Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

this countless multitude rushed towards the SARNO and the SEA, to escape the showers of fire and the torrents of mud that issued from Vesuvius, must have been a scene unparalleled in the annals of human disasters! If an over-ruling providence ever deigns to manifest its displeasure through the instrumentality of such destructive operations of natural causes, this catastrophe may have been a judgment on manifold transgressions against the laws of Nature and of Nature's God! But, although it would be presumptuous in man to pronounce on such awful events, it might be wisdom in him to look upon them as indications of offended justice, in times when vice prevails.

As only five human skeletons have been found in the amphitheatre, and not more than two or three hundred in the other excavated portions of the city, it has been concluded that the greater number of the people escaped this dreadful visitation. But this conclusion is probably very erroneous. Not an eighth part of Pompeii is yet disinterred—and that eighth is the portion most likely to be first deserted, as being nearest the source of danger. There may be places towards the marine aspect of the city where great numbers have perished. But granting that only 2000 were buried in the ruins of Pompeii, how many thousands must have perished in the Sarno-in the space between the city and sea-and in the sea itself, since drowning was an easier death than burning! When Pliny approached the place, he saw innumerable boats putting off from the shore; and, as he himself fell a victim to the showers of burning ashes, it is probable that a very considerable proportion of the wretched inhabitants were destroyed. It is evident, too, that numerous excavations were made by the ancients themselves, and immense quantities of valuables dug out of the ruins. The bones of their countrymen would be collected and burnt on such occasions.

Some articles found in Pompeii, and now preserved in the Museum, excite much conjecture. We see helmets and armour under which no human being could now fight, on account of their weight. But these were probably used in gymnastic exercises, or on the stage. The skeletons of the Pompeians indicate any thing rather than gigantic stature or strength. The glazed windows have put an end to all doubt about the use of glass, among the ancients, for the transmission of light-and as for bottles, of all shapes and sizes, the Museum at Naples would furnish half a dozen glass-shops in the Strand. The art of rendering bronze as elastic as steel appears to be lost. We there see the handles of utensils made of this curious manufacture. The portable cooking apparatuses might be made subjects of patents in London-and the moulds for pastry, &c. are as imaginative as all the other utensils among these fanciful people. The brass cocks, and leaden tubes for conveying water into the houses, are precisely like those now in use in England, and ought to make the modern Romans blush for their uncleanliness! But the surgical instruments are probably the greatest curiosities of all. The doctors must

POMPEIAN IMPRESSIONS.

217

have been in famous demand, though not in very high rank among the ancient Romans! There were more medicines and more instruments in use at Pompeii than in Paris or London—and some of the latter quite equal to the rarest inventions of modern times. For example, the DILATOR OF SPECULUM, for which Mr. Weiss, of the Strand, obtained so much repute a few years ago, has its exact prototype in the Bourbon Museum, at Naples. The coincidence in such an ingenious contrivance would be absolutely miraculous; but, unfortunately, there is a key to the similitude which destroys the charm of astonishment. A crafty Frenchman imitated from memory (and with some awkward deviations) the Pompeian speculum, and passed it off as his own. WEISS improved upon the Frenchman, and hit upon the exact construction of the original! Many modern discoveries may probably have originated in the same way!

[ocr errors]

I could not tear myself from POMPEII till the sun was setting in the Mediterranean wave; and the excitement produced by such a scene nearly cost me a fever. I had examined the MUSEO BORBONICO twice previously, and once subsequently to an examination of the city itself. Perhaps this is as good a plan as any. Of all the impressions which my mind received between the Alps and Calabria, those of POMPEII and the MUSEUM are still the most vivid on the tablet of memory. As this was the farthest point to which time permitted me to go, so did it form the climax in point of interest. If the emotions had been less tumultuous, and the excitement less feverish, I should have been able to portray them more faithfully. Never did I feel more poignantly the want of language to represent sensations—the inadequacy of words to typify ideas, than on this occasion! Were it not for the hiatus which such an omission would produce in this hurried itinerary, I should be inclined to bury these reflexions on Pompeii in oblivion—a fate which will soon overtake them, however, without any interference on the part of their author!

RETROGRESSION.

The middle of November was at hand, before I could permit myself to reflect that the Alps were to be recrossed, an operation that might not be very pleasant in the month of December. It was necessary at last to bid adieu to the luxury of an English carriage, with courier and servants, and to travel in good earnest by night or by day, in whatever vehicle promised the most speed, or rather the least delay.

I started from the post-office of Naples, at eleven o'clock at night, in the mail coach, which was a small cabriolet drawn by three horses, and capable of carrying one passenger-viz. myself. I was ordered to be at the office precisely at eight o'clock, and had only three hours to wait! It is fortunate

F f

for passengers by this royal conveyance, that there is a theatre, of some twelve feet square, directly opposite the door of the bureau, and which seems designed for the purpose of amusing the dull hours of delay in this place. The courier who was to conduct the mail to Terracina handed me into the theatre, and assured me he would call me in good time; but, in fact, the play was over before the horses were harnessed.

The night was tempestuous, with lightning, rain, and thunder. The wretched appearance of the dark towns and villages through which we passed, while crossing the Campagna Felice in a storm, is indescribable. The rain beat into the cabriolet, and this first specimen of Italian travelling by mail was anything but encouraging; and here I experienced a cold fit of ague, with all the horrible and depressing feelings of that FOUL FIEND. The cheering sun arose as we approached Mount Massicus-and some good coffee at St. Agatha revived the chilled and shivering frame. The day was beautiful, as is usual after a thunderstorm, and again we crossed the LIRIS, the marshes of Marius, and the ruins of Minturnæ ;-again we passed the brigand towns of ITRI and FONDI, shuddering at the misery of the inhabitants, and admiring the beauties of Nature around them. We arrived at TERRACINA about three o'clock, or sixteen hours after quitting Naples. Much as I despised the little Neapolitan mail, it was, with one exception to be soon mentioned, the pleasantest vehicle which I sat in between Naples and Dover. It was open, like an English cabriolet, but on four wheels; and the young courier was all mirth, good humour, and kindness. He held the curtain himself, to defend me from the storm in the night-and he was unceasing in his efforts to amuse me with descriptions and anecdotes of the places through which we passed in the day. He was a complete contrast to the gruff, surly, and ill-tempered courier belonging to His Holiness the Pope, whom we had the misery of travelling with from Terracina to Rome.

At Terracina I had time to dine, and make the acquaintance of two of my travelling companions to the Eternal City. These were, a German gentleman with his English wife—both invalids, who had come from London to GENOA in pursuit of health—and were tempted by the steamer to voyage onwards to NAPLES in search of pleasure. In both these objects they were grievously disappointed; and their short tale may be of service to others. In the first place, the steamer was full of vermin and filth; in the second place, on arriving at Naples, the vessel was put into quarantine, (because letters announced that the small-pox was at Genoa !) and the whole of the passengers, men, women, and childen, were incarcerated pell mell in a loathsome LAZARETTO near Portici, there to languish and starve for three weeks, paying treble for any kind of refreshment that was permitted to enter their dungeon —and, at last, charged enormously for their lodgings in this detestable prison! The lady was still labouring under the effects of this diabolical qua

PASSAGE OF THE PONTINES BY NIGHT.

219

rantine; while the husband, ever and anon, ejaculated, in broken English, his anathemas against the terrible extortions and expences of their Italian expedition! I greatly fear that the next adventure which befel my fair and delicate fellow-traveller was still more destructive to her health. But of this presently.

We started from Terracina, a little before sunset, in a carriage very badly calculated for four, but compelled by the villainous courier of the Pope (for which I hope he has never received absolution) to hold an additional passenger, in the shape (if shape he had) of his own pot-bellied son, besides baggage and luggage enough to load a caravan. Nothing but the philosophy of observing the Pontine Marshes at night, could have induced me to bear, with any degree of patience, the infernal breath of the father and his urchin, between whom I voluntarily placed myself to give the invalids all the accommodation which their health and sufferings required. But patience has its bounds, and at the end of the first stage I got on the outside of the coach, rather to breathe the deleterious gases emitted from the fens, than inhale the mephitic airs generated within this infernal cauldron. The atmosphere was still as the grave-the moon shone faintly through a halo of fogs—and a dense vapour rose in all directions around us, emitting the most strange and sickly odour which I ever experienced on any part of the earth's surface. Under other and ordinary circumstances, I should have felt some alarm at thus exposing myself to the full influence of nocturnal emanations from the deadly marshes over which we were passing; but a consciousness of the life which I had led for three months, inspired me with complete contempt for any morbific influence which air or earth could direct against me. I crossed the fens in this philosophic mood, while the courier of St. Peter kept the windows of the coach closely shut against the dangerous malaria of the night. I would not advise others to imitate this rash conduct on my part. Many have paid dearly for their curiosity—and myself among the rest-if not on this, on various other occasions.

Video meliora proboque

Deteriora sequor!

As we approached Velletri, the storm again arose, and compelled me to take shelter in the interior. It ceased during a part of the next day; but as night came on, the thunder, lightning, and rain pursued us to the Eternal City, which we entered after midnight, and were dragged to the Dogana, where we were detained full an hour in the examination of our baggage. When let loose from this villainous inquisition, the rain was pouring down in torrents; the streets were roaring currents of water; and not a coach or human being was there to be found to conduct the passengers to any place of residence for the night! Fortunately I was perfectly well acquainted with

the topography of Rome, and was able to conduct, though not to carry, the invalid lady, through the dark and dismal streets, in a deluge of rain, to the Place d'Espagne. The husband of the lady could render her no assistance, and she was obliged to wade through currents of water, more than ankle deep, to the HOTEL DE PARIS, where I left her, drenched to the skin, and nearly dead with cold, hunger, and fatigue! If she did not perish from the effects of this dreadful night, she will perhaps recognize, in these lines, a countryman who lent her all the assistance in his power, and without whose guidance to a hotel she might probably have died in the streets! Such are the interesting incidents to which an invalid is exposed under the delightful skies of Italy! I hastened on to my kind host of the "ISLES BRITANNIQUES," who, by previous notice, had a warm supper and an excellent bed prepared for his guest. I need hardly say that I slept till ten o'clock next morning rising refreshed to pursue my journey to Old England.

As the mail did not start for Florence till midnight, I had an opportunity of paying one more visit to the VATICAN-taking a last stroll through the streets-and indulging in a farewell rumination on the fallen greatness of the Eternal City, while taking my evening walk along the PINCIAN HILL. In these meditations, I could not help comparing, or rather contrasting, the splendour and luxury of the Romans that were, with the poverty and degradation of those now existing. The following graphic illustrations, from two very different pens, may not be inappropriate in this place.

ROMANS THAT WERE.

"The Romans, after they had abandoned their native simplicity and poverty, and despoiled the provinces of the East, gave themselves up to a degree of luxury, to which the moderns have never arrived. Their palaces surpassed in grandeur the most splendid of succeeding ages, even without quoting as an example the golden house of Nero; the gates, often of Numidian marble, the doors inlaid with tortoise-shell,* the walls of the rooms incrusted with the most rare marbles, covered with rich furniture and carpets; gilded beams with gems enchased in them,† and fountains in the rooms; pavements of excellent Mosaic, often representing interesting histories, and the Etruscan vases as a finish to the ornaments. The buildings were very lofty, and at the top was a hanging garden, of rare and expensive plants; the entrance was sometimes flanked by a wood of columns; that of the villa of

* 66

inhiant testudine postes."-VIRG. Georg. lib. 2. +"Vidi artes veterumque manus verisque metalla

Viva modis, labor est auri numerare figuras

Aut ebur, aut dignas digitis contingere gemmas.”—Statius.

« AnteriorContinuar »