Letters Of An Architect, From France, Italy, And Greece. - free ebook by Joseph Woods

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Letters Of An Architect, From France, Italy, And Greece.

Joseph Woods

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PREFACE.

PREFACE.

Many books of travels in the south of Europe have been published; some of them written by men of talents and information, who were attached to the fine arts, and to architecture as one of them; and many professional works treating on the architecture of Italy and Greece, of greater or less excellence, have been given to the world; but I do not know that there is any one in which the author, after examining the most celebrated edifices of ancient and modern times, endeavours to explain to what ci

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LETTER I. JOURNEY TO PARIS.

LETTER I. JOURNEY TO PARIS.

It is a great advantage to me that I can address letters on architecture to a person for whose taste and judgment I have so much esteem, but who at the same time is not an architect. Being obliged to avoid a great many technical phrases and forms of speech, which often serve as a convenient shelter for ignorance or superficial knowledge, I shall find it necessary to study the subject myself more attentively on all those points which can interest a general observer, and to explain myself with mor

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LETTER II. GENERAL ACCOUNT OF PARIS.

LETTER II. GENERAL ACCOUNT OF PARIS.

In my last I conducted you, among the intricacies of Gothic architecture, to Paris. I have now to tell you what I have seen in this city, and in two or three places, at no great distance, which I have visited; but before I plunge again into the uncertainties of dates, and the mysteries of round and pointed arches, zigzag ornaments, and trefoils, I am disposed to send you some general observations on Paris and its vicinity, at the risk of repeating what you have heard or read twenty times before;

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LETTER III. GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.

LETTER III. GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.

I engaged a young French artist of the name of Le Blanc to accompany me in an excursion to Chalons sur Marne, and Rheims, in order to assist me in sketching the Gothic Architecture of those two places. The road is not very pleasant; the first part lies mostly through a common field, but with trees of a tolerable size on each side: these trees admit of a side and front view of the country, but not an oblique one: from the straightness of the road, the front continues always the same, and the side

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LETTER IV. GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.

LETTER IV. GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.

Having conducted you to Rheims, I now proceed to give you an account of what I saw there, and if it should contain a few digressions as long as those in my last, I hope you will forgive me, for this Gothic Architecture offers continual temptations to lead me out of the direct road. I shall begin, not with the cathedral, but with a much more ancient building, which is supposed to have served as a cathedral before the present edifice was erected. The church of St. Remi is said by Whittington to ha

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LETTER V. RETURN TO PARIS.

LETTER V. RETURN TO PARIS.

I have tried your patience in my last two letters with long disquisitions on architecture and on dates. I propose to give you in this, a little more of what Humboldt would call my personal narrative, i. e. to mention every thing which I think will at all interest you, but for which I have prepared no other place. I dined every day at Rheims at the table d’hôte, the time for which was five o’clock, but it was called half-past four. The company usually assembled a few minutes before dinner, and co

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LETTER VI. EDIFICES OF PARIS.

LETTER VI. EDIFICES OF PARIS.

Methinks I hear you rejoice that my everlasting disquisitions about Gothic architecture must at length be nearly finished. Do not, however, be too sanguine, the subject may recur again when I move southward, and I suspect that you will pronounce on my architecture, as I do on the trees by the road sides; while you have it you will think it very tiresome, and wish it away, but when it is gone, the barrenness and emptiness of the remainder will make you wish the architecture back again. In the obs

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LETTER VII. PARIS.

LETTER VII. PARIS.

I called one day on M. Visconti by appointment, in order to be conducted to see some drawings of the Temple of Fortune at Palestrina, by M. Huyot, who has gained great credit by this exertion of his talents. A French student in architecture usually fixes himself in the office, or as they call it atelier , (workshop) of some architect of reputation. Here he pays a louis per month for his seat, for the use of drawings to copy, and for the occasional advice of his master; and as soon as he has gain

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LETTER VIII. JOURNEY TO LYON.

LETTER VIII. JOURNEY TO LYON.

I have at last left Paris, after having staid longer than I intended, though by no means long enough to learn all that might have been acquired by a continued residence. I took my place for Troyes in the cabriolet of the diligence, but found it so small that I could not sit upright, and therefore changed to the inside, where I had plenty of room, for the carriage was calculated for nine, and we were only four. We left Paris at three o’clock in the afternoon, and the first part of the ride was to

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LETTER IX. LYON.

LETTER IX. LYON.

The first object of my curiosity in every town is the cathedral. This city possesses a magnificent one. A little description of Lyon, which I have purchased, says, that the nave appears to be of the age of St. Louis, (1226 to 1271), I wanted history, and not conjecture, but this is probably about the truth. There is less ornament, and less ingenuity in the management of the different parts than at Amiens, but the piers are more slender, and more complicated; the bases have more projection, and t

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LETTER X. SOUTH OF FRANCE.

LETTER X. SOUTH OF FRANCE.

I met at Paris with a brother architect of the name of Sharp, who was going to Rome by the South of France; he left Paris a little after me, and joined me at Lyon. On the 12th we got into the packet-boat, to descend the Rhone; it was loaded with goods and passengers going to the fair at Beaucaire; and such a steam rose from the only room below deck, that I did not choose to venture into it; although a thick drizzling rain which obscured the prospect, and permitted us to see only the ghosts of be

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LETTER XI. SOUTH OF FRANCE.

LETTER XI. SOUTH OF FRANCE.

We left Nismes on the afternoon of the twenty-eighth, for the Pont du Gard. The latter part of the way has some picturesque points of view, adorned by the ruins of old castles perched on rugged rocks; but it is deficient in wood, and in water; though we passed two or three abundant springs, and at each spring a village. We crossed the valley of the Gardon, by means of a bridge built against the ancient aqueduct; and found close by it a very decent country inn, with civil and obliging people, whe

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LETTER XII. SOUTH OF FRANCE.

LETTER XII. SOUTH OF FRANCE.

In my last I ran through the architecture of the middle ages in the south of France, and have now only a few observations to add of a more miscellaneous nature. The church of Nôtre Dame de Dom is seated on a rock which rises immediately from the Rhone, above the rest of the town, to the height of about 120 feet: all the remainder of the country to the east of the river, is a plain, bounded at a moderate distance by rugged hills, and beyond these by Mont Ventou, a bulky mountain, estimated to ris

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LETTER XIII. GENEVA.

LETTER XIII. GENEVA.

Geneva was very full, and the difficulty of finding a lodging drove me to a little inn, called the Hotel des Trois Maures, where I had a good chamber, and nothing else good. The first, to me, was an important advantage, as I wanted to revise the sketches and memoranda of the south of France, before the subject had faded from my recollection. In fact, I wished to disburthen my mind entirely, and transfer it to paper; which was a great relief, for I felt a continual anxiety lest any thing should e

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LETTER XIV. TOUR IN SWITZERLAND.

LETTER XIV. TOUR IN SWITZERLAND.

I left Lausanne in the diligence for Bern, on the 10th of September. A long ascent leads us to the summit of the Jorat, 1,767 feet above the Lake of Geneva; but it was night, and I lost the prospect. We breakfasted at Moudon at half past two in the morning. The day dawned beautifully among woods of fir and oak, and the same sort of scenery continued to Fribourg, a city seated partly at the bottom, and partly at the top of some sandstone cliffs, between which the river Saane takes a very winding

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PAVIA.

PAVIA.

There is a navigable canal from Milan to Pavia, which was begun in 1807, but is only just finished. From the Gate of Milan to the Ticino at Pavia, it descends 182 feet, 8 inches; there are thirteen locks, the whole descent of which is 167 feet, 8 inches; leaving for the descent of the canal, fifteen English feet. The length is 107,350 feet, the breadth 42½ feet. At first it forms a considerable stream; but is continually giving off part of its waters for the purposes of irrigation, and becomes v

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LETTER XVI. VERONA.

LETTER XVI. VERONA.

I left Milan on the 24th of October, with some very pleasant company. One of them was Sig. Brocchi, a celebrated mineralogist, whose knowledge appeared to be general, and to embrace every subject on which the conversation turned. We stopped at Brescia, where I just ran into the theatre. It is exceedingly beautiful, and I regretted the want of time to examine it. The following day we continued our route, which lies for about eight miles along the broad end of the Lago di Guarda, commanding views

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LETTER XVII. VICENZA—PADUA.

LETTER XVII. VICENZA—PADUA.

When I engaged my place in the diligence from Verona, I was told, that as we had to perform a journey of eighty miles in the day, it would be necessary to start at two o’clock in the morning; but we did not actually set off till a quarter before four, and arrived at Vicenza at ten at night. My companions were two Germans, an Irishman, an Italian lady, and a Venetian woollen draper. The elder German valued himself highly on his wealth, and boasted of the riches of some of his countrymen. He decla

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LETTER XVIII. VENICE.

LETTER XVIII. VENICE.

I stayed at Padua till the 6th of November, and then obtained a place in the diligence for Venice. One of my fellow passengers let lodgings at Venice, and I have since found my account in the circumstance. The road side is adorned with good houses for some miles after we leave Padua, and what is more, they seem to be in good order. About half the journey was by land. For the other half, we were either towed by a horse down the canal of the Brenta, or rowed across the Lagune . This canal is some

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LETTER XIX. VENICE.

LETTER XIX. VENICE.

I had heard so much of the canals and gondolas of Venice, that I was rather surprised to find that I could go by land to any part of the city, except the Giudecca. It is indeed sometimes round about, and the alleys, for there are no streets, are narrow, crooked, and intricate. Yet in this cold weather I generally prefer encountering all their difficulties, to being half frozen in a gondola. These gondolas, at least the smaller ones, consist of a wherry with a little black box, into which you mus

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LETTER XX. JOURNEY TO BOLOGNA.

LETTER XX. JOURNEY TO BOLOGNA.

My Venetian life ended with the month of November; and on the thirtieth of that month, at eight o’clock in the evening, I got into the courier’s boat for Bologna. Our accommodation consisted of one room for all sorts of passengers, and their luggage, among which we found seats as well as we could. One of the company was a young Venetian widow, a marchesa, who being young and handsome, and left in good circumstances by her first husband, was doubting whether she should marry again, and expressed

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LETTER XXI. FLORENCE.

LETTER XXI. FLORENCE.

I left Bologna on the 14th. Although the vettura arrived at my lodging at half past five, we did not leave the city till half past seven; because a servant boy who was to have rode in the front, and who, according to our vetturino, had received half a scudo as caparre , never made his appearance. I do not know how to translate this word caparre . Earnest seems to imply the payment in advance, of a portion of what will ultimately become due; but here he pays who is ultimately to receive. Indeed,

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LETTER XXII. JOURNEY TO ROME.

LETTER XXII. JOURNEY TO ROME.

My impatience to arrive at Rome did not permit me to remain long at Florence, and I must postpone any account of its neighbourhood to my next visit, which I hope will be in a more favourable time of year; but I must say a few words on Fiesole, which I have visited, and found the walk to it most delightful, even on Christmas-day; as it is situated on a hill, the ascent to which completely commands the rich and beautiful valley of the Arno. There are some fragments of Ionic columns near the conven

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LETTER XXIII. ROMAN ANTIQUITIES.

LETTER XXIII. ROMAN ANTIQUITIES.

I arrived at Rome, as I have already said, on the last day of the year, 1816, after a morning of continued eager expectation. In spite of all that may have been seen elsewhere of magnificent buildings, and of all the views and drawings which have been published of the eternal city, Rome is still a new world to an architect. You may know in detail the appearance of every building here, but you can feel nothing, you can imagine nothing, of the effect produced, on seeing, on finding yourself thus a

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LETTER XXIV. ROMAN ANTIQUITIES.

LETTER XXIV. ROMAN ANTIQUITIES.

In my last I gave you some account of the buildings about the Forum, or perhaps I should say, about the Campo Vaccino, for the ancient forum was of much less extent from N. W. to S. E., which is its present direction, and greater from N. E. to S. W., reaching as far as the circular church of St. Theodore, supposed to have been a temple of Romulus; but not apparently to the building called the temple of Vesta, or even to the arch of Janus; as these stood, not in the great Forum, but in the cattle

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LETTER XXV. SAINT PETER’S.

LETTER XXV. SAINT PETER’S.

After a view of the principal antiquities, the attention of a stranger is naturally directed towards the Vatican; and as I gave you a promise some time ago to send you the result of my examination of St. Peter’s, and to explain to you why it looks smaller than it is, I am now about to fulfil my engagement to the best of my ability. In order however, not altogether to abandon my usual course, I will first give a sketch of its history, which may save you the trouble of hunting it out in Bonanni an

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LETTER XXVI. BASILICAN CHURCHES.

LETTER XXVI. BASILICAN CHURCHES.

In following the order of dates, an account of the basilicas and ancient churches of the lower empire, should have preceded my observations on St. Peter’s; for although most of them have been very much altered, yet there are still sufficient remains of the old work to trace the plan and distribution of the parts, and indeed every thing relating to the solid masses of the building; and in one or two, more or less of the original mode of fitting it up. The first of these in size and in reputation,

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LETTER XXVII. LIVING AT ROME—MODERN CHURCHES.

LETTER XXVII. LIVING AT ROME—MODERN CHURCHES.

I am going, I flatter myself, to satisfy you to the utmost, by giving the most minute detail of my Roman life. You will find it not so different from the manner of living in London as perhaps you expect; for in fact, the Romans are very much the same sort of beings as ourselves, and eat and drink, and have the same affections and appetites as the English. I will add, that the national character in both is pride, and not vanity; that they are rather reserved, and feel more than they shew: added t

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LETTER XXVIII. ROME.

LETTER XXVIII. ROME.

We have had some rain here lately, and a good deal of snow upon the mountains; for the Apennine summits present a much greater mass of white than they did at the end of January. In the lower country the winter seems to be gone. The Anemones ( Anemone hortensis ) have been very plentiful and beautiful; they are now almost over, and the orchideæ are beginning to show their flowers. The weather is delightful, the sun, though bright, is not oppressive, and the night wind is no longer cold. The woods

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LETTER XXIX. PALACES OF ROME.

LETTER XXIX. PALACES OF ROME.

One does not at first do justice to the architecture of the Roman palaces. The great size of many of them, and the abundance, and bold projection of the ornaments, produce indeed a general impression of magnificence, but if we can get space enough in front to examine the parts distinctly, we often turn away dissatisfied from the absurdity and disproportion they exhibit. Yet with great faults, we may find amongst them great beauties, which, when habit has enabled us to support their defects, the

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LETTER XXX. ROME.

LETTER XXX. ROME.

Having conducted you through the principal buildings of Rome, both ancient and modern, I shall now endeavour to lead you to those of less interest, but which nevertheless deserve some sort of notice; and whose number and extent contribute much to swell the general notion of Roman magnificence. We will begin these walks from the Piazza di Spagna, the neighbourhood of which is the usual residence of foreigners, and especially of the English, and from which I am only separated by the magnificent fl

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LETTER XXXI. ROME.

LETTER XXXI. ROME.

Our present walk must include a larger circuit than the former. We pass through the Piazza Barberini, and along the Via di San Basilio, which will presently lead us beyond the inhabited district of the city, and an Englishman begins to feel himself in the country, though within the walls. Here is the Villa Ludovisi, but it is difficult to gain admission; we therefore turn to the right, and at the Viccolo delle Fiamme, enter into the gardens, which, like those passed through by Aladdin, in the Ar

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LETTER XXXII. TRASTEVERE—WALLS.

LETTER XXXII. TRASTEVERE—WALLS.

I concluded my last with a promise, or perhaps I should say a threat, of a walk in the Trastevere, which I am now about to perform. I shall not however, entirely skip over the intervening ground, but glean whatever occurs on the way; and first I will take you to San Carlo, in the Corso; a church which looks better at a distance than near, because the general form of the front is that of a Greek temple crowned with a pediment, but on approaching we find so many breaks and angles, cutting through

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LETTER XXXIII. NEIGHBOURHOOD OF ROME.

LETTER XXXIII. NEIGHBOURHOOD OF ROME.

You perhaps imagine, from having heard of the dreary and desolate Campagna, that there are no agreeable walks about the city, but if you have formed any such notion, you are very much mistaken. The ground about Rome is exceedingly well disposed for pleasant scenery; the country being intersected by several valleys of no great width, each bounded by steep banks of moderate height, from the top of which you catch the gently varied line of Monte Albano, and the distant Apennines. One of these, Mont

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LETTER XXXIV. NEIGHBOURHOOD OF ROME.

LETTER XXXIV. NEIGHBOURHOOD OF ROME.

Beginning with the Porta del Popolo, and following in the direction of the sun, I have taken you in succession out of the different gates; but we will now set out by the gate of St. Sebastian, and return by that of San Giovanni, which would precede it in regular order. Before arriving at the gate, we meet with three objects deserving notice, which though within the walls, were too distantly situated to be included in our former walks. The first of these is the great ruin of the Baths of Caracall

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LETTER XXXV. TIVOLI.

LETTER XXXV. TIVOLI.

My first excursion to Tivoli was in the beginning of March; I have lately paid it a second visit, in part of a more extended ramble; and I shall give you the account of both excursions together. We leave Rome by the Porta San Lorenzo, but I say nothing concerning the antiquities in the immediate neighbourhood, as I have written enough about them to tire out your patience. After we had passed the Ponte Mammolo, the soil continues for some miles to consist of a decomposed tufo, rather sandy, but o

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LETTER XXXVI. SUBIACO—PALESTRINA.

LETTER XXXVI. SUBIACO—PALESTRINA.

After I had pretty well explored the neighbourhood of Tivoli on that side towards the Campagna, I was desirous to look at the aqueducts remaining on the other side. About two miles from my inn, at a place where a brook called Fosso degli Arci crosses the road to Siciliano, are several fragments. Fosso , as perhaps you know, is the Roman name for a brook. The Roman aqueducts which derive their origin from the valley of the Anio above Tivoli are, the Anio vetus, the Marcia, the Anio novus, and the

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LETTER XXXVII. TUSCULUM, ALBANO, OSTIA.

LETTER XXXVII. TUSCULUM, ALBANO, OSTIA.

After my return from Palestrina, I stayed but a few days in Rome, and again set out to visit other places in the neighbourhood. In that interval I was present at a procession to obtain rain; as the wet which I found so inconvenient at Tivoli and Subiaco, does not seem to have reached the vicinity of Rome. The Piazza in front of St. Peter’s was decorated by posts bound round with oak branches, and the portico of the church hung with crimson damask, striped with gold. The poor pope was carried rou

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LETTER XXXVIII. JOURNEY TO FLORENCE.

LETTER XXXVIII. JOURNEY TO FLORENCE.

I heard so much at Rome of various objects in the north of Italy which I had omitted, that I determined to appropriate a couple of months to supply the deficiency, and to form a judgment at least, whether these things were worth seeing or no. I therefore set off with a Vetturino on the 25th of June. My companions were an Italian country gentleman and his son, and a priest who was tutor in a gentleman’s family at Narni; all very pleasant people. A man of small landed property in this country, gen

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LETTER XXXIX. MODENA—PARMA—MANTUA—FERRARA.

LETTER XXXIX. MODENA—PARMA—MANTUA—FERRARA.

I have already given you an account of the buildings of Florence, and shall not repeat my criticisms, but rather confine myself to such subjects as were not suited to the time of year when I was there before. The Boboli gardens are very beautiful, rather for their external views than for their interior distribution. They present, I think, the very finest views of the country about Florence. My visits there in July were, as you will suppose, much more pleasant than they could have been in Decembe

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LETTER XL. RAVENNA.

LETTER XL. RAVENNA.

There are several churches at Ravenna of the fifth and sixth centuries, a period, whose architectural productions are very rare. At the beginning of the fifth century this city became the capital of the western empire, and as it was also the seat of government of the Ostrogoths, and afterwards of the Exarchs, it must have enjoyed a pretty long period of comparative prosperity, when every thing else was in ruin. Yet we have by no means a long series of dates in these remains. The Empress Galla Pl

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LETTER XLI. ACADEMIES.

LETTER XLI. ACADEMIES.

It is reported here, that the Pope has offered a palace to the Prince Regent for the purpose of receiving an English academy. The French, you know, have an excellent establishment here on a large scale, occupying the house of the Villa Medici. They have dwelling-rooms for the students, and workshops for such as require them; a suite of apartments for the director; a common dining-room; a handsome suite for the public exhibitions; and a fine gallery of casts. An English establishment might be for

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LETTER XLII. SPECULATIONS AT ROME.

LETTER XLII. SPECULATIONS AT ROME.

Suetonius , in the life of Augustus, tells us, that that emperor boasted that he had found Rome of brick, and left it of marble. We must, I conceive, not take this expression too literally, but merely as a description of increased magnificence. The words attributed to him by Dion, that he had found it of earth, and left it of stone, are nearer the truth, if we suppose the term stone to be applied to all materials of a durable nature, as that of earth would certainly imply what was soft and easil

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LETTER XLIII. NAPLES.

LETTER XLIII. NAPLES.

I do not know if you are tired of Rome, but I know that I am not. Rome is the paradise of artists; it is full of their objects and their recollections; but what most contributes to make the residence in Italy in general, and of Rome in particular, so interesting to us, is the universal sympathy which is accorded to the objects of our pursuit. From the prince to the peasant, the most educated to the most ignorant, all seem to find pleasure in the productions of the fine arts; and it is this sympa

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LETTER XLIV. NEIGHBOURHOOD OF NAPLES.

LETTER XLIV. NEIGHBOURHOOD OF NAPLES.

Having in my last given you a little sketch of Naples, and of my mode of life there, I shall now proceed to some account of its neighbourhood. The first time of my going to Pozzuoli was on foot; I walked through the Chiaja, and afterwards along a short street, a sudden turn in which exposes the lofty entrance of the Grotto of Pausilippo. Just at the point where this turn takes place, there is a little monument, erected in 1668; which is introduced into most of the published views of the grotto,

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LETTER XLV. JOURNEY TO ATHENS.

LETTER XLV. JOURNEY TO ATHENS.

My friend Mr. Sharp and myself left Naples on the 11th of October. We had made a special agreement with a vetturino to convey us to Bari, and had entered into a great many particulars which our experience on former occasions had pointed out to us as expedient, but unfortunately we either forgot to mention, or mentioned it so casually, that we could neither of us be sure of having done so, that the usual expenses were to be paid. I had been very much hurried the day before, as is frequently the c

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LETTER XLVI. ATHENS.

LETTER XLVI. ATHENS.

I gave you in my last an account of our journey from Naples to Athens, and before I plunge into antiquities, I will complete the sketch with the description of our accommodations and manner of life here. Our intention was to have gone to the French convent, but we found the rooms occupied. The padre, for there is but one, recommended us to a lodging belonging to a man called Giacomo, and we slept there one night, but afterwards established ourselves more comfortably in the house of Demetri Zogra

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LETTER XLVII. ACROPOLIS.

LETTER XLVII. ACROPOLIS.

Athens puts one in mind of Rome, from the number of fragments of architecture and sculpture everywhere scattered about. In the walls, in the court-yards, in the churches, we are continually meeting with something too trifling, or too much mutilated, to be of value in itself, but powerfully impressing the imagination with the idea of what has been. The great treasure of Grecian architecture is in the Acropolis, where there are three buildings, of which the remains are considerable; the Propylæa,

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LETTER XLVIII. OTHER ANTIQUITIES OF ATHENS.

LETTER XLVIII. OTHER ANTIQUITIES OF ATHENS.

It is fortunate for us that we have more remains of the two cities where architecture was carried to the greatest perfection, than of any other. The immensity of Rome, and the vast multitude of public buildings which adorned it, might lead one to expect that we should meet there with more remains than elsewhere, but Athens never was a very large city, nor do the public buildings in it appear to have been constructed on a larger scale than in many others. In each of these cities we probably see t

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LETTER XLIX. NEIGHBOURHOOD OF ATHENS.

LETTER XLIX. NEIGHBOURHOOD OF ATHENS.

One of the first objects in the neighbourhood of Athens is the Piræus, and we may still discover traces of the ancient road, and of the ruts made by the wheels in the solid rock; and some remains of the long walls. A convent and the custom-house now form the whole town; yet the port is a very good harbour. According to Captain M. it is capable of containing fifteen or twenty large ships, of the size of an English frigate, and a great number of smaller ones; and in addition to this, the road on t

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LETTER L. EXCURSION ROUND ATTICA.

LETTER L. EXCURSION ROUND ATTICA.

Capt. Murray , of the Satellite, was at Athens for a short time in February, and returned on the 15th of April, when he invited Mr. B., Mr. Sharp, and myself to accompany him round Attica. We accepted the invitation with great pleasure, and went on board the vessel on the 20th. Capt. M. relinquished his own cabin to his guests; we were close stowed, but we did very well, and fared capitally. On the 21st we landed at Egina, and walked up to the temple, supposed to be that of Jupiter Panhellenius,

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LETTER LI. FROM ATHENS TO MALTA.

LETTER LI. FROM ATHENS TO MALTA.

I left Athens on the 9th of May with regret, for I had been so much interrupted, that all I had wished and intended to perform was by no means accomplished. The boatmen who were to take me to Egina, as usual in Greece, were not ready near the appointed time; the fair wind died away, and we arrived at Egina so late that the harbour-master was gone to bed. No one was permitted to land, and we were consequently obliged to remain in the boat all night. In the morning I went on shore, and visited the

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LETTER LII. MALTA.

LETTER LII. MALTA.

The city we now call Malta includes four towns, Valetta, Florian, Vittoriosa, and Borgo, but these names have given way in common use to that of the island. The principal part is seated on a point of land between two noble harbours, the northern of which is appropriated to vessels in quarantine, and on the northern shore of this is the Lazaretto. We occupied there two large rooms, about 27 feet square, and near 20 high. We had a vaulted gallery to walk in about 120 feet long, and a terrace of ne

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LETTER LIII. SYRACUSE—CATANIA.

LETTER LIII. SYRACUSE—CATANIA.

My departure from Malta was delayed by adverse winds, but at last, on Monday the 13th of July, I was awakened with the notice that the trabaccolo in which I had engaged my passage, was on the point of sailing. A trabaccolo is a small, decked boat with two masts: the present was a trading vessel bound for Venice, but stopping in the way at Agusta to take in a cargo of salt. It contained no regular accommodation for passengers, but there was plenty of room, and they made me up a bed, where I slept

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LETTER LIV. TAORMINA—MESSINA—PALERMO.

LETTER LIV. TAORMINA—MESSINA—PALERMO.

I left Catania on the first of August. The views of Ætna suffer as much as the views from it, by its perfect unity. In ascending other mountains we maintain a sort of contest with the inferior hills, and are pleased to see them, one after the other, confess our superiority and lose their consequence. The same hills in looking at a mountain, form a sort of scale, which assists in our estimate of its magnitude. Some huge mass perhaps, at no great distance, impresses us with its magnitude, while ye

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LETTER LV. AGRIGENTUM—SELINUS—SEGESTA.

LETTER LV. AGRIGENTUM—SELINUS—SEGESTA.

I bargained with a sensale to be taken to Girgenti in two days and a half for six Sicilian dollars, each of which is a trifle less in value than the Spanish dollar. These sensali , who are the brokers of the horse-keepers, generally take care to have a good share of the profit; and I found in this case that the owner of the horse, who accompanied me on foot, and who was on his return to Alicata, was to have forty tari for his portion, a tari being the twelfth part of a dollar. We set out on Mond

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LETTER LVI. POMPEI.

LETTER LVI. POMPEI.

I have been so long accustomed to watch for opportunities of sending letters, and to feel disappointed on missing any, that I do not know how to reconcile myself to the power of sending them twice a week, when I have neither time nor matter for such frequent correspondence; but my feelings are altogether different from what they were when I was here a year ago. The novelties of my journey are over, and what remains for me to do, is merely to revisit cities I have already seen, or others very sim

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LETTER LVII. NAPLES—PÆSTUM.

LETTER LVII. NAPLES—PÆSTUM.

I went yesterday to a private collection of paintings; and though I had applied for permission without any sort of introduction, the proprietor met me at the door, and attended me round the rooms; taking down many of the pictures, some of which are very fine ones, in order to place them in the best lights. The same gentleman possesses also some admirable fictile vases, but he is afraid of obtaining any reputation for these, as the government claims the right of purchasing all the finest for itse

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LETTER LVIII. JOURNEY TO ROME, AND LAST RESIDENCE THERE.

LETTER LVIII. JOURNEY TO ROME, AND LAST RESIDENCE THERE.

If you believe a Neapolitan, in bargaining with him you have to do with the honestest fellow in the world, though he candidly confesses his countrymen are rather apt to be roguishly inclined. On my application to a vetturino to take me to Rome, he demanded 13 piastres, (58 s. 6 d. ) and told me he must be four days and a half on the road. I offered him 10; (9 is the usual sum, but I have known it done for 7½, besides the buona mano ) he replied, that he was not like other Italians, but always tr

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LETTER LIX. JOURNEY TO FLORENCE—PISA

LETTER LIX. JOURNEY TO FLORENCE—PISA

There was so great a scarcity of vetture at Rome, that I could not get away till the 30th of April, and then it was along the road by Perugia, which I had seen at my leisure and did not intend to revisit. I had pleasant companions, and a civil and obliging vetturino, which makes a great deal of difference in the comfort of an Italian journey. We slept the first night at Cività Castellana. The second day we were detained above an hour at Narni by one of the party, who being a canonico, and the da

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LETTER LX. SCHOOLS.

LETTER LX. SCHOOLS.

Before leaving Italy, I must give you a little account of what I have seen here with respect to education. In Florence and Naples there are district schools, where all poor children inhabiting within certain limits, receive instruction gratis. From what I hear of them, I imagine they are not very well conducted in either place, but though I have made two or three attempts, I have not seen any of them in action, excepting one of those at Naples, which is conducted on the system of mutual instruct

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LETTER LXI. LUCCA—GENEVA.

LETTER LXI. LUCCA—GENEVA.

I left Pisa for Lucca on the 19th of May. The road is very good, and I may add very pleasant, entering the plain of Lucca through the pass by which the Serchio quits it. The valley of Lucca is very flat, looking like a lake which has been filled up; and in fact, if the Serchio breaks its banks, great part of it is overflowed. There are in the city, some vestiges of a Roman amphitheatre, which has determined the direction of some of the present streets; but the principal architectural objects are

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