes between the two houses as to the mode of raising the requisite

revenue. The popular branch claimed also the privilege of exercising its

judgment as to the details of defence, and of directing its efforts with

a view to the more immediate interests of Maryland, and to the dangers

which seemed most instant. In 1754, it voted L6000, however, for the

defence of Virginia; and on the disastrous defeat of Braddock, by which

the frontiers of Maryland herself were left defenceless, and the terror

of her borderers borne to the very heart of her settlements, her

legislature waived the pending disputes, and entered into the extensive

plan of operations concerted by a council of the colonial governors at

New-York. A supply was voted of L40,000, of which L11,000 were to be

applied to the erection of a fort and block-house on her own western

frontier.

At this period, the westernmost settlements of the province scarcely

extended beyond the mouth of the Conococheague, a tributary of the

Potomac, though a few of the more adventurous of the borderers had

plunged perhaps a little deeper into the wilderness. The settlement at

Fort Cumberland, was not then a settlement of Maryland; and, being

separated from the inhabited limits of the latter, by a deep and almost

trackless forest of eighty miles, the fort at that place could afford no

protection to the frontiers of the colony. Its very situation was, at

that not remote day, a subject of conjecture to the good people of

Maryland. There were many passes of approach for the Indian foe, beyond

its range; and a few stockade forts erected by the settlers were the

only retreats for their families in case of these sudden and frightful

inroads. A more eligible defensive position was sought, therefore, on

the Potomac, a few hundred yards from its bank, and ten or eleven miles

above the mouth of the Conococheague. On this spot was erected Fort

Frederick, the only monument of ante-revolutionary times remaining in

Western Maryland, every vestige of the fortification at Cumberland

having disappeared. It was constructed of durable materials, in the most

approved manner, and was seen by our author in the summer of 1828, the

greater part still standing, in good preservation, in the midst of

cultivated fields.

At the peace of Paris, which ended the French war, the population of the

province had rapidly increased to about 165,000. The number of convicts

alone, imported since the proprietary restoration, was estimated at

fifteen or twenty thousand. The annual shipment of tobacco to England,

according to the best information obtainable, amounted to 28,000

hogsheads, valued at L140,000, and the other exports, in 1761, to

L80,000 currency; the imports, in the same year, to L160,000. Iron was

the only manufacture that had made any progress. As early as 1749, there

were eight furnaces and nine forges, manufacturing, by an estimate in

1761, 2,500 tons of pig, and 600 of bar iron. Such were the resources of

Maryland, at the commencement of the civic struggle for her liberties,

beginning with the Stamp Act.

For the honour of originating and sustaining the resistance to this, and

the like measures of the British government at this time, our author

justly remarks, that there is little room for rivalry among the

colonies. They had all brought with them, as a familiar principle of

English liberty, their right of exemption from taxes, unsanctioned by

their assent, for mere purposes of revenue. There was nothing in the

political establishments of Maryland to efface this original impression.

Its charter exhibits the most favourable form of proprietary government;

and its benignant provisions for the security of rights, were the cause

that it retained, till the revolution, the anxious attachment of the

colonists. It designed entirely to exclude the taxation of the province

by the mother country; and, though the proprietary rights were leniently

exercised by a family which seems to have been especially characterized

by mildness and moderation, they also were limited and modified by the

spirit of the colonists, to a consistency with public welfare, and their

broad notions of the privileges of freemen. Several branches of the

proprietary revenue proving burdensome, or vexatious in the mode of

their collection, were commuted, or partially diverted to the public

defence and uses; and, even when the provincial assemblies failed of

effecting these objects, their pretensions served to familiarize the

people with the principle, that all impositions were illegal, not

sanctioned by their consent. Our limits do not permit us to go into the

history of these questions, which forms an interesting portion of the

present work.

The resistance of the colony to external aggressions was not less

resolute. We have noticed her neglect of the royal rescripts in the case

of the _quotas_; she opposed with like firmness, the plan originated in

1701, and revived in 1715, for destroying the charters, converting the

colonies into royal governments, and forming a confederacy of them, at

whose head was to be a royal commissioner, residing at New York. She was

as adverse to the plan of colonial union, aiming at much the same

object, proposed in 1753. We have already alluded to the controversy

respecting the extension of the English statutes to the province, which

began in 1722, and lasted ten years. In their session of that, year, the

lower House of Assembly adopted a series of resolves assertory of their

liberties, and declaring the grounds on which they claimed the benefit

of the statutes. These resolves, which became the Magna Charta of the

province, and were afterwards substantially re-adopted on every

occasion, involving its rights and liberties, declared that the province

was not to be regarded as a conquered country, but as a colony planted

by English subjects, who had not forfeited by their removal any part of

their English liberties; that, as such, they had always enjoyed the

common law, and those general statutes of England, which were not

restrained by words of local limitation, and such acts of the colonial

legislature, as were made to suit the particular constitution of the

province; and that this was declared, not from apprehension of the

infringement of their liberties by the proprietary, but as an assertion

of them, and to transmit their sense thereof, and the nature of their

constitution, to posterity. These resolves divided the whole province

into two parties, "the court party," consisting of the immediate

retainers and adherents of the proprietary, and "the country party,"

which embraced the lower house, and the great body of the people. On the

latter side, were enlisted all the talents of the province; and the

papers on this subject proceeding from the lower house, were marked by

great ability and research. Some of them are from the pen of the elder

Daniel Dulany, the father of another distinguished person of that name,

and who transmitted to his son the talents, which, our author remarks,

seem to have been the patrimony of the family in every generation. The

controversy resulted in the recognition of the pretensions of the

assembly, and thenceforth the courts of judicature continued to adopt

such statutes as were accommodated to the condition of the province.

The spirit which begat and established these claims, appeared equally in

the dissensions which succeeded them, respecting the proprietary

revenues. A series of resolves was adopted by the lower house in 1739,

denouncing, as arbitrary and illegal, the levying of certain duties, the

settling of officers' fees by proclamation or ordinance, and the

creation of new offices with new fees, without the assent of the

assembly. The act proposing the appointment of an agent to present these

grievances to the king was vindicated by a message from the lower house,

"worthy to be preserved for its laconic boldness." "The people of

Maryland," say they, "think the proprietary takes money from them

unlawfully. The proprietary says he has a right to take that money. This

matter must be determined by his majesty, who is indifferent to both.

The proprietary is at home, and has this very money to enable him to

negotiate this affair on his part. The people have no way of negotiating

it on theirs, but by employing fit persons in London to act for them.

These persons must be paid for their trouble, and this bill proposes to

raise a fund for that purpose." Though the measures then adopted did not

lead to a definitive suppression of the grievances complained of, some

of them were removed in another mode. Thus, fines on alienation were

relinquished by the proprietary in 1742; officers' fees were established

by law in 1747; but the tobacco and tonnage duties formed a standing

subject of complaint till the revolution, and a justification of the

refusal of supplies, and of other opposition to the government. In

voting supplies during the French war, the lower house had imposed an

increased tax on "ordinary licenses," and a duty on convicts transported

into the colony. The former was resisted as an invasion of proprietary

prerogative; the latter, as in conflict with the acts of Parliament

authorizing their importation, according to an opinion obtained from Mr.

Murray, afterwards Lord Mansfield. The assembly was not daunted by

authoritative names. "Precarious," said they, "and contemptible indeed

would the state of our laws be, if the bare opinion of any man, however

distinguished in his dignity and office, yet acting in the capacity of

private counsel, should be sufficient to shake their authority." "I

remember," says Daniel Dulany, in his Considerations on the Stamp-Act,

"many opinions of crown lawyers on American affairs. They have generally

been very sententious;--they have all declared that to be legal, which

the minister, for the time being, has deemed to be expedient." The

opinion of Attorney-General Pratt, afterwards Lord Camden, prevailed as

little on a subsequent occasion. In it he denied the legality of certain

extensions of the taxing power, in a supply bill voted by the lower

house. It is chiefly remarkable, however, for the distinction set up by

one who was afterwards an advocate of American liberties, between the

rights of the House of Commons and of the Colonial Assemblies. The

Assembly entertained a very different judgment. "Being desirous," they

said, "to pay the opinion all due deference, we cannot but wish it had

been accompanied with the state of the facts on which it was founded."

In nine successive sessions, the supply bill was passed in nearly its

original form. With such exhibitions of the tempers of the colonies, it

is a just subject of wonder that the Stamp-Act should ever have been

ventured on.

The peace of Paris had now, however, not only secured the safety, and

with it the gratitude of the colonies, but also confirmed over them, it

was supposed, the authority of the mother country. But if the

termination of the French war, says the author, seemed to the government

a fair occasion for resuming designs never lost sight of, its progress,

however calamitous, had nurtured the free and adventurous spirit of the

colonists by privations and dangers, until their minds, as well as their

resources, were matured for effectual resistance. Their trade, indeed,

was burdened with duties imposed for its regulation and restriction; but

no tax had yet been laid for the mere purpose of revenue. Sir Robert

Walpole "had sagaciously remarked, that, contenting himself with the

benefits of their trade, he would leave the taxation of the Americans to

some of his successors, who had more courage, and less regard for

commerce." The Stamp-Act, by which the experiment was now to be tried,

being stripped of the odious machinery of collection, and operating

indirectly, was a well contrived initiatory measure. Coupled with it,

however, were certain harsh enforcements of the trade-laws at this time,

which had the effect of raising higher the indignation of the colonists,

and of confounding the distinction hitherto, though reluctantly

admitted, between the right to regulate their commerce, and that of

direct taxation.

Circumstances prevented Maryland from expressing her opposition to the

measure through her legislature, before, and for some period after its

adoption. The act was passed on the 22d of March, 1765, and that body

was repeatedly prorogued, from November, 1763, to September, 1765. This

delay, at such a juncture, did not escape strong remonstrance. There

existed, however, at that time, another mirror of the public feeling,

whose respectable antiquity deserves mention. This was a journal at

Annapolis, conducted by Jonas Green, under the name of "The Maryland

Gazette." It was established in 1745, and has ever since been conducted

by his descendants, under the same title. Its pithy appeals to the

popular sentiment are amusing at this day; and, though the government

paper, its temperate support of colonial rights made it the vehicle of

communications on that side, not only from the province, but from other

colonies. In one from Virginia, the writer says, "it being well known

that the only press we have here is totally engrossed for the vile

purposes of ministerial craft, I must therefore apply to you, who have

always appeared to be a bold and honest assertor of the cause of

liberty." The person selected for the distribution of the stamps in

Maryland, was Zachariah Hood, a native of the province, and at one time

a merchant residing at Annapolis. His appointment was announced with due

mock ceremony in the Gazette, and himself to be a gentleman whose

conduct was highly approved by all "court-cringing politicians, since he

was supposed to have wisely considered, that, if his country must be

_stamped_, the blow would be easier borne from a native than a

foreigner." His arrival also was greeted with customary honours; his

effigy, according to a circumstantial narrative in the Gazette, being

hung to the toll of bells, by the "assertors of British American

privileges" at Annapolis, and afterwards at Baltimore, Elk-Ridge,

Fredericktown, and other places, in emulation. These significant tokens

of the popular temper seem to have been promoted, as acts of deliberate

defiance, by men of authority and character; as among the "assertors" at

Annapolis was the celebrated Samuel Chase, who, at twenty-four, was

already the champion of colonial liberties, and gave promise of that

combination of abilities, which afterward elevated him beyond rivalry in

the province, as a lawyer and advocate, and a leader both of popular and

deliberative assemblies. Talents thus employed would naturally provoke

the calumny of opponents. A publication of the municipality of

Annapolis, describes him as "a busy, restless incendiary, a ringleader

of mobs, and a promoter of their excesses; a foul-mouthed and inflaming

son of discord and faction." His reply, "abounding in personal

reflections, and savouring too much of coarse invective," shows

something of the spirit of a tribune of the people, who, thrown into a

tumultuous scene, and into contests with the courtly adherents of power,

might deem himself excused for some disdain of reserve, and some

bluntness of phrase. I admit, he says, that I was one of those who

committed to the flames the effigy of the Stamp-Distributor, and who

openly disputed the parliamentary right to tax the colonies; while some

of you skulked in your houses, and grumbled in corners, asserting the

Stamp-Act to be a beneficial law, or not daring to speak out your

sentiments. The reader may be curious to know Hood's subsequent

adventures. Not daring to distribute the stamps, and finding the

indignation which had been lavished on his effigy, taking a more

dangerous direction towards his person, he absconded secretly, and never

paused in his flight till he reached New-York, and had taken refuge

under the cannon of Fort George. Having gone afterwards to reside on

Long Island, a party surrounded the house where he was concealed,

requiring the abjuration of his office, on pain of being delivered to

the exasperated multitude, and carried back to Maryland, with labels

upon him signifying his office and designs. Unwilling to run this

gantlet through a country up in arms, he yielded, and was accompanied by

upwards of a hundred gentlemen from Flushing to Jamaica, where he swore

to his abjuration, and was discharged.

The first measure of the assembly, when at length convened, was to

appoint commissioners to a general congress that was to be held in

New-York; its next, to make an expression of its sentiments on the

existing question. The tone and unanimity of the resolves adopted,

sufficiently show, in the author's opinion, that the temper and course

of Maryland at this juncture, have been too lightly considered, and may

advantageously be compared with those of any other colony. Another of

her contributions, and not the least effective, to the common cause, was

an essay published at Annapolis, in October, 1765. "A style easy but

energetic, perspicuous thoughts, illustrations simple, and arguments

addressed to every understanding," betrayed it to be the production of

Daniel Dulany, the younger, whom it placed at once in the first rank of

political writers. Long signal for talents and professional learning,

his "Considerations" earned him the more grateful distinction of the

great champion of colonial liberties; and in the joyous celebrations of

the repeal of the stamp-act, placed him in remembrance with Camden, and

with Chatham, his admirer and eulogist. It is known, that in this essay

Mr. Dulany, though bold and decided as to the question of right, urged

the disuse of British commodities as the most advisable weapon of

resistance. This appeal to the commercial cupidity of England would,

also, he thought, be the most effectual. The course, even could it have

been perseveringly adopted, was too pacific for the temper of the times.

Political integrity and abilities associated the name of Dulany with the

history of Maryland, during the better part of a century. The father of

the distinguished person just mentioned, was admitted to the bar of the

provincial court in 1710, and for forty years held the first place in

the confidence of the proprietary and in the popular affection, being a

functionary in the highest post of trusts, and long a leader also of the

country party in the assembly. He was a kinsman of the celebrated

Delany, the intimate of Swift, some of whose letters to him breathe the

tone both of friendship and reverend regard. His son, Daniel Dulany,

_the Greater_, (as our author styles him,) came to the bar in 1747, and

was named one of the council in 1757; in 1761, he was appointed

secretary of the province, and thenceforward held these posts in

conjunction, till the Revolution. His legal arguments and opinions, the

praise of contemporaries, and the deference of courts, attest him to

have been an _oracle_ of law; as a scholar and an orator, he was not

only highly celebrated at home, but in the judgment of Mr. Pinkney, who

saw him but in his "evening declination," unexcelled by the master minds

abroad. Suavity of manners, and the graces of the person, combine to

complete a most agreeable picture.

The stamp-paper had now arrived. The governor, to whom the lower house

had refused all advice as to the disposal of that paper, found it

expedient to pursue the suggestion of the upper, to retain it on board

of the vessel. By a general consent, the ordinary transactions of

business and of the courts proceeded without it, and on the 24th of

February, 1766, an association, bearing the name of the "Sons of

Liberty," was formed at Baltimore, with the object of compelling the

government offices at Annapolis to dispense with it likewise. They

assembled at that place on a day assigned, the 31st of March; and the

provincial court and other offices, after first a peremptory refusal,

and some delay, conceded the point. Thus was the stamp-act virtually

annulled in Maryland; it had been repealed in England a few days before,

on the 18th of March; so that, in the author's words, "Maryland was

never polluted even by an attempt to execute it."

Of the subsequent revival of the scheme of taxing the colonies, the

manner and the event are so well known, that we have only to notice the

contemporary transactions in Maryland, which fanning the resentment of

her people, kept her at an even pace with the other provinces in the

march of resistance. The "Proclamation and Vestry Act questions," have

lost indeed their momentary interest, but serve to show in how many

schools of exercise the champions were trained, who afterward displayed

their collected prowess in a more conspicuous arena.

The colonial legislature had always controlled the provincial officers

by exercising the right to determine their fees, which, by way of

further precaution, they had been in the habit of regulating by

temporary acts. An act of this nature, passed in 1763, coming up for

renewal in 1770, objections were made to the exorbitance of the fees

themselves, abuses in the mode of charging, and the want of a proper

system of commutation. Angry discussions were followed by a prorogation

of the assembly, and subsequently by a proclamation of Governor Eden,

ostensibly to prevent extortion in the officers, but with the real

purpose of regulating the fees by the prerogative of his office;

accordingly, he re-established the fee-act of 1763. The proclamation

begat the usual array of parties for and against prerogative, in which

our author includes the established clergy on the government side, and

on the popular, the lawyers. In this conflict of influence and

abilities, by a turn which is to be lamented, as it threw them into

collision with the Revolutionary leaders, and exciting high resentments

on both sides, kept him aloof from their measures, Daniel Dulany was, in

this question, the prominent partisan of the governor and upper house.

The grounds somewhat technical on which he defended their procedure as

both legal and expedient, and the more large and comprehensive ones on

which it was impugned, were set forth in a series of essays in the

Maryland Gazette, in which Mr. Dulany's antagonist was Charles Carroll

of Carrollton. The angry excitement of the day gave these essays one

feature in common,--strong invective, and personalities,--"of which,

some are now unintelligible, and all deserve to be forgotten." Their

distinctive characteristics are,--in Mr. Dulany's, "the traces

everywhere of a powerful mind, confident in its own resources, indignant

at opposition, contemptuous, as if from conscious superiority, yet

sometimes affecting contempt to escape from principles not to be

resisted;" in his opponent's, the language of a man "confident in his

cause, conscious that he is sustained by public sentiment, and exulting

in the advantage of this position." When the discussion was dropped by

these combatants, it was taken up by others, as vigorous and adroit. In

this new controversy, John Hammond, no contemptible reasoner in behalf

of the proclamation, found antagonists in Thomas Johnson, the first

governor of the _state_ of Maryland, Samuel Chase, and his more

conciliatory friend and coadjutor, William Paca. In the proceedings of

the lower house relative to this subject, we find a sententious

description of political liberty, which might serve as the motto of all

_Constitutionalists_. "Who," says their address, "_who are a free

people? Not_ those over whom government is reasonably and equitably

exercised, but those who live under a government so constitutionally

checked and controlled, that proper provision is made against its being

otherwise exercised."

The "Vestry Act" related to _clergy dues_, and the controversy on it

arose out of the technical objection, that the law imposing them, which

was enacted in 1701-2, was passed by an assembly, which, being dissolved

by the demise of the king, had nevertheless been convened with fresh

writs of election. The law thus regarded as intrinsically defective, had

the farther demerit of being revived, (as in the case of the officer's

fees,) in default of an existing enactment, by proclamation of the

governor. In this discussion the clergy naturally took a part, and

"found in their own body an advocate of extraordinary powers, in the

person of Jonathan Boucher." These questions filled the province with

contention. An act regulating clergy dues, some time after, put that

question to sleep; the other remained in angry suspense, till swallowed

up, with all less disputes, in the vortex of the Revolution.

That event was now nearly impending. It may be remembered, that the duty

act of 1767, in which the ministerial scheme of taxing the colonies had

been revived, had been subsequently repealed, except as to the article

of tea, on which the duty had been retained, "by way, it has been

remarked, of pepper-corn rent, to denote the tenure of colonial rights."

A new stratagem of the ministry in this matter was followed, it is also

known, by "the burning of the tea in Boston," and by the retaliatory

measure of the Boston-Port Bill; acts, respectively, which may be said

to have made up the issue between the conflicting parties. The

convention in 1774, assembled at Annapolis, in June of that year. In the

October following, the _tea-burning_ at Boston was re-enacted in

Maryland, with circumstances of deliberation and defiance that show what

a flame was abroad. On the 14th of that month, the brig Peggy Stewart

arrived at Annapolis, having, as a part of her cargo, seventeen packages

of tea. The non-importation agreement, to which the act of 1767 had

given rise, was understood to be retained as to this article, which

still bore the badge of usurpation in the obnoxious duty. The consignees

did not venture to incur the public indignation by landing the teas,

without at least consulting the Non-Importation Committee; but in the

meantime, the vessel was entered, and the duties paid by Anthony

Stewart, a part owner of the vessel. The people, highly incensed,

determined, _in a public meeting_, at Annapolis, that the tea should not

be landed. It was proposed, in a subsequent one, to burn it; and at a

county meeting which followed, it was decided, that this should be

accompanied also by a most humiliating apology from Stewart and the

consignees. As the people now threatened to burn the vessel itself, the

former, by the advice of Carroll of Carrollton, proposed to destroy her

with his own hands. Crowds repaired to the water-side to witness the

atonement; the vessel was run ashore at _Windmill Point_, where Stewart

set fire to his own vessel, with the tea on board.

All was now preparation for open hostilities. Military associations were

formed, military exercises eagerly engaged in, and subscriptions set

afoot for purchasing arms and ammunition. The planters were requested to

cultivate flax, hemp, and cotton, and to enlarge their flocks with a

view to the manufacture of woollens. At this point we must leave Mr.

M'Mahon. On the appearance of his second volume, we may resume his

narrative from this period, and take the same occasion to notice some

other matters in his work, for the discussion of which we have not room

at present.

[Footnote 10: New Travels by the Abbe Robin, one of the Chaplains to the

French Army in N. America.]

ART. X.--_Notes on Italy._ By REMBRANDT PEALE. 1 vol 8 vo.

Carey & Lea: Philadelphia: 1831.

To review a new volume of travels in Italy, may seem to many readers an

unprofitable task. Since its shores were first hailed by the faithful

Achates, it has been the goal of travellers and the theme of authors.

Every age has sent its children to visit that favoured soil; and the

barbarians who rudely invaded it from beyond its Alpine barriers, have

been followed by successive generations of men, less rude indeed from

the progress of time, but not less ardent to explore and overrun it.

Peace and war have alike urged them on. Its mountains, its valleys, its

defiles, its broad and sunny plains, have resounded for hundreds of

years with the clash of arms, and glittered with innumerable warriors;

bands scarcely less numerous have penetrated every corner, led by

spirits inquisitive for knowledge or fond of dwelling on beauties of

nature, perhaps unrivalled, and on the certain charms of refined and

exquisite art, with which no other land, however favoured, has yet dared

to offer a comparison. Nor is there wanting the ample, the reiterated

record of all this. Historians, and poets, and antiquarians, and

novelists, and travellers, have made familiar every incident of every

age--every allusion that can give fresh and delightful associations to

every spot. What ruin is there that they have not made eloquent? What

mountain, what grove, can eager curiosity, urged on by the enthusiasm of

taste and genius, discover, which is not already hallowed--that has not

"murmured forth a solemn sound."

Yet, still, we read over the oft-repeated tale; we can bear to hear

again and again the history of Roman grandeur; we delight to trace the

footsteps of warriors, of statesmen, of heroes, philosophers, and poets,

whom we have learnt to regard rather as old friends, as household

deities, as companions who have enchanted our youth, and beguiled our

later years,--who have given us at once rules and lessons of human

conduct, and pleasing visions to delight our fancies and our hearts,

than as merely individuals in the great family of mankind. We can bear

to dwell again and again on the graphic page which imparts to us the

knowledge of those triumphant efforts of taste, of genius, and of art,

whose charm time cannot injure, and which become to us the more dear,

because they remain after centuries have passed away, with scarcely a

single rival.

We were impressed with these feelings when we took up the unpretending

volume before us; we can scarcely doubt, that they will be common to

many at least of our readers, when they find our page headed with

"_Notes on Italy_." To these sentiments will be justly added a

favourable impression from the character of the writer, and the

circumstances which have led to his tour and to the publication of the

present volume.

As early as the year 1786, Charles Wilson Peale, the father of the

author, and a gentleman whose name is well known as connected with the

infant arts and sciences of America, was the first person to build an

exhibition room in the city of Philadelphia. There he displayed to a

public, perhaps but little prepared to appreciate them, the first

collection of Italian paintings, and there his son acquired in his

earliest youth, not only an enthusiastic admiration for the art itself,

which he has since successfully cultivated, but an ardent desire to

visit the region where he could behold the productions of artists whose

genius he had learned to venerate.

Having commenced his studies as a painter under the direction of his

father, he went to England, during the peace of 1802, with the design of

visiting France and Italy. The renewal of hostilities, however,

prevented this, and after availing himself for a short time of the

benefits London offered, he returned home. In 1807, he again crossed the

Atlantic; the disturbed situation of the continent obliged him to

confine himself to France; but in the gallery of the Louvre he could

admire, study, and emulate the noblest productions of the pencil and the

chisel, collected by that wonderful man, who loved to blend in the

triumphs of warlike ambition, the trophies dear to philanthropy, to

science, and to art. Mr. Peale returned to his own country, not

satisfied however, because Italy itself was yet unseen. It was in vain

that an increasing patronage and attention to the fine arts in his own

country offered him renewed reasons to remain there; he was as restless

as before, and in 1810 we again find him in Paris, and again obliged, by

the unsettled state of Europe, to forego his long cherished visit. He

returned to his own country; but the fever that still burned as in the

ardour of youth, was not allayed, and the idea that his dreams of Italy

were never to be realized, seemed, as he tells us, to darken the cloud

which hung over the prospect of death itself. For a number of years the

duties required by a large family forbade his separation from them; but

these at length permitted the gratification of his wishes, and

patronised by the liberality of several gentlemen of New-York, at the

age of fifty-one he was able to gratify a desire which had not failed to

increase with his years. The narrative of his tour, which occupied

nearly two years, is embraced in this volume. His main object was to

examine the celebrated works of Italian art, and to select, for the

employment of his pencil, some of the most excellent pictures of the

great masters which are preserved in Rome and Florence; the copies of

these carefully made cannot fail to advance, among the artists and

amateurs of his own country, a correct knowledge of the fine arts.

With his thoughts and his pursuits directed chiefly to this object, we

find in the volume before us, no pretension and little attention to

antiquarian research, or classical allusion, which have been so

generally called forth by the mouldering monuments, and the familiar

scenes connected with the history and poetry of earlier days. Neither do

we meet with the elaborate reflections on the political or social state

of Italy, in the present day. It is true, the remarks of Mr. Peale are

not confined to works of art, for he could not shut his eyes to the

scenes among which he had to pass, and he was not uninfluenced by a

general curiosity and love of truth;--but they are the notes of a

transient observer, whose mind was turned to other things. Yet they are

found not unfrequently to convey lively impressions of the state of

society and manners, and of the local peculiarities of Italy.

Having sailed from New-York, Mr. Peale arrived at Paris, in the month of

December, 1828. After a short stay there, merely sufficient to glance

over the principal works of art, and to regret the altered situation of

the magnificent gallery of Napoleon, deprived of the matchless memorials

of his conquests, he continued his journey towards the south of France.

Passing through Lyons, the route continued a long way on the border of

the rapid Rhone, upon which he saw but one vessel,--whilst the road

presented a constant procession of wagons. Such a stream in America,

between two great cities, would be covered with steam-boats. As the road

advanced south, it passed through more abundant vineyards, the verdure

of the fields became more extensive, and, on each side, were seen vast

orchards of mulberry trees, for the support of silk-worms, tributary to

the great manufactories of silk at Lyons. As he approached Marseilles,

the milder atmosphere gave evidence of a more genial climate, and the

altered costume of the women, of a different people--to the caps common

after leaving Paris, was now added a piece of black silk, of the size

and shape of a plate laid on the top of the head; and, in the immediate

vicinity of the town, the women wore black hats, with small round crowns

and broad rims. Marseilles is a large and bustling sea-port, with but

little to detain those who are in search of the productions of Italian

art. Instead of pursuing the route he had intended, by Aix and Genoa,

Mr. Peale here embarked in a Neapolitan ship, and, after a stormy and

uncomfortable passage of ten days, found himself in the magnificent Bay

of Naples. Four weeks were devoted to an examination of the works of art

in the various galleries, palaces, and churches;--and most of the

curiosities, the objects which attract an inquisitive traveller, were

examined. Among the latter may be mentioned the catacombs of _Santa

Maria della Vita_, which are thus described:--

"Descending into the valley of houses, and then rising to

the foot of a neighbouring hill, we entered the court yard

of a vast hospital for the poor; an establishment made by

the French, in which are men, women, and girls, each class

being kept separate and made to work. Here an old man

presented himself who officiated as an experienced guide,

furnished with a lantern and great flambeau made of ropes

impregnated with some kind of resin. A little back lane

conducted us to a kind of grotto, containing an altar

ornamented with several marble medallions, which are said to

have been sculptured by the early Christians. This chapel

served as an entrance to the chambers of the dead, which

consist of long, winding, and intricate passages, cut out of

the _tufa_ rock; in procuring which, for the purposes of

building, these vast subterranean excavations were

originally made, and afterwards used as depositories of the

dead. During the persecutions against the early Christians,

they were occupied by them either secretly as places of

residence, where they might practise their worship

unmolested, or, by the permission of their pagan

persecutors, as abodes of the most humiliating kind,

secluded from the light of day. Here our guide, preceding us

with his smoking torch, which he occasionally struck on the

walls, so as to scatter off a radiating flood of sparks

which left him a brighter flame, showed us the little

lateral recesses in which the humble believers were

contented to lie, and shelves, excavated in the rock, in

which their mortal remains were deposited after death. He

pointed out the larger chambers, somewhat decorated with

columns and arches in faint relief, in which the priests

resided; the places where altars stood; and, in a higher

excavation, raised his torch to a rude recess, or sunken

balcony above the arched passage, whence the word was

preached to the faithful below in a hall of great width. The

chambers occupied by the most distinguished characters were

denoted by better sculpture, Mosaic incrustations, and

fresco paintings. We followed the windings of these

subterranean corridors to a great extent, till we reached a

hall which was said to be a quarter of a mile in height; but

whether contrived for the purpose of ventilation, or as a

shaft for raising the stone, we could not ascertain, any

more than we could the accuracy of our guide's information,

that the bodies of hundreds of martyrs were thrown down

there by their pagan murderers, whence they were conveyed by

their surviving friends into the niches prepared for them.

From these remote parts, passages, now closed, were formerly

open, which communicated with other catacombs and villages

for sixteen miles round, affording the inmates, it is said,

the means of escaping the persecutions which, from time to

time, fell upon a sect so obnoxious to the pagan priesthood.

"We found the bones in these catacombs in excellent

preservation, and on many the flesh of fifteen hundred years

was still of such tenacious though pliant fibre, that it

required a sharp knife to cut off a piece. The guide showed

us the heads of some of those early Christians, with the

tongues still remaining in them, but would not permit us to

take one away. Here lived the venerated St. Januarius, whose

particular cell was pointed out to us; and to these retreats

was his dead body borne after his martyrdom; though some

ancient painters represent him walking back with his head in

his hands.

"We then visited the church of _Santa Maria della Vita_; it

is an old and curious edifice, rich in marbles, and

remarkable for the style of the grand altar, which is

constructed over another one, as on a bridge, to which you

rise by two lateral flights of steps, ornamented with

elegant balustrades of costly marbles. The old monk showed

us, behind the altar, an ancient painting of the Madonna,

resembling an Indian, and a precious door to a case

containing some sacred relic; but as we did not seem

interested in these, he proceeded to open a door in the side

wall, and requested us to walk in. To our surprise it was

the entrance to another series of catacombs, in which were

deposited the dead within the last two hundred years. These

were placed in perpendicular niches in the rock, and

plastered up, leaving only a part of the head projecting;

the men with their faces out, the women with their faces in,

only exposing the backs of their heads, from which the hair

had long since fallen. By scraping away the plaster, some of

the skeletons appeared in their whole extent, among which

was an extraordinary one of a man about eight feet tall. The

plaster which covers these bodies, thus showing only one

half of the head, was painted so as to imitate the entire

figure, clothed as men or women, and sometimes representing

them as skeletons in part covered with drapery, with various

inscriptions above them. The deeper recesses of these vaults

led to chambers where we saw two carcasses of men, deposited

only six months since; the flesh not decaying, but gradually

drying up. They were naked and seated in niches in the wall,

with their heads and arms hanging forward in very grotesque

postures. In the catacombs which we first visited, the dead

were generally placed horizontally, whereas here, all that

we now saw were standing erect. We entered some chambers,

however, with numerous empty horizontal recesses."

All the spots around Naples, of particular interest, as Vesuvius,

Posilippo, and Portici were visited; crowds of beggars were encountered

in all directions; but the people in general appeared to be healthy,

lively, and happy. The streets are made gay by the immense number of

carriages with which the public are accommodated at a very cheap rate,

and people of all ranks are seen splashing along, sometimes to the

number of seven or eight, clinging, as well as they can, to a vehicle

scarcely large enough to hold half the number. The Neapolitans speak

with great gesticulation, using many signs which have a known meaning;

and they may sometimes be seen thus conversing across the street, from

the upper stories of opposite houses. They are, of course, great eaters

of macaroni, which is seen dangling from the shops in all parts of the

city; and nothing is more amusing than the humble purchasers gathered

around the stalls, stretching their necks with open mouths to suck it

in.

Having seen as much of Naples as a long succession of bad weather

permitted, our travellers set out in a vetturino for Rome, under the

guidance of a snug, young, leather-breeched postilion, who spoke nothing

but broad Italian. Crossing the Pontine marshes, where, it is probable,

the wintry season prevented the frogs and musquitoes from recalling to

their recollection the sufferings of Horace, they first looked down from

the heights of Albano on the dome of St. Peter's, glittering in the

bright rays of the sun, which just then broke through the clouds. On the

last day of January, Mr. Peale found himself comfortably placed in a

hotel of the Piazza di Spagna, ready to explore all that the eternal

city could offer to his curious research. He remained at Rome till the

month of July following.

His earliest visit was to St. Peter's, which he has minutely and

graphically depicted. His first sensation he describes as one of

surprise at the brightness and elegance of the whole interior, and in

part of disappointment at the apparent want of magnitude. This was

probably occasioned by the colossal statues, which, being proportioned

to the vast pilasters, arches, and columns, seem to reduce the whole to

an ordinary scale; and also to the wonderful harmony of all the parts,

which prevents the contrast necessary to fill the mind with a sense of a

gigantic object. When he had, however, walked over the wide fields of

pavement, and compared the human beings before him with the stupendous

masses around, he became by degrees convinced of the mighty magnitude,

and experienced increased emotions of wonder and delight.

His visit to St. Peter's was followed by a minute survey of all the

principal churches, galleries, antique monuments, and ruins, with which

Rome abounds, among them, and in the study of the works of the great

masters of art, he found five months pass rapidly away.

The houses of modern Rome generally present a good appearance, from the

circumstance, that, although built of brick, they are, with few

exceptions, plastered with great skill and dexterity to resemble stone,

outside and inside. The puzzolana earth forms an admirable cement, and

even when placed on the tops of houses it forms a terrace impenetrable

by water. The streets are kept rather clean by the employment of

convicts, but there is always abundance of dirt around the dwellings of

the poor, who inhabit the ground floors, which are used not only for the

residence of poverty and wretchedness, but for stables, and shops of

every kind. The men, women, and children, however, in these unpromising

abodes, are fat, dirty, and merry, and present no appearance of being

victims of malaria or despotism. The streets, except the Corso, are

seldom straight; but in the evenings they are filled with people, the

rich taking a fashionable drive, with the utmost seriousness and

silence, the poor lying and sitting on the ground, eating a piece of

bread, or a fresh head of lettuce, in general, silent and serious like

their betters, but occasionally bursting into roars of laughter, and

expressing their hilarity by loudly clapping their hands.

"As the warm weather advances, every kind of workman who can

get out his little bench, apparatus or chair, is at work in

the street close up to his house. I have counted nine

shoemakers, with their stalls, in front of one house, for

the purpose of enjoying light and air. Benches and chairs

are likewise occupied by the idle, chiefly old gentlemen, in

front of the coffee-houses, especially in the Corso, where

they are amused by the continual movement of carriages and

pedestrians. In the evening, especially on holidays, tables

are spread out with white cloths, and brilliantly

illuminated and decorated with flowers, containing various

articles of food, whilst a cook is busy on one side with his

portable kitchen, cooking dough-nuts, or other articles,

which are eaten on the spot.

"The English and French style of dress, both among men and

women, prevails not only in the higher classes, but through

all others, and in every part of the city. Huge Parisian

bonnets, full set with broad ribands, are seen in every

street; contrasting widely with the fashion of the country,

which covers the head with a white linen cloth, folded

square, and either hanging loose, or kept flat by sticks

within them, or long pins like skewers, which bind up the

hair. Long waists and stays are universal--the rich wear the

fashionable corset of France--the poor, the stays of the

country, thick set with bone, covered with gay velvet, and

worn outside of their gowns, when they have any on, and tied

at the top and back of the shoulders with long bunches of

gay ribands. An apron, skirted with many coloured bands,

hangs in front of a short petticoat with similar bands, and

the shoes have great silver buckles. The taste for large ear

and finger rings is universal, and heavy rolls of beads

encircle almost every neck--the dark red coral being

calculated, by its contrast, to improve their brown Italian

complexion.

"The peasants, as they appear in town, differ from these, in

wearing coarse pointed wool hats, decorated with ribands or

flowers; wretched, old, ragged, or patched clothes; breeches

without buttons or strings at the knees; sandals which they

make out of raw hide, turning up a little above the sole,

and with strong cords bound to their feet, the cord passing

around their legs and up to their knees, encircling coarse

linen or rags, which they wear instead of stockings. On

Sundays and holidays, certain streets, as the _Repetti_, are

the rendezvous of labouring men, who are then a little, but

very little, better dressed than on other days; always

displaying their stout legs in coarse white stockings, their

knees still unbuttoned, and their shirt collars open even in

cool weather, and, if warm, their jacket across one

shoulder, one sleeve hanging in front--the other behind, and

shifted to the other shoulder, should their exposure to the

wind or current of air require it. I have often stopped to

notice these groups, and have been surprised to find them

generally silent, but with an expression of content.

Occasionally, when a joke would circulate, it was managed

with the fewest words. It is only when much excited, that a

Roman displays any volubility of tongue or extravagance of

gesticulation to disturb his usual air of dignity--whether

above or below contempt--whether with much thought or with

no thought at all.

"The Romans are certainly a sober people, but the lower

classes, though they are not afflicted by Irish, Scotch, or

American whiskey, Holland gin, or English porter, yet often

indulge to excess in the cheap wine of the country. Every

body drinks wine, and to offer water to a beggar would be an

insult. It is only used occasionally with lemons in hot

weather. At a late hour in the evening, in many streets, may

be heard the noise of Bacchanalian merriment proceeding from

some deep cavernous chamber, which, seen by lamp-light,

shows nothing but coarse plastered walls, a greasy brick

pavement, and benches and tables, around which, in the

absence of all other comforts, the most miserable enjoy

their principal, or only meal of the day, and freely

circulate the bottle as a social bond. Besides, on holidays,

the wine shops are frequented by groups of men and women,

who sometimes exhibit around the door a noisy and licentious

crowd. But wine is not always deemed sufficient, and those

who are disposed to take a walk about sunrise, may every day

see persons with little baskets of _aqua vitae_, which is

swallowed by artificers between their beds and their

workshops."

During Mr. Peale's stay at Rome, the election of the pope afforded him

an opportunity of witnessing the many gorgeous and striking ceremonies,

which attend the elevation of the spiritual father of the church to his

temporal throne. These he has described minutely, but with little

variation from the accounts given by those who have been at Rome on

previous and similar occasions. He speaks of the sudden illumination of

the vast dome of St. Peter's, as a sight of singular magnificence; in an

instant the whole edifice appeared to throw out flowers of flame, and

then, a few moments after, a new succession of lights, still more vivid,

by their superior brightness, rendered the first nearly invisible.

From Rome, Mr. Peale went to Tivoli, and spent some days among the

lovely scenery of that spot, familiar to every one who has not forgotten

the exquisite praises Horace has bestowed on it. He saw and admired the

remnants of the temple of the Sibyl, which Claude Lorraine has so often

selected to add to the harmony and beauty of his inimitable landscapes;

and amid the importunities of beggars, who infest a traveller in Italy

in every haunt to which the love of antiquity or of scenery can lead

him, and beneath the spray of the cataract--the _polvere del'acqua_, as

it was called by the natives--he sketched a drawing of a spot which

poets and painters have alike loved to select in ancient and modern

days.

On entering Tuscany, he was pleased to find no longer the rags and

patches of Naples and Rome, but a peasantry, better clad, and more

industrious; the country was in a fine state of cultivation, and the

habitations were neat and commodious. It was the season of harvest, and

the fields abounded with men and women in nearly equal numbers, and

apparently happy as they were cheerful.

At Florence, where Mr. Peale arrived on the 7th of July, he remained

until the 22d of April following, thus devoting to that fair seat of the

arts more than eight months. His time was zealously employed in the

pursuit of his favourite studies; and he made, in the galleries so

liberally opened to artists, copies of many of those works which have

been considered as masterpieces at all times, which have been deemed the

noblest of the spoils of conquest, and have become the guides of

aspiring genius, and the test of taste, throughout the world.

The manners of the inhabitants are lively, but in general decorous; and

whenever crowds are accidentally assembled, they disperse without

tumult.

"In the public square it is common, once or twice a week, to

see a quack doctor, seated in his chaise or gig, haranguing

the crowd, with the most impassioned language and gestures:

at one corner of his carriage is a banner consisting of a

hideous portrait of an old monk, from whom he professes to

have learned his precious secrets in the healing art;

occasionally he displays a book of botanical engravings,

gaily coloured, to show his knowledge of nature and his

reliance on the bounty of Providence, invoking frequently

the name of the Blessed Virgin, and reverently taking off

his hat, in which he is imitated by the faithful around him.

At the end of his discourse he produces his medicines, which

are eagerly bought by the credulous.

"Occasionally, too, a dentist appears, on horseback, with an

attendant, likewise on horseback, who, in a similar manner,

but with an eloquence more voluble, and language more

refined, expatiates on his well known skill and experience;

and then, to suit his action to the word, proceeds to draw

the teeth gratuitously of any that may present themselves at

the left side of his horse, to the amount of five or six. It

is surprising with what dexterity he performs the act,

without moving from his saddle. Afterwards, if any one wants

the assistance of the accomplished dentist, he must be

sought at his lodgings."

The number of beggars, though great in itself, is small, when compared

to that at Rome. Every place, too, is crowded with persons who pester

you with knives, razors, and combs--linens, silks, and cloths--cravats,

shawls, and rugs--alabaster carvings, and every thing that can be

carried about by hand, which they persecute you to buy in spite of your

no, no, which means nothing to them. Experienced Italians send off the

dirty fellows with a "_caro mio_"--"no, my dear, I am not in want of

it." The streets are kept remarkably clean, and the houses are generally

substantial and well built, but less ornamented with stucco and

sculpture, than those of Rome. The public edifices are remarkable rather

for massive strength than architectural beauty, looking more like

fortresses than palaces, and black with stone and time. There are

numerous fountains scattered through the city; but, amidst the abundance

of bronze and marble ornaments which they exhibit, the stream of water

they pour out is extremely insignificant. The coffee-houses are well

served, the favourite ices are made with clean ice taken from the

streams, instead of the frozen and dirty snow collected in the

mountains, which is used at Rome. In all public places of resort, are

seen quantities of beautiful and fragrant flowers, the delight of the

Florentines; and men are everywhere met who carry baskets of them, which

are offered not only to the ladies, but are presented bunch after bunch,

with the most persevering assiduity, to gentlemen who are sipping their

coffee, eating their ice-creams, or reading the papers.

While Mr. Peale was in Florence, he had the good fortune to witness the

powers of the most celebrated improvisatrice of the day, _Rosa Taddei_,

of Naples. Her performances took place at the principal theatre, two or

three times on each occasion, but with intervals of several days:--

"When the curtain rose, the scene was that of a parlour,

seated. On the entrance of Rosa Taddei, she was greeted with

loud applause by her old friends and confiding expectants.

She appeared to be about thirty years of age, and, though

small, her uncorsetted chest gave ample space for the

important action of her powerful lungs. She was dressed as a

private lady. Her pale face indicated a studious life, but

her forehead was low and narrow, though her head was broad;

her little sunken eye was quick in its movements, and when

it looked intently out, to fashion the measure of a thought,

was accompanied by a slight contraction of the brow that

banished all suspicion of coquetry. Her nose was small, and

her mouth would be called ordinary; but when it was about to

speak, it quivered delicately with the rising emotion, and

varied its expression according to the passion of her

discourse.

"A servant now advances to the front of the stage, holding a

little casket, destined to received the papers which are

handed from different parts of the house, containing

subjects proposed for recitation. When about forty of these

are received, the casket is placed on a side table. Without

reading them she folds and returns them to the casket. This

is an operation of some time, and serves to give the

appearance of business, and, perhaps, composure to the

performer. Advancing to the side boxes and orchestra, she

offers successively to different persons the casket, out of

which, each time, a paper is drawn and presented to her.

With a grave, deliberate, and emphatic voice she reads the

theme proposed. If the subject is hackneyed, dull, or unfit,

a lamentable and deep-toned ah! synonymous with our bah! is

heard from various parts of the house; on which she tears up

the paper with an impressive look, which seems to say--such

is your pleasure. When six or seven subjects are approved by

the cries of yes, yes, she places them on her side table,

selects one, and, advancing to the piano, decides upon a

musical harmony, which the professor immediately begins to

play, and continues delicately; during which she walks in

measured steps across the stage backwards and forwards,

looking earnestly down, occasionally pausing, sometimes

raising her hand to her mouth or forehead. The crowded house

is silent as death, and she is only influenced by the

measure of the music and the arrangement of her unseen

materials of thought. This being completed, she suddenly

advances, and begins with a burst of language, in which she

continues with unhesitating volubility and moderate action,

occasionally uttering some fine expression that draws forth

from experienced critics an approving bravo! It was to be

remarked, that as she advanced to the termination of every

line, couplet, or stanza, according to the compass of the

sentiment, there was a dwelling on the syllables and a

monotonous chanting, very much resembling the cadence of a

Quaker preacher; thereby permitting her thoughts to advance

and fashion the commencement of the following line, couplet,

or stanza, which was always eagerly and expressively

pronounced at its commencement, and as regularly terminated

in the thought-resolving chant.

"Among the subjects which she treated, some of which she

began with little preparation, were the following:--The

discoveries of Galileo and Columbus, and the ingratitude of

their country; two Doctors, a Lawyer and Jealous Woman; a

Lawyer's Inkhorn; and a Dialogue between the Dome of St.

Peter and the Dome of Florence. This last appeared to

perplex her a little, and it was some time before she could

fashion it to her mind; indeed, there was an expectation,

from the frequency of her turns across the stage, and her

contracted brow, that she would be obliged to acknowledge a

failure; but when she advanced and began in elegant strains

to state the difficult nature of the singular task imposed

on her, to give tongues to the domes so long silent, and

listen to so distant a dialogue between the Duomo, the boast

of Florence, and the Dome of St. Peter, suspended in mid air

by the divine Buonarotti; and then with increasing

enthusiasm, made them recount, in strains of honourable

emulation, the great events of which they had been the

witnesses, the delight of the audience knew no bounds in the

thundering repetitions of bravo!

"Some of the pieces she composed with terminating words,

suggested by acclamation from the audience as she proceeded;

other pieces were so conceived as to introduce a particular

word into every stanza, proposed by any voice at its

commencement. It was a singular and interesting exhibition,

in which a little feeble woman, during a whole evening,

could afford the most refined entertainment to a crowded

theatre. Such is the homage paid to mental superiority."

From Florence, Mr. Peale proceeded to Pisa, and thence along the plains

or alluvial grounds between the mountains and the Mediterranean, on the

road to Genoa. At Carrara, he visited and examined the studios and

work-shops, where the various works in the marble of the celebrated

quarries are made. This marble is obtained in the ravines of the

mountains, from two to five miles distant from the town. It is generally

taken from their base, but frequently great masses are tumbled from

situations many hundred feet high, to which the labourers are an hour in

ascending, and where they work with cords around them, to secure them

against the danger of falling. The whitest marble is found only in

occasional layers, some at the base of the mountain is most beautifully

so.

On entering Genoa, the streets through which Mr. Peale passed, though of

moderate width, presented the appearance of much magnificence, being

lined with the palaces of the king and nobles. In other parts he

remarked, however, but little of the splendour which would entitle it to

be called a city of palaces; the houses are in general plain and high,

and the passages of communication wide enough only for persons on foot.

From Genoa, Mr. Peale turned again to the east, and, crossing the

extremities of the Maritime Alps, passed through the broad and beautiful

plain which spreads far and wide on either bank of the Po. At Parma, he

visited the plain and simple palace where the Empress Maria Louisa

resides, and a beautiful new theatre contiguous to it lately built by

her; he saw also the more splendid palace once inhabited by Napoleon,

which is at the extremity of the city, surrounded by fine gardens, and

contains some good frescoes and fine old tapestry. The pictures which

crowd the churches, are not, however, in the best style, but the marbles

are frequently rich and well wrought.

Bologna presents the singular character of a city composed of streets,

lined, with a few exceptions, with arcades, many of which are of lofty

and elegant proportions, and the arches supported by stone pillars with

handsome bases and capitals, while others are of plastered brick. These

long ranges of columnated arcades, impart great elegance to the general

aspect of the place. The public square is ornamented by a magnificent

fountain, which ranks among the greatest works of John of Bologna. In

the gallery of the fine arts are some admirable pictures of Guido,

Domenichino, and the Caraccis; and the Pontifical University is attended

by a great number of students, while its halls are well filled by an

extensive library, and large collections relating to natural science.

From Bologna Mr. Peale proceeded through Ferrara to Venice. His

description of the entrance into that celebrated city of the sea, does

not offer the glowing picture which novelists and poets have delighted

to paint, but perhaps conveys a more correct idea of the reality.

"Early the next morning we beheld the queen of the ocean, at

the extremity of the lagune, stretching across, and almost

united with the mole of fishermen's dwellings, called

Palestrina. The steeples and domes were relieved by an

extensive range of gray mountains, rising high in the

distance, upon the tops of which the snow was bright with

the rising sun. For many miles our boat was towed by another

boat with oarsmen. At length we reached some old walls and

ruinous houses, the outskirts of Venice, and passing these,

opened into a magnificent harbour, resembling a great river,

lined with good houses, and animated by a variety of

shipping and boats in motion. Crossing this great harbour,

we approached a point of land embellished by a beautiful

edifice as the Porto Franco, and then opened into another

great but less spacious canal. In front, the singular but

beautiful palace of the doges, and the lesser palace of St.

Mark were close by, with a fine terrace or wharf extending

along the water's edge. As our boat pursued its way to the

post-office, down the great serpentine canal or river, the

magnificence of the palaces, and their peculiar style of

architecture, rich in bold ornaments, balconies, and

sculptures, excited us to frequent exclamations of

admiration. What must have been their beauty when Venice was

in her full glory, and these marble palaces were new or in

bright repair? From many which were built of brick, the

plastering was falling off, and others, with broken windows,

were uninhabited: yet, as an evidence of renovation, since

Venice has been made a free port, we passed a large new

edifice, rising from an old foundation, and others

undergoing repair.

"The _Gondola_, about which so much is said and sung, is a

ferry-boat, very much resembling an Indian canoe, floating

lightly on the water, and rising pointed at each end, the

front being ornamented with a large sharp-edged piece of

iron, something like a battle-axe. In the centre are

cushioned seats, with an arched covering of black cloth,

where two grown persons and two children may conveniently

sit, or, on an emergency, six grown persons may squeeze

together, either with open door and side windows, or closed

with glass or black Venetian blinds. The boatmen, without a

rudder, and only one oar at his right side, stands on the

little deck of his narrow stern, and bearing his weight on

his oar, which seldom rises out of the water, not only urges

the gondola straight onwards, but by dextrous movements,

which are practised from infancy, turns it in all directions

with surprising facility and accuracy.

"Having reached the post-office, and assorted our baggage,

we entered one of these gondolas, and returned to the Hotel

de l'Europe, which we had passed on entering the port. I

found that the use of one oar produced an unpleasant rocking

of the boat, to which those are not subject who employ an

additional boatman at the front of the canoe, whose oar,

striking simultaneously with the other, at opposite sides,

corrects the evil, and it affords the advantage of greater

speed when long excursions are to be made. We landed on

marble steps rising a few feet out of the water to a vast

hall, in which the light gondola, when only for private use,

may be deposited; first divested of its covered chamber,

which two men lift off the seats and carry up.

"It had begun to rain before we entered Venice, and a mist

obscured the magnificent mountains which we had seen at

sun-rise stretching beyond and extending far over the low

lands of the adjoining continent. As it cleared up, however,

the view from our elevated balcony, of splendid edifices

stretching in various directions into the broad expanse of

waters, was as delightful as it was novel."

Mr. Peale remained in Venice, only sufficiently long to make a rapid

survey of the works of art which it contains, especially the

masterpieces of Titian, Paul Veronese, and Tintoretto, which are found

in its palaces and churches. Though the necessity of passing generally

along the canals, and the narrowness of the streets which do traverse

the city to a much greater extent than is supposed, give a gloominess to

Venice, yet the place and arcades of St. Mark offer a gay scene not

often surpassed. The leisure and excitement of a Sunday afternoon

especially, make them lively with the fashion and curiosity of the city;

among which the gay modes of Paris are less to be admired than the fine

features and rich complexions of the descendants of those men and women,

who have served as models for the glowing pencils of the masters we have

named. In the evening, the crowd may he seen still to increase, enjoying

the soft mildness of the sea atmosphere, and basking in the blaze of the

patent lamplight which attracts them round the coffee-houses; whilst a

fine band of military music, stationed in the centre of the place, with

music-books and lamps, greatly increases the popular enjoyment at the

expense of the government. The grand canal, in length two miles,

presents on each side a great number of elegant palaces, intermingled

with some ordinary buildings, all in a degree blackened and injured by

age and neglect. Some of the palaces of the ancient noble families are

in a grand style of architecture, enriched with a profusion of bold

sculpture, according to the taste of the times, and the peculiar

propensity of the Venitians to this exuberance of decoration.

From Venice Mr. Peale again turned across the peninsula. Passing through

Padua, Vicenza, and Verona, he reached Milan, where he visited the

celebrated works of art, which however do not seem to be numerous.

There, however, he took leave of the arts of Italy, and bent his way

towards the Alps. Near the village of Arona, he saw and inspected the

colossal statue of San Carlo Borromeo, which he thus describes.

"It is made of sheet copper, and stands on a pedestal about

forty feet high; and judging by a ladder which was placed at

one side, and the proportions of the persons who ascended

it, I computed the height of the statue to be about seventy

feet. This agrees with the statement of my companions, who

ascended under the skirt of his tunic, and climbed the iron

bars which united the circumference of the bishop's garment

with the brick core that rises through it. The head, they

agree, is about eight or nine feet in height, so that only a

boy or a very small man can stand in the nose. Yet it is not

only a very stupendous, but I think it rather an elegant

statue. My companions were amused with the singular

animation which they found in the head of the saint, the

dark asylum of a vast number of bats, which darted past them

to escape out of a trap-door in the neck."

Crossing the Alps by the route of the Simplon, Mr. Peale reached Geneva,

on the 29th of May, and after a short stay, set off for Paris. The dirt

and incommodiousness of most of the Italian cities, gave increased

enjoyment to his return to the noble quays of Paris, the Boulevards, and

the gardens of the Luxembourg, Tuileries, and Palais Royal. After the

course, too, which he had made through Italy, it became an object of no

little interest to examine the treasures of the Louvre. He acknowledges

that the specimens of the Italian painters there preserved, sunk a

little in his estimation as he compared them with the best works in the

galleries he had visited; but at the same time, he derived increased

pleasure from many of the productions of what may be termed the old

French school--especially from those of Poussin, Vernet, and Subleyras.

From Paris, he crossed the channel to England. He was astonished at the

great improvements of late years in London, especially in the vast

amount of buildings and ornamented squares, erected in the place of

green fields, and the improvements effected in opening and widening many

streets. _Regent street_, lined with splendid shops and dwellings like

palaces, including its circular sweep of fluted cast-iron columns, and

connecting St. James's park with the Regent's park, encircled with

splendid mansions, he thought perhaps unequalled by any thing of the

kind he had seen. Among the artists, he found our countrymen, Leslie and

Newton, holding a distinguished rank, and he bears especial testimony,

not only to the genius and reputation, but to the urbanity and moral

worth of the former.

From London he proceeded to Portsmouth, and embarking there, reached

America after an absence of nearly two years, on the last of September,

1830.

We have already remarked, that in this volume a reader is not to look

for those reflections, either on ancient or modern Italy, which are to

be found in the pages of scholars and travellers, who have visited it to

revive the memory of former studies, or to gratify emotions which are

excited by the contemplation of the fading relics of the grandeur of

Rome. Yet, we collect among the notices of Mr. Peale, many remarks which

occurred to him in the necessary attention he paid to the antiquities

that abounded on his route, from one part of the country to another; and

while he was exploring, with the curious zeal for which he is

distinguished, all parts of the various cities and towns in which he

stayed. Of these his narrative is perfectly simple. He enters into no

antiquarian discussions; he quotes no passages of familiar poets and

historians; he feels no peculiar glow from standing upon spots, or

gazing upon scenes, which would have filled to overflowing a heart

imbued with the remembrance of Virgil and of Livy. He paused in the

midst of the Forum, but not for him

"Did the still eloquent air breathe--burn with Cicero."

He wandered among the heights of Tivoli, but though the "praeceps Anio"

and the "domus Albuneae resonantis" were still there, they seem not to

have excited one thought of him, who not only preferred them to the

favoured cities of Juno and Minerva, but gave them as lasting a fame.

This is not in our opinion an objection to the volume of Mr. Peale; the

task of classical illustration has been well performed in the travels of

Eustace, whose book, censured as it may be, will ever be a favourite

with scholars; and it has been yet more brilliantly performed by the

wonderful genius of that man, who has given new fame in his immortal

poem to spots already consecrated by the noblest and sweetest

inspirations of the muse. As to most travellers, indeed, we had

infinitely rather that all classical allusion was omitted, than have

inflicted upon us the long string of hackneyed quotations, and the vapid

recollections of schoolboy studies, which go for the most part to make

up such portions of their journals. What we find here on the subject of

antiquities, is just what we might expect from an inquisitive man of

taste, making no pretensions to extraordinary research or information.

When at Naples, Mr. Peale of course visited the buried towns of

Herculaneum and Pompeii, and has described them with much minuteness, so

as convey a very distinct impression of their present state.

"The first house which was shown to us was the _Villa of

Diomedes_, of considerable extent, comprising a variety of

apartments and gardens. We descended into his wine cellar,

where there still remain some of the jars that contained his

wine. In this spacious cellar seventeen skeletons were

found, probably persons of his family who had sought this

place for safety. They were smothered and entombed, with all

their ornaments of gold upon them, by the flood of hot water

and ashes, which had evidently flowed in through the little

windows where light had been admitted, and where the traces

of the fluid may still be seen.

"The houses were generally of only one story, though, in a

few instances, we found a small stair-way leading to some

upper apartments. They consist of a great many small rooms

surrounding a court-yard, with a kind of piazza all around,

as a protection against the sun and rain. In two private

court-yards we were shown gaily decorated fountains, in

alcoves or niches, curiously and elaborately ornamented with

mosaic and shellwork, the shells being in perfect

preservation.

"We looked into many shops, the counters of which were

incrusted with bits of marble, of various colours, fitted

around the narrow mouths of large earthen jars, which were

imbedded in solid brick work, to hold oil and wine.

Sometimes there were little shelves, like steps, covered

with marble, upon which small articles were displayed close

to the window.

"The basilica, or great hall of justice, was an oblong hall

of great size, surrounded inside with noble columns, which,

from their size, must have supported a lofty roof. At the

farther end was an elevated throne, on which the judges sat;

and beneath it a chamber, where three skeletons of men were

found, fastened by their legs to iron stocks. From the

public promenade we entered the tragic and the comic

theatres; walked over the stone scats, now moss-stained;

looked on the shallow stage, which allowed no scenic effect;

stood in the prompter's central niche, and read the names of

the managers, recorded in mosaic letters on the pavement in

front of the orchestra; but its best sculptural decorations

had been removed to the museum."

In the museum at Naples are preserved all the articles taken from the

houses at Herculaneum and Pompeii, and they offer specimens of almost

every thing that, even at the present day, domestic establishments seem

to require. The visiter may here behold the charcoal form of a loaf of

bread impressed with the baker's name; a plate of eggs, or rather egg

shells, some of which are not broken, retaining their natural whiteness;

thread nets for boiling vegetables; figs, prunes, dates, olives, and

nuts of various kinds; the golden ornaments of the ladies; vases of

glass of various colours; utensils of the clearest crystal; bronze

candelabra of singular and beautiful forms; and all the apparatus of a

household, exhibiting taste, convenience and luxury. Here, too, are seen

the fresco paintings taken from Pompeii. Those first discovered,

happening to be found in a part of the city inhabited by tradesmen, did

not furnish the most elegant specimens of the arts. The judgments which

were consequently propagated from one antiquarian critic to another,

were unfavourable to the ancient painters, who were pronounced inferior

to contemporary sculptors, and ignorant of grouping, foreshortening, and

perspective. Subsequent excavations have been made in a portion of the

city where splendid temples, halls of justice, theatres, and spacious

dwellings, gave occasion for the best employment of the arts. The result

has been the discovery not only of statues and sculpture far superior to

that formerly developed, but of fresco paintings of great excellence and

beauty. Very different from those previously collected, they decisively

indicate a high state of painting, as it must have been practised in

Greece and Italy at the time the statues were executed, which yet

exhibit such perfect knowledge of the human form, and of the principles

of grouping. They prove that the ancient painters were perfectly

acquainted with the rules of perspective and foreshortening. Indeed, we

may fairly believe, from these beautiful works, done on walls, and

probably by inferior artists, that on other occasions, as in moveable

pictures, their best artists must have painted in a manner to correspond

with the high rank of their sculpture, and the extraordinary accounts

given of them by contemporary writers.

"These specimens of ancient fresco painting have been cut

out of the walls, where they were executed, with great care,

and transported here in strong cases, which serve as frames.

When first found, they are pale and dull; but, on being

varnished, their colours are brightened up to their pristine

hues, and exhibit to the astonished eye every stroke of the

brush, slightly indenting the fresh mortar, which was given

by hands that perished, with the genius that directed them,

nearly eighteen hundred years ago, yet appearing as the rich

and mellow pencilling of yesterday. Most of them are taken

from shops and ordinary houses, and represent all kinds of

objects, drawn with remarkable spirit and truth. Many of the

better kind served to decorate apartments in which there

were no windows, where they must have been executed, and

afterwards seen only by lamplight. But the best were found

in the porticos of open court yards, or on the walls of

dining-rooms or saloons. In looking closely into these, I

was surprised to find such spirited execution and knowledge

of anatomy, combined with the most exquisite beauty,

perfection of drawing, colouring and expression of

character."

It is, however, to the works of modern art that Mr. Peale has turned his

principal attention. Travelling himself as an artist; seeking for the

subjects of his own studies, the masterpieces wherever found; exercising

a criticism, not as the picture-dealer who sees in every dingy canvass

which bears, truly or falsely, the name of some celebrated master, the

marks of pre-eminent genius, regardless of the time or circumstances

under which it was executed--nor as the connoisseur or virtuoso, who has

to maintain or to gain reputation by the singularity, the rashness, or

the accidental correctness of his opinions; but viewing them at once

with the devotion of an artist who had long heard of and known the works

he was now to see, as the various efforts of genius, sometimes

successful, but sometimes also less happy, and having no end to gain but

the improvement of his own style, and the gratification of his own

taste, Mr. Peale must be allowed the credit of candour, and entire

freedom from affectation in the judgments he has passed. At the same

time we should not omit to notice the variety, extent, and minuteness of

his examinations. No church, gallery, or collection, was passed by, and

most of the individual pictures are separately and carefully noticed. At

Rome, especially, he admired and copied many of the works of her

immortal artists, and in the loggie of the Vatican he gazed on their

matchless productions with the enthusiasm of a painter, but without

yielding up his senses to the praise of tablets, famous only in name,

and disfigured by smoke, damp, and age. The walls of the celebrated

Sistine chapel were painted by various artists of merit in their time,

but they are now much injured, and offer little worthy of notice; but

the ceiling, designed and executed by Michael Angelo, is eminently

worthy of admiration, as exhibiting the best productions of his pencil,

and as among the few paintings of that great genius not yet destroyed by

smoke, and giving evidence of the grandeur of his invention and the

boldness of his execution. The _Last Judgment_, so familiar in name to

every one who reads the history of art, now excites no attention except

from its former celebrity, as it is dimly traced in the dark, through

stains of damp and mould, and blackened by smoke. Of his great rival,

and in some respects superior, the fate is scarcely different, whilst

some of the smaller works of Raphael are tolerably preserved, the

celebrated frescoes in the Pauline chapel are so much injured by time

and smoke, and the lances of soldiers who have occupied the rooms as

barracks, that they excite but little pleasure at first sight. Artists,

however, of all nations may be seen continually copying them, some

mounted on scaffolding up to the ceiling, some drawing, others painting,

and all seeking out with almost idolatrous or rather superstitious

admiration, the beauty of every head, hand, limb, and fold of drapery.

They obtain permission to copy, without difficulty from the Pope's

secretary, when the places are not occupied, or whenever a vacancy may

occur; but so numerous are the applications for some celebrated

pictures, such as the _Transfiguration_, that they are frequently

engaged for years in advance by artists of various nations.

It is, indeed, by foreigners chiefly, that the galleries of Italy are

filled. The praise of superiority is no longer due to the painters of

the peninsula, and amidst the precious models which they have around

them, few have, of late years, maintained or restored the departing

glory of their country. Fresco painting, so admirably calculated to call

forth and give display to grand and spirited invention, as well as to

promote careful and beautiful drawing, by the elaborate cartoons which

it requires, has almost ceased to exist as a branch of works of design.

Mosaic is still cultivated with considerable success, but it is seldom

applied to original works. We may rejoice, however, that this happy art

will preserve to future and distant ages, accurate copies of those great

productions which have faded, and are still quickly fading, beneath the

touch of time.

In the Vatican, there are apartments especially assigned to workers in

mosaic, and placed under the directions of the historical painter,

Camucini, who is zealous in endeavouring, by means of this curious art,

and the great skill of those artists who at present execute it, to

preserve the best paintings of the great masters, now imperfectly seen

in several churches, and in danger of perishing. In these rooms may be

found various workmen, some copying small pictures, for the purpose of

learning and practising the art; and others, who are more experienced,

occupied with larger works for the churches. In a great hall is a store,

arranged on shelves, of the semi-vitreous porcelain, or coarse enamel,

in cakes half an inch thick and several inches in diameter. These cakes

are of every colour that may be required, all arranged, numbered,

registered, and weighed out by an accountant to the workmen as they are

wanted to be afterwards broken into bits. Some of the cakes consist of

two or more colours, gradually blending into each other; and there are

said to be no less than sixteen thousand assorted tints. The large

pictures are wrought by being placed nearly erect, with the one to be

copied, so that the effect may be compared from time to time; when not

more than three or four feet long, they are done on sheets of copper,

stiffened with strong iron bars within a rim of metal; but those of a

greater size, especially such as are intended for permanent fixture in

churches, are executed each on one great slab of stone, from eight to

twelve inches thick, which is excavated about an inch deep, leaving a

raised border all round. The irregular surface is then nearly filled up

with a level mass of cement. On this, when dry, the artist carefully

traces the contours of his picture; he then procures from the adjoining

magazine an assortment of tints to suit the part he purposes working at;

and is furnished with a little table, on which is fixed a chisel, with

the edge upwards, in the manner of an anvil, on which, with a hammer, he

breaks the semi-vitreous composition into small squares or other shapes,

to suit the part to be copied. Along side of this is another table,

furnished with a horizontal grindstone on a vertical shaft, made to

revolve rapidly by a cord which passes round a larger wheel, turned by a

pin at its periphery. This is moved with the left hand, while the right

is employed in fashioning the bits of stone into squares, triangles,

circles, crescents, &c. of various dimensions. The artist then chisels

out of his composition, within the lines of his drawing, any spot he

chooses to fill up with his mosaic; which, being inserted, stone by

stone, with fresh cement, enables him either to pursue the continuity of

an outline, or the masses and directions of similar tints; so that he

can work at any spot, and fill up the intervals, or take out any portion

of what he has done, and do it over again. The stones are from half an

inch to three quarters in depth, and in breadth, of all sizes, from an

eighth to half an inch in diameter. After the picture is finished, and

the surface of the stones ground down to a level, and perfectly

polished, the white cement is carefully scraped out of the interstices

to a little depth. A variety of painters' colours, in fine powder, are

then each mixed with a small portion of melted wax, and put on a

palette. With these, by means of a hot pointed iron, like a tinman's

soldering-iron, the artist melts a little of the coloured wax to match

the stones, and runs it from the point of his iron into all the

crevices--then scrapes off the superfluous wax, and cleans the surface

with spirits of turpentine.

In an art kindred to painting, but perhaps more impressive on the

imagination and the senses, that of statuary, the Italians of the

present age may bear a more honourable comparison with their

predecessors. It is true, they cannot aspire to that wonderful

excellence, which we are able to appreciate in the few fragments that

have descended to us from the great sculptors of ancient times; but,

still, the works of Canova, Thorwaldsen, and others, may be added to

those of Michael Angelo and John of Bologna, and given as evidence of

great powers of invention and a profitable study of the ancient remains.

Thorwaldsen, who, since the death of his great rival, Canova, holds the

first place as a sculptor at Rome, and whose taste and skill are known

in America by a graceful statue of Venus, executed for and in the

possession of a gentleman of Philadelphia, is remarkable for his careful

cultivation of the antique taste, and the extreme simplicity of his

statues. To become an artist, he studied at Rome, with singular

assiduity, although contending with the most distressing poverty, till

the age of thirty. His practice at the academy was to draw from the life

only those parts of the figure which chanced to please him. He modelled

in clay numerous spirited compositions, which he was obliged to destroy

for want of the funds necessary to put them into marble or even plaster

of Paris: and it was owing to the taste, judgment, and liberality of an

English gentleman, that he was at last enabled to execute his first work

in stone. In his workshop, Mr. Peale was shown a basso relieve to the

memory of his patron, who is represented supplying the lamp of genius

with oil.

Statuary, however, at the present day, appears to be an art altogether

different in its mechanical and practical details from that of former

times. The genius of Michael Angelo was frequently fatigued before he

could approach in his blocks of marble, the forms his imagination

conceived, and he often hastened to chisel out a part as a guide in the

development of the whole figure, which was sometimes spoiled by his

impatience. Now, however, a sculptor is scarcely required to touch his

marble, or even to know how to cut it. He first models the figure in

ductile clay, which is kept moist by wet cloths, during any length of

time, so that he may give it the utmost perfection of form. This model

he places in the hands of a careful mechanic, whose art is to make a

mould upon it, and to produce a facsimile in plaster of Paris, the

colour of which enables him more readily to judge of its effect, and to

add to its beauty. When the model is thus perfected, the artist may

either copy it himself in stone, or employ workmen who generally do

nothing else all their lives, and who proceed without any of the

inventive enthusiasm of genius, but with wonderful mechanical accuracy.

The model is marked all over with numerous spots, which are transferred

by the compasses to the block of marble; two well defined points may

serve as a base for fixing the position of a third, and the workman

continually measures as he advances to the completion; and in this he is

expert or excellent, in proportion to the attention he has paid to his

studies in drawing, modelling, and anatomy. The accuracy with which

these workmen copy the model, is such as to induce the ablest sculptors

to trust to them their choicest works. Many of the most skilful reside

at Carrara; and, to save the expense of transporting large masses of

marble, it is becoming very customary to transmit thither the model very

carefully packed up, and to have it either accurately copied there, or

roughed out for the sculptor to complete. Thorwaldsen, whose models are

seldom remarkable for the delicacy of the finish, is so well satisfied

with the general accuracy of the work done at Carrara, that statues

which he is making for his native country, will be boxed up there and

sent to Denmark, without being once seen by him.

As a school of art, Mr. Peale seems to consider the great advantages of

Italy, as arising less from her academies, or from any direct facilities

which are there offered to the student, than from the treasures of

ancient sculpture, and the sublime works executed by the greatest

masters, which offer admirable models, and serve to infuse a kindred

spirit. In regard to the peculiar excellence exhibited in these, he

admits that nothing has more puzzled the professors and critics of art.

He thinks that, although much must have depended upon the capacity of

the artist, and his means of information, and a great deal on the nature

of his employment and encouragement, yet that almost as much advantage

has been derived from accidental circumstances. The Italians, who enjoy

a clear sky, and witness in their sunsets the most glowing colours, are

surprised that the Hollanders, living in an atmosphere of gray mist,

should have produced so many excellent colourists. It may be from that

very circumstance that they were so. A vapoury atmosphere which reduces

all colours at a distance to one hue of gray, serves, at the same time,

to render every colour which is near, not only more distinct, but more

agreeably illuminated; but, under a blue sky, the shadows are

necessarily tinged with blue, and the eye becoming accustomed to vivid

colours, too easily rests satisfied with the most violent contrasts,

both in nature and the works of art. The atmosphere of England, in like

manner, has contributed to produce a good taste in colouring, which was

confirmed by the example and authority of Reynolds, who so well

understood the principles of the Flemish masters. Giorgione, Titian, and

Paul Veronese, were, it is true, Italians, and rank at the head of good

colourists; but the situation of Venice, built in the water, essentially

softens its atmosphere, and combines the advantages of Holland and

Italy. The happy genius of Corregio derived his theory of light and

colour certainly not from his visit to Rome.

Accidental circumstances have probably influenced several distinguished

artists. Vandyck happened to learn the use of a certain brown colour

from Germany, called Terra de Cassel, by which he softened and

harmonized his shadows; hence the English artists call it Vandyck brown.

Holland, enjoying the commerce of the East Indies, which furnished her

with a variety of pigments, likewise produced from her own soil the best

quality of madder, from which her chemists and manufacturers procured

the richest and most durable dyes. Van Huysum, and other painters of

that country, must have learned the use of this and other rich pigments,

the knowledge of which they could not entirely keep to themselves, but

which were probably known to Andrea del Sarto and the good colourists of

Florence. It is not improbable that the fashion of wearing changeable

silks, reflecting opposite colours in different angles, may have

influenced the old painters to represent their blue draperies with red

shadows and yellow lights, as in Raphael's picture of the

_Transfiguration_: certain it is that such things being found in the

master works of the great painters, which are copied with the most

scrupulous exactness, even to the most palpable fault, the painters of

the present day in Italy pursue the same system of colouring, with as

much pertinacity as they display in their hard-earned accuracy of

outline.

Besides, the revival of the art in Italy was by fresco painting, the

peculiar nature of which required that the artist should first prepare

his compositions in finished cartoons. At all events, it was the

practice of painters, derived from each other, and passing from

generation to generation, to bestow their chief study on a cartoon

executed in black and white chalk of the full size of the intended

fresco. Many of these are preserved in the galleries and churches of

Italy, and are to be considered among the most precious relics of the

art; displaying the finest skill of the master, in composition, drawing,

light and shade, and execution. Of these original and spirited drawings,

what are called the original pictures are but copies in colour,

sometimes executed by the master himself, but more frequently by some of

his pupils.

When oil painting was introduced into Italy, and adopted by those who

had practised in fresco, the habits which they had acquired led them to

practise the methods with which they were most familiar. Their oil

paintings were therefore generally painted from drawings, and, hence,

the colouring was often from imagination or recollection, which

sufficiently accounts for its deviation from nature; although it is

frequently spread out with great beauty and airiness. Those painters

who, it is agreed, excelled in colouring, almost always painted their

studies in colours, by which they had a double chance of success,

without vitiating their own powers of vision by the continual

contemplation of highly wrought colourless forms, or transcripts in

fanciful hues.

We had desired, after these observations on the subject of the arts,

which it must be confessed form the topic of chief interest in perusing

the volume of Mr. Peale, to add some remarks on the political and moral

character of the Italians, as it appears in the unaffected and

occasional observations which occur in regard to the people themselves

and their institutions. There is in general a freedom from prejudice; a

temperateness of expression; a mildness of judgment, and a clear and

natural manner of relation, which do great credit to the author, and

while they assist a reader in forming an opinion of his own, give

strength to that expressed by the writer himself. Our limits, however,

do not permit us to do so, and after the expression of this general

opinion, we must refer to the volume itself for the evidence of its

correctness. In concluding, we may respond to the sentiment of Mr.

Peale, when on leaving Milan, he bade farewell to the arts of Italy.

"An Italian, not exempted from bigotry, discovered a new

world for the emancipation of man. May America in

patronizing the arts, receive them as the offspring of

enlightened Greece, transmitted through Italy, where their

miraculous powers were nourished in the bondage of mind. Let

them in turn be emancipated, and their persuasive and

fascinating language be exalted to the noblest purposes, and

be made instrumental to social happiness and national

glory!"