Travels Through France And Italy - Tobias Smollett (diy ebook reader .TXT) 📗

But--Your Humble Servant.

 

 

Part 7 Letter 32 ( Nice, April 2, 1765.) Pg 274

 

 

Dear Sir,--I Have Nothing To Communicate Touching The Library Of

The Vatican, Which, With Respect To The Apartments And Their

Ornaments, Is Undoubtedly Magnificent. The Number Of Books It

Contains Does Not Exceed Forty Thousand Volumes, Which Are All

Concealed From The View, And Locked Up In Presses: As For The

Manuscripts, I Saw None But Such As Are Commonly Presented To

Strangers Of Our Nation; Some Very Old Copies Of Virgil And

Terence; Two Or Three Missals, Curiously Illuminated; The Book De

Septem Sacramentis, Written In Latin By Henry Viii. Against

Luther; And Some Of That Prince's Love Letters To Anne Boleyn. I 

Part 7 Letter 32 ( Nice, April 2, 1765.) Pg 275

Likewise Visited The Libreria Casanatense, Belonging To The

Convent Of The Church Called S. Maria Sopra Minerva. I Had A

Recommendation To The Principal Librarian, A Dominican Friar, Who

Received Me Very Politely, And Regaled Me With A Sight Of Several

Curious Mss. Of The Classics.

 

 

 

Having Satisfied My Curiosity At Rome, I Prepared For My

Departure, And As The Road Between Radicofani And Montefiascone

Is Very Stony And Disagreeable, I Asked The Banker Barazzi, If

There Was Not A Better Way Of Returning To Florence, Expressing A

Desire At The Same Time To See The Cascade Of Terni. He Assured

Me That The Road By Terni Was Forty Miles Shorter Than The Other,

Much More Safe And Easy, And Accommodated With Exceeding Good

Auberges. Had I Taken The Trouble To Cast My Eyes Upon The Map, I

Must Have Seen, That The Road By Terni, Instead Of Being Forty

Miles Shorter, Was Much Longer Than The Other: But This Was Not

The Only Mistake Of Signiore Barazzi. Great Part Of This Way Lies

Over Steep Mountains, Or Along The Side Of Precipices, Which

Render Travelling In A Carriage Exceeding Tedious, Dreadful, And

Dangerous; And As For The Public Houses, They Are In All Respects

The Most Execrable That Ever I Entered. I Will Venture To Say

That A Common Prisoner In The Marshalsea Or King's-Bench Is More

Cleanly And Commodiously Lodged Than We Were In Many Places On

This Road. The Houses Are Abominably Nasty, And Generally

Destitute Of Provision: When Eatables Were Found, We Were Almost

Poisoned By Their Cookery: Their Beds Were Without Curtains Or

Bedstead, And Their Windows Without Glass; And For This Sort Of

Entertainment We Payed As Much As If We Had Been Genteelly

Lodged, And Sumptuously Treated. I Repeat It Again; Of All The

People I Ever Knew, The Italians Are The Most Villainously

Rapacious. The First Day, Having Passed Civita Castellana, A

Small Town Standing On The Top Of A Hill, We Put Up At What Was

Called An Excellent Inn, Where Cardinals, Prelates, And Princes,

Often Lodged. Being Meagre Day, There Was Nothing But Bread,

Eggs, And Anchovies, In The House. I Went To Bed Without Supper,

And Lay In A Pallet, Where I Was Half Devoured By Vermin. Next

Day, Our Road, In Some Places, Lay Along Precipices, Which Over-Hang

The Nera Or Nar, Celebrated In Antiquity For Its White Foam,

And The Sulphureous Quality Of Its Waters.

 

 

 

Sulfurea Nar Albus Aqua, Fontesque Velini.

 

 

 

Sulphureous Nar, And The Velinian Streams.

 

 

 

It Is A Small, But Rapid Stream, Which Runs Not Far From Hence,

Into The Tyber. Passing Utricoli, Near The Ruins Of The Ancient 

Part 7 Letter 32 ( Nice, April 2, 1765.) Pg 276

Ocriculum, And The Romantic Town Of Narni, Situated On The Top Of

A Mountain, In The Neighbourhood Of Which Is Still Seen Standing

One Arch Of The Stupendous Bridge Built By Augustus Caesar, We

Arrived At Terni, And Hiring A Couple Of Chaises Before Dinner,

Went To See The Famous Cascata Delle Marmore, Which Is At The

Distance Of Three Miles. We Ascended A Steep Mountain By A Narrow

Road Formed For A Considerable Way Along The Brink Of A

Precipice, At The Bottom Of Which Brawls The Furious River Nera,

After Having Received The Velino. This Last Is The Stream Which,

Running From The Lago Delle Marmore, Forms The Cascade By Falling

Over A Precipice About One Hundred And Sixty Feet High. Such A

Body Of Water Rushing Down The Mountain; The Smoak, Vapour, And

Thick White Mist Which It Raises; The Double Rainbow Which These

Particles Continually Exhibit While The Sun Shines; The Deafening

Sound Of The Cataract; The Vicinity Of A Great Number Of Other

Stupendous Rocks And Precipices, With The Dashing, Boiling, And

Foaming Of The Two Rivers Below, Produce Altogether An Object Of

Tremendous Sublimity: Yet Great Part Of Its Effect Is Lost, For

Want Of A Proper Point Of View, From Which It Might Be

Contemplated. The Cascade Would Appear Much More Astonishing,

Were It Not In Some Measure Eclipsed By The Superior Height Of

The Neighbouring Mountains. You Have Not A Front Perspective; But

Are Obliged To View It Obliquely On One Side, Standing Upon The

Brink Of A Precipice, Which Cannot Be Approached Without Horror.

This Station Might Be Rendered Much More Accessible, And

Altogether Secure, For The Expence Of Four Or Five Zequines; And

A Small Tax Might Be Levied For The Purpose From Travellers By

The Aubergiste At Terni, Who Lets His Calasses For Half A Zequine

A Piece To Those That Are Curious To See This Phaenomenon.

Besides The Two Postilions Whom I Payed For This Excursion, At

The Rate Of One Stage In Posting, There Was A Fellow Who Posted

Himself Behind One Of The Chaises, By Way Of Going To Point Out

The Different Views Of The Cascade; And His Demand Amounted To

Four Or Five Pauls. To Give You An Idea Of The Extortion Of Those

Villainous Publicans, I Must Tell You That For A Dinner And

Supper, Which Even Hunger Could Not Tempt Us To Eat, And A

Night's Lodging In Three Truckle Beds, I Paid Eighty Pauls,

Amounting To Forty Shillings Sterling. You Ask Me Why I Submitted

To Such Imposition? I Will Tell You--I Have More Than Once In My

Travels Made A Formal Complaint Of The Exorbitancy Of A Publican,

To The Magistrate Of The Place; But I Never Received Any

Satisfaction, And Have Lost Abundance Of Time. Had I Proceeded To

Manual Correction, I Should Have Alarmed And Terrified The Women:

Had I Peremptorily Refused To Pay The Sum Total, The Landlord,

Who Was The Post-Master, Would Not Have Supplied Me With Horses

To Proceed On My Journey. I Tried The Experiment At Muy In

France, Where I Put Myself Into A Violent Passion, Had Abundance

Of Trouble, Was Detained Till It Was Almost Night, And After All

Found Myself Obliged To Submit, Furnishing At The Same Time

Matter Of Infinite Triumph To The Mob, Which Had Surrounded The

Coach, And Interested Themselves Warmly In Favour Of Their

Townsman. If Some Young Patriot, In Good Health And Spirits,

Would Take The Trouble As Often As He Is Imposed Upon By The Road

In Travelling, To Have Recourse To The Fountain-Head, And Prefer 

Part 7 Letter 32 ( Nice, April 2, 1765.) Pg 277

A Regular Complaint To The Comptroller Of The Posts, Either In

France Or Italy, He Would Have Ample Satisfaction, And Do Great

Service To The Community. Terni Is An Agreeable Town, Pretty Well

Built, And Situated In A Pleasant Valley, Between Two Branches Of

The River Nera, Whence It Was Called By The Antients, Interamna.

Here Is An Agreeable Piazza, Where Stands A Church That Was Of

Old A Heathen Temple. There Are Some Valuable Paintings In The

Church. The People Are Said To Be Very Civil, And Provisions To

Be Extremely Cheap. It Was The Birthplace Of The Emperor Tacitus,

As Well As Of The Historian Of The Same Name. In Our Journey From

Hence To Spoleto, We Passed Over A High Mountain, (Called, From

Its Height, Somma) Where It Was Necessary To Have Two Additional

Horses To The Carriage, And The Road Winds Along A Precipice.

Which Is Equally Dangerous And Dreadful. We Passed Through Part

Of Spoleto, The Capital Of Umbria, Which Is A Pretty Large City.

Of This, However, I Give No Other Account From My Own

Observation, But That I Saw At A Distance The Famous Gothic

Aqueduct Of Brick: This Is Mentioned By Addison As A Structure,

Which, For The Height Of Its Arches, Is Not Equalled By Any Thing

In Europe. The Road From Hence To Foligno, Where We Lay, Is Kept

In Good Order, And Lies Through A Delightful Plain, Laid Out Into

Beautiful Inclosures, Abounding With Wine, Oil, Corn, And Cattle,

And Watered By The Pastoral Streams Of The Famous River

Clitumnus, Which Takes Its Rise In Three Or Four Separate

Rivulets Issuing From A Rock Near The Highway. On The Right-Hand,

We Saw Several Towns Situated On Rising Grounds, And Among The

Rest, That Of Assissio, Famous For The Birth Of St. Francis,

Whose Body, Being Here Deposited, Occasions A Concourse Of

Pilgrims. We Met A Roman Princess Going Thither With A Grand

Retinue, In Consequence Of A Vow She Had Made For The Re-Establishment

Of Her Health. Foligno, The Fulginium Of The

Antients, Is A Small Town, Not Unpleasant, Lying In The Midst Of

Mulberry Plantations, Vineyards, And Corn-Fields, And Built On

Both Sides Of The Little River Topino. In Choosing Our Beds At

The Inn, I Perceived One Chamber Locked, And Desired It Might Be

Opened; Upon Which The Cameriere Declared With Some Reluctance,

"Besogna Dire A Su' Eccellenza; Poco Fa, Che Una Bestia E Morta

In Questa Camera, E Non E Ancora Lustrata," "Your Excellency Must

Know That A Filthy Beast Died Lately In That Chamber, And It Is

Not Yet Purified And Put In Order." When I Enquired What Beast It

Was, He Replied, "Un'eretico Inglese," "An